Our good friends, the Browns, joined us for our little adventure. It also happened to be Justin's b-day last Thursday...all the more reason to celebrate!
We set off for Moncks Corner first thing Saturday morning. We put the boat in at Atkins Landing on Lake Moultrie, just up from the dam and the Pinopolis Lock. This was my first experience with a lock...it is basically an elevator for boats. The water level on Lake Moultrie is much higher than the Cooper River, so in order to get down to the river, you drive your boat into the lock (it has room for up to 45 boats) and the lock operator lowers the water level so that you can exit the lock onto the Cooper River. The difference is about 75 feet and the whole process takes about 20 minutes.
I regret that I didn't take my camera with me, so I had to rely on my cell phone for all of my pictures.
This is just outside of the lock.
Here we are in the lock, and you can see the Cooper River ahead and below.
There were quite a few other boats in the lock with us...in this shot we were almost all the way down to river level.
When we made it all the way down the huge doors slowly opened so that we could drive out into the river.
I have to admit that I really didn't know what to expect from this trip. I willingly agreed to go because I knew Graem would really enjoy it. However, it turned out to be a lot of fun. We weren't at all rushed and really just took our time getting down the river on Saturday and back up on Sunday.
Of course no good trip is complete without some sort of setback. Without thinking, or even really realizing where we were, I took a picture of a big submarine when passing through the US Naval Base (they could have posted a sign letting everyone know we were entering a restricted area). I
know, my looks just scream terrorist. I had barely snapped the picture when a Navy boat seemed to appear out of nowhere and two very grouchy officers confiscated my phone and promptly deleted the picture.
Some other things we saw along the way which thankfully were legal for me to photograph...
A tugboat pulling a barge:
The Arthur Ravenel Bridge:
The Battery:
View of Charleston from the water:
We had a great dinner at Pearlz (loved the restaurant, but the "z" on the end of the name really makes me cringe).
We were escorted all over town by "The World's Greatest Pedicab Drivers in the World."
We saw lots and lots of dolphins, but they are so difficult to photograph, especially when you're using a cell phone camera. This is the best I could get...
Thankfully those mean old Navy men didn't catch us pulling up this crab pot. We just wanted to see what was in it. Turns out there were three huge crabs inside!
And I'll leave you with a view of the lock from the river side.
I have to say the trip was lots of fun and I'm looking forward to going back! We were blessed with good company and beautiful weather. And we were blessed to have the boys stay at my parent's house for the weekend (thanks, Mama & Daddy!).
2 comments:
I love the comment about the submarine...remember my camera at Little Women?? You are in good company my dear! Ask Mama about the Statue of Liberty!
That is too funny:) Too bad they deleted the picture. But its a great story.
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