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Post by QueueMistressMags on Oct 13, 2013 20:48:36 GMT
You can't take photos inside the house, alas.
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Post by LadyJamers on Oct 13, 2013 21:20:44 GMT
You can't take photos inside the house, alas. Bummer, and that is what I wanted to see most.
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Post by Ensign Sandra on Oct 13, 2013 21:32:18 GMT
Day Five
The former creepy, scary bridge across the Cooper River was replaced by in 2001 with a lovely new bridge that also has bike and pedestrian lanes. The drive out to Patriot’s Point to the USS Yorktown Museum was therefore much more fun than the last time I did it, back in ’97 when Former Petty Officer Little Brother was doing a portion of his naval training in Charleston. Also, Pamski drove and we had the top down on the convertible. Always a nice way to take a Sunday drive. We hiked up and down and all around aboard the Yorktown. It always amazes me to think that the crew often took those stairs at a run. I also don’t know how anybody ever understood anything they heard over the radio. They had recordings of actual transmission during battles running in the map room and it all sounded like static to me. Maybe you get used to it. It was much too hot to spend much time on the flight deck, so we headed into the air-conditioned theater to watch a film that was made during World War II to show to the folks back home. It made the Pacific War look more like an extremely strenuous summer camp than the carnage it actually was. I can see the purpose, though.
The highlight of the Yorktown, for me, was the Medal of Honor Museum. It traces the history of the award and features accounts of winners from different historical eras. Amongst the exhibits was my personal Historical Babe Dude crush, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, of Gettysburg fame; and on the memorial with the names of all the medalists, Spidur’s Great-Granddad. I had not known that our very own Arachnid Accountant has such illustrious ancestors.
The group rallied to set a meeting time at Boone Hall Plantation and then split up to find lunch along the way. A bunch of us went to Burton’s Grill, where several tried the BLT with fried green tomatoes (how was that, anyway?). I opted for the shrimp-and-feta-cheese risotto and was completely delighted with my choice. I adore seafood and try to eat it as for as many meals as possible when I’m visiting coastal locales, as it really doesn’t happen where I live.
Boone Hall Plantation is the oldest continually operating farm in the U.S., per their visitors talk. They originally grew indigo and tobacco, moving on to cotton in later years, through pecans in the 20th century, and fruit and vegetables today. It passed out of the Boone family way back—can’t remember exactly when—and has had numerous owners since. Mr. Boone—maybe a son of the original planter?—died and his wife and thirteen-year-old daughter married a set of brothers (uggggghhhhh. I bet the child had little say in the matter).
The original house was torn down back in the Thirties and replaced with the Hollywood ideal of a southern plantation big house. What does remain from, the 18th century is the stunning Avenue of Oaks, featuring 90 Live Oak trees, so named because they shed and retain leaves all year long and thus remain green as well. There are nine remaining brick slave cabins, though originally there were many more. Boone Hall had a brickyard and much of the wealth associated came from the sale of bricks. Most slave cabins in the south were built of wood and have not survived, so it is a rare opportunity to see what living conditions were like. Some bricks from the Boone Hall brickyard, bearing handprints of the slaves who made them, are slated to become a part of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which is under construction on the Mall in Washington, D.C. (or would be, if Congress weren’t populated by a crowd of brats).
When we finished a Boone Hall we headed on over to Isle of Palms, where the Mayhem family were renting a stunningly beautiful beach house. I’m afraid my manners were sorely lacking, as I said a quick hello and went straight through the house, across the porch and down to the beach. Spidur and I rolled up our pants legs and waded right in. Most of the rest of the company soon joined. I would have to think a while to come up with something I love better than beach (thing, as opposed to people) and it was with great reluctance that I finally dried off my feet and went back inside. Our very own Otter created the lovely HH2013 image that graces mmt’s photograph.
Back in Muzillac the men died, the cannon were lost, the witch was burned Mariette met her sad fate, Marquis de Crazy Eyes was hoist in his own petard, and the Great Snot-or-Not Debate raged once more. We held the Moldy Canvas Bag Swap, in which various audiobooks performed by Richard Armitage were the hottest commodity. Next, we feasted on delicious pizza and settled in for another round of chocolates and port, courtesy of the Otters. Mags, Pamski, Otter, and I played whist, one rubber of which found me with the ace, king, and queen of the trump suite. You bet your @ss I held them til the end so I could say “…and the rest are mine.”
Meanwhile, Greg Peck and company did their thing on the big screen. I think my very favorite scene is the one where Bush and somebody (Gerrard?) have bet on what their captain will say when Lady Barbara sets foot on deck, though the audience isn’t told what the two have chosen. Hornblower does his throat-clearing thing and Bush wordlessly holds his hand out for his winnings. Classic!
All too soon it was time to head back across the river, as I had an early flight on Monday morning. Captain Mayhem passed the telescope to Captain Captain SueB (hey, I don’t cook the food, I just serve it) with the most succinct ceremony ever. “The responsibility is yours,” she says, and there you go.
