Trip to South Carolina

Each spring for the last fifteen years we've gotten together with a group of friends.  For quite a few of those years we've rented a large beach house on the ocean side of an island near Charleston.

We always have a good time catching up with each other and relaxing with walks on the beach, games, and lingering over wonderful meals.  One of the guys makes out a master menu and we all contribute to the ingredients, prepping, cooking, and clean-up.

This year five of us took an excursion to Fort Sumter, the place where the American Civil War began on April 12th, 1861.

We got to the fortress island on a tour boat.  Note the beautiful suspension bridge in the background that connects the outer islands to Charleston.

The structure was almost obliterated during the war.  Only the first level of the five that were destroyed was reconstructed.  Cannon are set up in eleven of the gun rooms.

All the other gun rooms that are empty.  The colors and textures of those rooms are intriguing.

If I hadn't already had my turn for choosing a challenge photo for our "Interpret This" group, this would've been the one.