This weekend Thomas and I went to Charleston for the 2009 Charleston Harbor Fest. The mission: Pirate Ships!! Charleston was one of the stops on this year's Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge where a fleet of Tall Ships race from Spain to Ireland stopping in the Canary Islands, Bermuda, USA, and Canada along the way. Thomas's whole family is interested in Tall Ships; he, his father, and his brother have all spent at least some time working on one, and his brother met his bride-to-be on one. We were very excited.Friday morning we got up early, loaded the car, got some fun tickets and 
breakfast, grabbed my new GPS (thanks Dad, I remembered it this time) and were off! We got to Patriot's Point, just across the Cooper River Bridge mid-afternoon, dropped our stuff and went looking for the ships. We headed back across the bridge to Charleston, found parking, and as soon as we started walking toward the harbor we heard drums, singing, and marching. We had stumbled on a parade of sorts of most of the crews of the ships. We followed them along to the harbor where the Class A (or big ships) were.
breakfast, grabbed my new GPS (thanks Dad, I remembered it this time) and were off! We got to Patriot's Point, just across the Cooper River Bridge mid-afternoon, dropped our stuff and went looking for the ships. We headed back across the bridge to Charleston, found parking, and as soon as we started walking toward the harbor we heard drums, singing, and marching. We had stumbled on a parade of sorts of most of the crews of the ships. We followed them along to the harbor where the Class A (or big ships) were. We exchanged our tickets for wristbands and set out to tour some ships. It was closing to time for the ship tours to end, so we only toured the US Coast Guard Eagle. Eagle is a trainging ship so 
most of the crew are cadets at the Coast Guard Academy. Gerin, Thomas's brother, actually helped crew Eagle over to Spain though, to begin the race, so I thought it was pretty cool to see where he had worked. Other Class A ships we saw: Kruzenshtern, the Russian Navy training vessel (she actually broke her foremast in a bad storm from Bermuda to Charleston), Captain Miranda, the Navy training vessel from Uruguay (which had the best musical selections -- those guys were having a good time!), and Mircea, the training ship for the Romanian Navy (and actually a sister ship to the USCG Eagle).
most of the crew are cadets at the Coast Guard Academy. Gerin, Thomas's brother, actually helped crew Eagle over to Spain though, to begin the race, so I thought it was pretty cool to see where he had worked. Other Class A ships we saw: Kruzenshtern, the Russian Navy training vessel (she actually broke her foremast in a bad storm from Bermuda to Charleston), Captain Miranda, the Navy training vessel from Uruguay (which had the best musical selections -- those guys were having a good time!), and Mircea, the training ship for the Romanian Navy (and actually a sister ship to the USCG Eagle).On Saturday we got up early and headed back over to the Harbor Fest. There was an airshow in the morning, complete with a Para-Commando jump from a military airplane. We spent most of the morning new the Maritime Center touring some of the smaller ships. We toured the Etoile from France, the Europa from Amsterdam, and the Schooner Virginia from Norfolk. Not all the ships were open for tours but we could see most of them in the harbor. We decided to go find some shade because it was SUPER hot, check out the souveniers and market they have in the middle of downtown, and grab some lunch.
Saturday afternoon we took a sail on the Spirit of South Carolina. It was a two hour sail and they let us help raise the sails! Thomas and I both helped and then got to enjoy the breeze as we circled the harbor. As soon as our sail was over the sky turned dark and started raining so we timed that just right. We were meeting a friend of Thomas's for dinner that evening and as we headed to the restaurant, the bottom fell out, I'm talking "frog strangler!" It was high tide already, and with all the rain, there was flooding in the streets. People at the market were starting to load their cars and were ankle deep or more in water! We changed plans and went further away from downtown for dinner, but it was crazy to see that much water!
Sunday we slept in a little before packing up and checking out 
of the hotel. We headed over to the Patriot's Point Naval & Maritime Museum before leaving. We toured the USS Clamagore, a Cold War submarine, and the USS Yorktown, and Essex-class WWII air craft carrier. The Yorktown also has a bunch of different kinds of military planes on board, including an F-18, an F-14 (yay TOP GUN), and a TBM Avenger, the kind of plane George H. W. Bush flew in WWII. After a stop to the gift shop to acquire a smushed penny for myself and a sword letter-opener for Thomas, we were back on the road for home. All in all it was a really great weekend!
of the hotel. We headed over to the Patriot's Point Naval & Maritime Museum before leaving. We toured the USS Clamagore, a Cold War submarine, and the USS Yorktown, and Essex-class WWII air craft carrier. The Yorktown also has a bunch of different kinds of military planes on board, including an F-18, an F-14 (yay TOP GUN), and a TBM Avenger, the kind of plane George H. W. Bush flew in WWII. After a stop to the gift shop to acquire a smushed penny for myself and a sword letter-opener for Thomas, we were back on the road for home. All in all it was a really great weekend!
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