Drove into Charleston this morning and found the building where the contra dance will be this weekend. From trailer to the dance was a little more than an hour. A bit longer than I'd like, but it was my first time through so it should be a little less as the route becomes more known to me.

   Wanted to go see the 'Hunley' next since it was pretty close to where the dance was. Alas, the museum is located along the waterfront and as such, the roads are all mixed up, or have even been changed since my GPS was last updated. Needless to say, it was soon lost, trying to make me go down roads that had security gates across them, or just weren't there anymore. Still managed to find it though, just using some common sense and an old fashioned map. To bad the place wasn't open when I got there, it's only open on Saturday and Sunday. The H.L. Hunley, by the way, was the first real submarine ever made. It sunk with all hands on board, I think 21 men, after sinking an anchored northern warship during the Civil War. May have to come back and visit it again if I don't make it this time.

    Headed for the Charleston Aquarium next because it was the next closest site and it was on my list. Found it without to much problem and discovered that the Ft Sumter boat dock was in the same area. Went and toured the park building and read all the display info inside. Didn't do the boat ride out to the fort thinking that I'll do a harbor tour later in the week and get a good view of the island at that time.

   Did go and do the Aquarium of course. It is a very nice place to visit being one of the newer types that is multi leveled. This one starts on the second floor and starts in the high mountains to the west with mountain streams and the fish and animals that go along with it. They had a pair of very energetic river otters that played in the water and chased over the rocks and logs of their exhibit the whole time I was there.

   The exhibits spiral down going on into the Piedmont area and then the lower river system. From there it was on to the salt marsh area and then of course on to the ocean. Very nicely done all along, but really I think the aquarium in Chattanooga, TN is still the best one I've seen to date. One interesting exhibit was outdoors and showed an area of salt marsh like you would find along much of the coast here. Along with all the fish, turtles and alligators they also had several birds that I was able to get some good pictures of. They also had a American Bald Eagle in one of their exhibits. Evidently it had been hurt in the wild, had been found and rehabbed, but was never going to be well enough to live in the wild again. So I also got a few nice pictures of it as well as some of the other birds.

   I got back to the trailer early enough this afternoon to take a nice hike along a couple of the trails here in the State Park. It was really beautiful out there as the sun was beginning to go down. The only downside to it all was that the mosquito's really started to come out. It was fine as long as you kept moving... so I kept moving. Did see some really pretty views while out on the trail and a couple photo's of that follow also.

    Talked to a couple friends and family on the phone this afternoon and evening. Isn't the modern cell phone a wonderful invention? Even the cheap ass one that I have works well enough most of the time. Am going to go tour a Plantation House west of Charleston tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how the really wealthy cotton and rice plantation owners, their families and their slaves lived during the heydays just before the start of the Civil War.   

While at the Aquarium they had one outdoor exhibit that focused on the salt marsh environment. Along with other swamp-marsh animals were several birds including this Little Blue Heron.

Another bird was this Snowy Egret.

They had this eagle as part of their teaching curriculum. He was still a very regal bird even if he could no longer fly well enough to be returned to the wild.

That is one amazing beak.

This Great Blue Heron just seemed to want to be left alone so he could get on with his afternoon nap.

Getting back to the campground early this afternoon there was time to take a hike for a couple of miles. One of the trails crossed this little section of a tidal marsh and stream. The shadows in the trees and the reflections in the water really caught my eye.

A view looking the other way. Looked like a good place for snakes, but the only thing I saw was a small armadillo.