Casazza

Charleston, SC November 19 - 24, 2025	Back to Home Page

It was already getting a bit gray and depressing in Montana, so a group of Casazzas chose to take a short getaway to Charleston, SC. This was our 3rd visit, Larry's 2nd, and a first for Jeb, Amy, and Lisa. A good time was had by all - and the weather was incredible!


Here we are, thrilled to be eating a meal outdoors again.	We ate so much this first meal that I didn't think we'd need to eat again for a whole day.


Walking off our dinner in downtown Charleston, this is an old, abandoned church.	Here's a non-abandoned church with cool stained glass windows.


In the courtyard of the Blind Tiger Pub.	This place goes a bit crazy for Christmas decor. It's amazing!


Preparing to start our first full day, the boys take care of business back home on their phones first.	Now we're off and walking again. We walked 9 miles on this day! (Jeb was not pleased!)


A cool old graveyard we passed on our meanderings.	One crypt was being worked on in the background.

We stumbled across the Christmas Sweater Emporium which was a lot of fun.
	Jokes!

Original tile entry of an abandoned storefront.
	Group photo - our only one of the trip.


The famous pineapple fountain.	I decided we should be dramatic and this is what we got.


Which, of course, cracked us up.	This is the closest thing to a normal photo that we could manage just then.


Walking along the lovely Waterfront Park.	Heading away from the park and into the downtown area in search of lunch.

Found it! Eating outdoors again at Charleston Crab House.
	This is such a huge and cool old building.


Back in the Waterfront Park area, it's such a nice place to walk.	Walking on one of the cobblestone streets. These stones were ballast stones from the holds of ships.


Eric, happy to be in one of his favorite cities.	Lisa & Larry admiring Rainbow Row.


Rainbow Row	Walking out toward Battery Park admiring the beautiful homes.

I tried not to take too many pictures of the nice homes, there are some real beauties here.
	Larry & Lisa - always up for a long walk



Eric & Larry researching the history of the statue we were looking at.	This one. Can't remember what it was now though.

	Continuing on the waterfront walkway after Battery Park. It goes on for ages!
This was an accurate sundial monument to a whole crew of Navy men who died in an accident at sea in 1952.

Colonial Lake is a historic, man-made tidal pond and popular park in downtown Charleston, SC
	The fish were jumping like crazy that day.


Next stop, Top Golf!	After all that walking (which Jeb hates) we had to reward him with some form of golf.
After Top Golf, we visited the Park Circle neighborhood for dinner. I didn't get any pictures there.

The next day we started with a walk on Sullivan's Island.	It's beautiful and very undeveloped.





After lunch, most of the group when on a charter fishing trip for inshore fishing. Amy spent the day back on Sullivan's Island and I checked out local shops like the quilt store.	Sunset arriving at Shem Creek, viewed by Amy & I as we wait for the fishermen (and Lisa!) to return.


The guide filleted the fish and then we took it to a nearby restaurant to have for a very nice dinner.	The next day was a driving day - here we are going over a cool bridge as we left Charleston.

	First views of the tree. There are lots of signs and things keeping people from hurting the tree which kind of spoil the photos.
First stop - the Angel Oak Tree. Over 400 years old and super impressive.


	Jeb & Amy


The limbs grow in and out of the ground in many place.	Me & E, dwarfed by the huge tree.


Next stop, the Morris Island Lighthouse. Reached by going to Folly Beach then driving north as far as you can go. Then walk another mile - through goat heads!	You're supposed to be able to find shark's teeth here, but we didn't find any that day.


	We still enjoyed beachcombing and just being near the water.




Eric & Jeb, thinking deep thoughts.
	Larry found a broken part of the wall so of course he tried to fix it. He's a worker!

	After that we enjoyed a nice lunch at Folley Beach, then we headed out for the 30 mile drive to tour the Magnolia Plantation. This is the entrance to the plantation.
Heading back to the car through the goat head trail. There's also a neat graffiti walk that I didn't take a picture of.


The main house, relatively modern compared to most plantation houses I think.	This place is most known for their extensive and amazing gardens.


Posers

	The Japanese Garden
I think these were Camillas


Those bridges were NOT easy to descend.	On the tram tour we saw a few alligators.


The biggest tree on the plantation, another beautiful live oak.	That evening, we were lucky to be in town to catch a great Christian concert - three huge acts in one show.


Matt Mahar - He has written SO many of the popular worship songs often sung in churches	Zach Williams - So many great songs and such a moving testimony


And Crowder (David Crowder) - I didn't know I loved his music until this show, but I do! He's amazing.	He and his band were so high-energy and the music is so unique.


The next day was early-morning church, another lunch in Folly Beach (Rita's Seaside Grill, two days in a row!), and then our Fossil Hunting tour. It was Jeb's birthday, so he treated himself to a day of golfing at Kiawah.	When they drop you off and say, "Be back in 3 hours" it seems like that will take forever. But nearly everyone was having a hard time getting back on time because we couldn't stop looking for treasures.

Poor Eric got skunked for the first 2 hours, but then he suddenly went on a fossil-finding rampage. He started with this big guy and found a bunch more after that.
	I couldn't bring myself to leave the shallow water, which wasn't the best place to find a black tooth in with all the other black things. But I was just very happy to be splashing around in water in late November!

	The group, trying to migrate back to the boat.
Comparing finds along the way.


That cruise ship looked so huge until this even bigger container ship passed by.	Sunset over the inland waterway on the way back from our fossil hunting trip.


Favorite finds from me & Eric	From Amy (Eric gave her that big tooth in the lower right), she was more interested in finding shells than teeth when we were out there.

From Lisa
	From Larry. The round things are shark vertebrae.
	Lisa found a partial plate that Google Lens said was from a WWII Navy officer's mess plate. Pretty cool considering that Larry is a Navy man!
We used Google Lens on the shark's teeth. Eric asked Google, "What did a Megalodon eat?" The answer: "Anything it wanted."
Next we went out for Jeb's birthday dinner at a Mexican place that has a very funny menu. Jeb got free churros for the whole table for his birthday, but no singing or funny hats.
	Next we went to check out the rooftop bar at the Vendue. Turns out it was too chilly by then and they had no outdoor fire thingies so we left.

Laughs as we wait for the elevator to see the rooftop bar.	Some interesting art at the Vendue.
	That night was the chilliest night we'd experienced, so we made another unscheduled stop along the way in order to warm up a bit.



	Our last day - our flight wasn't until 4pm so we had a day to kill. We went to the Aquarium where we started by watching the dolphins jump and play right outside of the aquarium in the river.



The Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge	The USS Yorktown.


This fish took a particular interest in me. Also notice the diver to the left. They are volunteers who do maintenance and fish care.	He followed me around for as long as I stayed near that tank.


Selfie with my fish friend.	I always like a good Moray Eel.


I also love a sea turtle, they have one female at this aquarium.	Here she takes a break right beside where Lisa was standing.

	This shows how much bigger a Megalodon was than a Great White (the next largest, to the right)
I'm also in love with sea horses, they are so strange and cool!

	One of the otters was out and about when we went by.
Side view showing the rows and rows of teeth.





Next we stopped at the Fort Sumpter visitor center. Then we had a long lunch nearby and then headed to the airport.	Here we are, grabbing a very hurried meal in the Denver airport before flying to Kalispell. Thankfully all of our flights in both directions were on time, so we had a very nice flying experience this time. We came back to some challenging roads, freezing rain and snow coming down on the hour-long drive. It was worth it though, we had a great trip!


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