Here at UNC Chapel Hill, I've been participating in a workshop for the "MOdeling Consortium for Chemistry of Indoor Environments" (MOCCIE). We had 1.5 days of stimulating scientific presentations and discussion plus two nice dinners. Here are the group photos of the participants: (1) after the first day of meeting; (2) at the Carolina Brewery on Sunday evening; and (3, 4) at 411 West Italian Cafe on Monday night.
A small island at the mouth of the Charleston Harbor is the site where the first major battle of the Civil War was fought. Our visit followed the local standard: a 30-min ferry ride each way (for which one pays) and then a whirlwind 1-h tour of the remains of the fort, including a nicely presented 15-min overview by a park ranger and too little time to thoroughly explore the on-site museum. With this being our 4th day in Charleston and our 11th day of travel, and with the heat remaining high in the afternoon (peak temperature in the mid 90s with moderate humidity), the rest of our day was low-key: lunch at an Iranian restaurant ("Saffron"), and a casual stroll down King Street (the main shopping street of Charleston), capped off by a long and warm walk home. We seem to be settling into the rhythm of South Carolina …
Okay, we're on vacation, so an early start isn't required. We left our flat at close to 10:30 AM this morning, a much later starting time than on any of our recent trips. And, it's really warm in the afternoon, so it takes a lot of stamina to stay out for a long day. We called it quits this afternoon at 5:30 PM. But during those 7 hours, we had a good time exploring more of old Charleston. We walked the length of King Street. Ingrid found her shopping groove at Lou Lou's. We toured the Nathaniel-Russell House Museum. We ate lunch at the Brown Dog Deli. We visited the Old Slave Mart Museum. (We've learned quite a bit about slavery during this trip to SC and credit the many people and institutions who seem to be addressing the complex history of this topic with openness and respect for the dignity of all humankind.) We ended our afternoon touring with a stroll through the historic Charleston City Market. The photos are all street scenes, except for the final shot taken at our lunch stop.
Today's outing included two quintessential elements of a visit to South Carolina: Boone Hall, a working plantation; and Fort Moultrie. Both have deep histories, starting before the Revolutionary War. They are both well set up to receive visitors. The weather has drifted toward oppressive, with high temperatures in the mid 90s, high humidity, and surprisingly strong winds (which are not too comfortable for these high temperature plus high humidity conditions). (There is a severe thunderstorm watch in the area this afternoon, but we've not seen any sign yet of storm action.)
Our pace has slowed with the warm and humid weather. Orientation seemed the order of the day. We're staying about 2.5 miles from the southern tip of the Charleston peninsula, so we left the car parked. We visited the Charleston Museum, which, founded in 1773, claims to be "America's First Museum." Among other things, we learned a lot about the important role of Charleston and South Carolina in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. We walked down Meeting Street to The Battery and then back up along the east coast of the city to Waterfront Park. After lunch at Harris Teeter (excellent bbq pork sandwich for $3.99!), we visited the preserved yet unrestored Aiken-Rhett House. The audio guide there provided about equal treatment of the enslaved persons and the home owners in describing life in the building. We were back at our apartment by 5 PM and without any driving the 7.5 h of touring felt like a full day.
To drive directly from Asheville to Charleston takes about 4.5 hours. We used about 7.5 h, with a detour to Congaree National Park in South Carolina. This is a relatively young part of the park system, having become a national monument only in 1976 and then being converted to a national park in 2003. It preserves one of the few remaining old-growth floodplain forests, which once covered a large proportion of the southeastern US. We hiked a 2.4 mile loop on a boardwalk with a self-guided interpretive pamphlet. Among the interesting features were very tall (up to 130 feet) loblolly pines, the bald cypress with the knobby ridges rising above the mud, and the dwarf palmettos. Now that we are out of the mountains, the weather was very warm and humid (not unlike Singapore). That's likely to continue throughout our four-day (five-night) stay in Charleston SC.
