Day 12 - Clouds, The Market, Riverdogs

Tuesday – July 8, 2008

Oh, where do we start? We were busy, busy, busy – but it was a nice kind of busy! They always say that the best place to start is at the beginning! So, that’s what we shall do!
We spent a big portion of the day on the beach. I went down about an hour before Bill. They had an umbrella and chairs with our names waiting for us. I spayed the lotion on me and positioned my chair to get the morning sun; put on my ear phones and turned on my Celtic music. When Bill came down, he did the same as I had done, but he listened to the Dave Matthews Band – thus the good reason we have our own IPOD.
We love to people watch, and the beach is a great place to do that. One thing we have decided that this is NOT the place to come with your young teenagers! We haven’t counted, but there have been several instances where we have observed a parent and a teenager in a very intense conversation. As Bill so eloquently stated – “no one is happy involved in that conversation!!! It may be that they are just teenagers and not the surroundings!
I watched the clouds today and it was one of those days where you could see different characters in the clouds. I saw some of the characters from “The Fellowship of the Ring” called the “Nazguls.” Then I would look back up and see cherubs and angels. I also saw rabbits, dogs, and squirrels! Bill says I’ve been in the sun too long!!!! I took pictures, and when I share them with you maybe you will see characters as well.
Bill didn’t watch the clouds – he says he was watching the “hot chicks”! And as with any beach, there were plenty! He listened to his music and ended up getting the top of his feet RED! We tried to make sure he was covered, but we walked for about three miles along the water’s edge and figure he may have gotten burnt then!! The lotion was suppose to be water proof! We have used the green Aloe lotion and Solarcaine spray – it has helped! He says he will wear his socks and shoes to the beach tomorrow!!!!!

We came back to the condo, showered, and got ready to go to Charleston. Our first stop was the “Slave Market”, now simply called "The Market". It is like a big flea market – with any thing you might want. They have basket weavers making their straw baskets – which start out at about $25.00 to over $200.00!!!! Needless to say – no baskets coming back to WV (yet)! :) We found a few things that were reasonably priced and made our purchases!
This market is called the “Slave Market” because it is where they use to auction the slaves off when they brought them into Charleston straight off the ships! If you ever have a chance – Charleston is a great place to come and see where a lot of our country’s history took place!!! The old houses that have been restored; the famous Rainbow Row of houses, and even a trip to Ft. Sumter are all worth the trip!

We then left there and headed over to The Joseph P. Riley, Jr. ballpark to watch the Charleston Riverdogs play ball. It is a minor league ball team affiliated with the Yankees!!! No we didn’t see Joe, Mickey, or the Babe!! The Riverdogs lost, but it was still a great atmosphere. They had something going on to keep the crowd involved just about every ending! You are so much closer to the field, and it would be hard to say that there was a bad seat in the park.
Before we left we did have an interesting thing to happen (which I didn’t see). I heard the PA announcer say – Security, Security go to the third base line fence. Bill saw this happen! Apparently a fan ran onto the field and jumped over the center field fence! It would have taken him into a small park. So, I’m sure that by the time the security got to that area – he was long gone. I was watching the kids in front of me – they were having a ball! Bill just happened to be looking in the right direction – the man was fast. He was there and then he was gone! I don’t think he was a “streaker”! “Don’t look Ethel – here he comes again” as Ray Stephens said in his song.
Another day has gone and we’re a day closer to coming home. I do believe if we were ever to move out of WV, this is where I would like to move. So, in three days we will be playing the song – “Take Me Home Country Roads!”
Midnight