By the time we got everything packed up and into the car, it was already getting late. We wanted to make it to the SC State Capitol building in time for the 10:15 tour.

We found a paid parking spot near the building and hurried (uphill) to make it to the tour area at precisely 10:15. What a relief! Turns out, we were the only ones there for a tour and they would’ve waited for us anyway…

We watched a short film and toured the building where we learned about the history of the building.

During the Civil War, when General Sherman’s army took the city, many of the buildings were burnt to the ground. During this attack, several cannon balls struck the State House which are marked today with bronze stars.

During the raid, the staff on George Washington’s statue was broken.

                  

 

 

 

 

 

 

We still had about 30 minutes left on our parking spot, so we went across the street and grabbed some lunch at Panera. Our next stop was the South Carolina State Museum. Also part of the state museum was the South Carolina Military Museum. We went to the Military Museum where they had an art gallery of Xanthus Smith’s artwork for the Civil War.

The museum itself then showed the military history of South Carolina from the very beginning to present day. In the state museum we walked through exhibits of dinosaurs, earth formations, technology through the years, and ended up in the interactive exhibits. We felt no shame in playing with the exhibits that were definitely geared towards children. We stopped by the museum cafe and gnawed on a rock hard “soft” pretzel for a bit before heading upstairs to the American History exhibits. Also upstairs was a telescope viewing area where we saw a live view of the sun magnified greatly.

After all the things we had done on the trip so far, we were ready for the beach! We headed east to the Isle of Palms near Charleston where we booked a room at Wild Dunes Resort. When we arrived there, it was apparent that a strong storm had come through. The sky was flickering, large raindrops rattled our car, and the streets were now rivers. As we turn into the resort, we notice a street closed off where people are working on power lines. We wait in line at the resort for a long time and find out that the power is out and has been for 5 hours. We can’t check in because we had booked the room while their power was out. Luckily, their ice cream shop was giving away free, melting ice cream. Having not had dinner yet, this gave us the energy boost we needed. We headed to the beach and walked along it until we noticed Lauren’s hair standing straight up off her head. Not feeling like getting zapped by lightning, we went back in the hopes the power would be back on. It was not, so we went the the grocery store down the road and grabbed some food for dinner. By the time we made it back, the power was back on.

End Day 10.