Seabiscuit and Beyond: Back to the USA - Houston, TX and Charleston, SC

Sunday, October 13, 2024

Back to the USA - Houston, TX and Charleston, SC

Location: Houston, Texas, USA

We ended our excellent 325 day adventure in Europe by flying from Amsterdam to Houston, Texas. We had a wonderful time on our trip, exploring different countries, meeting fun people, eating delicious food, taking care of other people's pets, and travelling by planes, trains, buses, camels, boats and automobiles.

Our Charleston tour group in front of a pecan tree at the Charleston Tea Garden

Houston - Pet sit with Kevin and Sophie

Our first stop in Houston was a pet sit in the Heights neighborhood with two cats, Sophie and Kevin. They were both fun and playful. Our pet sit was for two weeks, so Dave and I stayed there together for the first week, then he took over while I went on vacation with my mom and cousins to Charleston, South Carolina.

Kevin

Sophie

Charleston, South Carolina - September 15 - 20, 2024

Louise (my mom), Barb (my cousin from LA), Marilyn (my cousin from North Dakota), Della (Marilyn's friend) and I all flew to Charleston for our annual vacation together. We spent the week catching up, eating good southern food, touring Charleston and learning about the history of the city. The map below shows the places we visited including two plantations, a tea garden and some historic houses. We saw people weaving sweetgrass baskets, rode on pedicabs through downtown, walked along the seawall, learned how tea is made and stayed cool in the shade of the huge oak trees. We had a wonderful time and are already planning our meet up for next year.

Louise and Barb at The Citadel War Memorial. We visited the campus and learned about the history of the Citadel, a public military college that was established in 1842.
Learn more about the history of the Citadel at this link.

The Wood Nymph at Middleton Plantation. She is a marble carving created around 1810 by Catherine Sherman.
Middleton Place Plantation was a rice plantation prior to the civil war.
You can read more about Middleton Place Plantation at this link.

A butterfly garden at Middleton Plantation, Charleston, South Carolina

We also toured the Magnolia Plantation including the Drayton House pictured above.
Note this photo is from the Magnolia Plantation website.
Click the link to learn more about the history of the plantation and the available tours.

Barb and Della riding a pedicab to the Charleson City Market.

The entrance to the Charleston City Market

The cemetery of the Circular Church with the spire of the St. Philip's Church in the background.
We attended the Sound of Charleston musical concert in the Circular Church. The music included the "sounds that define Charleston’s unique southern charm — gospel, Gullah, Gershwin, Civil War songs, jazz and light classics".

B, Marilyn, Barb, Della and Louise in front of the Angel Oak, a 400+ year old live oak.

Our tour ended on Friday, September 20th. We had breakfast then said goodbye to Marilyn and Della; they had a flight out later in the afternoon. Louise, Barb and I were on the same flight from Charleston to Nashville so we said our goodbyes there. They flew on to California and I returned to Houston. Dave had finished up the pet sit with Sophie and Kevin that morning and we started a new pet sit with Raleigh and Bella that afternoon.

Houston - Pet Sit with Raleigh and Bella

Our second Houston pet sit was with Raleigh and Bella, two Cornish Rex cats. The house is in the Houston Montrose neighborhood, not too far from where we used to live. In addition to spending time with the cats, we have been taking care of our annual doctor, dentist, etc. type visits, taking morning walks along Buffalo Bayou and spending time with family and friends.