Meanwhile, Doc, Bernie, Gage and the girls went to the Krispy Kreme factory to watch donuts being made, and of course, they had to buy a box! Then they headed to the Sportsmans store, and Bernie was like a kid in ancandy shop! Essentially just a huge store of man stuff - hunting, fishing, shooting, camping.....lots of stuffed animals all over the walls.
We then all met up at Al-Amir, a Mediterranean restaurant. A yummy 'gyro' (Yiros) for lunch.
After lunch we made our way to the SC state house. I'll say this - America knows how to do grand buildings! The state house is massive, and set in some beautiful gardens dotted with statues and memorials. On the building there are bronze stars, about 7 or 8, that mark where cannonballs hit the building during the Civil War. We made our way inside and it took our breath away! An absolutely stunning building - grandiose and ornate. We bought a few souvenirs and continued our exploration of the grounds.
One thing the kids enjoyed was the squirrels. Lots and lots of them! They are cute little critters but are camera shy, so we tried to take as many photos as possible in the vain hope of catching the perfect squirrel shot!
After our visit to the state house, we stopped for a quick shop at the Army surplus store (another man shop for Bernie) and a frozen custard store for ice cream. We then took a drive around the 'ritzy' part of town looking at nice houses, and took a drive past the Gamecocks stadium. The Gamecocks are the South Carolina University team - for football, basketball and baseball. SC doesn't have a state football team, like Dallas or Miami etc, so college sport is a big deal.
We then took a trip to a house for sale I'd seen on the net. I love house hunting and thought we could go see this one - it looked perfect on the net, but after a visit, it showed that the photos were the best part of it! The price was right but the work that needed done on it was upping the budget a bit!
Our plans for later in the day were to visit EdVenture, a children's museum, but there were chores to be done and naps to be had back at the hotel. So after a bit of a relax, we set off to EdVenture.
EdVenture is an interactive kids museum, boasting a giant 2 story playground in a boy. You enter through his head....and thankfully don't follow the full internal route to exit! But the displays are quite good. There is a fire engine, car, vet office, supermarket etc, all for kids to play and learn. Tara loved being a vet - wearing the lab coat and xraying the stuffed animals they have set up. It was fun for all, but would have been better if some of the exhibits worked (some maintenance required) and if there were less people. But you go on $1 entry night, you have to expect the hoards of people.
Tomorrow we are road-tripping to DC. I explained to Bernie, with the use of a map, that Washington DC isn't actually in Washington, it's in Virginia. We will stop off at some touristy sites and generally take our time.
We've been In the US now for over a week and I'm beginning to notice I want to use an accent when saying certain words. For instance, I asked Bernie if he had his card to get back into the hotel, and had to bite my tongue from saying 'card' with an accent. It doesn't help that when we are around Andrew we put on a fake accent to pay him out!! Still loving the holiday and taking in as much as we can.
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