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Post by Ensign Sandra on Oct 13, 2013 21:33:28 GMT
Day Six
Pamski heroically left her bed at Zero Dark Thirty to give me a ride to the airport and another great adventure was done. Thanks to Mayhem and Pamski for the planning, all the participants for the fabulous companionship, and our home viewing audience for all your kind wishes. Come to Saint Augustine, y’all. You’ll be glad you did.
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Post by Biki on Oct 14, 2013 22:47:28 GMT
ah, what a nice report. If I couldn't be there, this was the next best thing.
Biki
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Post by LadyJamers on Oct 14, 2013 23:23:58 GMT
::claps loudly, as she does a fan girl squee:: thank you for the diary complete with lines from the movies - she's a witch, burn her! (What that line is not in the actual movie?) Kinda makes me wish I really messed up my finances to join you. Hugs all around!
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Post by QueueMistressMags on Oct 15, 2013 2:15:44 GMT
The highlight of the Yorktown, for me, was the Medal of Honor Museum. It traces the history of the award and features accounts of winners from different historical eras. Amongst the exhibits was my personal Historical Babe Dude crush, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, of Gettysburg fame; and on the memorial with the names of all the medalists, Spidur’s Great-Granddad. I had not known that our very own Arachnid Accountant has such illustrious ancestors. That was my favorite part, too, and not just because of the excellent air conditioning in the exhibit! It was really interesting. Wasn't that at Poochie's Porch? (I know I got the name wrong, but I can't remember it right now) I had one and it was...greasy. But I'm glad I went outside my comfort zone a bit and tried something new. I had a very delicious cobb salad at Burton's Grill.
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Post by shipoftheline on Oct 15, 2013 2:23:44 GMT
I had a fried green tomato BLT at Poogan's and it was delicious. We also shared some fried green tomatoes the first night at the Irish pub. Yumm! That was a first for me, as was eating okra for the first time.
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Post by Phizz on Oct 15, 2013 3:40:36 GMT
Thank you all for your reports and pics of the con .... REALLY REALLY wish I could have been there ... it sounds like you had a most excellent time!!!
~Phizz
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Post by Ensign Sandra on Oct 16, 2013 1:27:25 GMT
I shall willingly bow to other people's knowledge of what they ate where. All I know is I was happy with all my choices. :-)
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Post by shipoftheline on Oct 16, 2013 2:25:16 GMT
I uploaded my pictures to my computer and took a look at them. There are some good ones but it might take me a while to post more and update the gallery at my site. In the mean time I'll leave you with this one: the crew at White Point Park: From L-R: CaptSueB, Mags, mmt, Bucky, Pamski, Ensign Sandra, Mayhem, Nigel, Otter, Ship, Cabingirl, Mr. Cabingirl and Mr. Mayhem.
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Post by mayhem on Oct 25, 2013 3:14:14 GMT
I'm just playing around with pics to see what size works for this site. Here's a photo of my kiddies in Charleston, from left to right: Brian, Mark, Silvia, Patrick, and Stephen (the twins are bracketing the piccy). I'll post my other selections soon. My daughter persuaded me to get a beach house for the family, so that we could visit more easily. The house worked very well for the last night of our HH con, too. The picture Gaby posted above is the gang at the Battery. White Point Garden is just across the street. Estelle
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mmt
Lieutenant
Avatar thanks to the talents of Sundowner
Posts: 229
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Post by mmt on Oct 29, 2013 2:06:52 GMT
It was a pleasure meeting Michael and the family .... especially the grandchildren; the Thing 1, Thing 2 and Thing 3 t-shirts were a hoot and Patrick's (have I got that right?) little one didn't seem to mind a house full of strangers.
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Post by Lady Barbara on May 17, 2014 14:05:24 GMT
Lady B, I edited my post with the group photo thanks to your suggestion. And the goodie bags had a box of note paper with lovely images of historic houses of Charleston, a bag of lemon tea cookies, an HHUS2013 button (which you can see lots of us wearing in some of the photos), a 2014 Horatian Gatherings calendar, t-shirts for those who ordered them, HHUS2013 pens, an HHUS2013 mug, luggage tag with the South Carolina flag, schedule, attendee contact information and directions to all the activities. I may have missed an item or two. The bags themselves were little string backpacks with the convention logo on the front. You can probably see some of us with them in some of the pictures. Ooops - sorry, I just realized that I didn't response to that: Many thanks for telling, ShipOfTheLine! And thanks for adding the names to the pictures. It is nice to imagine faces to the names. The contents of the goodie bags sound lovely - a really thoughtful person must have put them together!
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mmt
Lieutenant
Avatar thanks to the talents of Sundowner
Posts: 229
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Post by mmt on Oct 16, 2017 16:02:52 GMT
Photobucket has pulled a fast one and you now have to pay to be able to share photos on websites. So, to save room on this thread and get rid of those *(!!#% grey boxes in my Charleston posts I've deleted them.
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