Going to Spartanburg

We woke up this morning and decided to drive up to Spartanburg for part of the day. A tradition for our famiy has been to place a flag on my grandfather's grave for Veteran's Day. With it being tomorrow, that was our main motivation for the trip.

We met my parents for lunch at Wade's, headed to Chesnee to place the flags, drove the long way back to our old home of Boiling Springs so we could see the leaves chaning colors (don't see much of that down here in the land of evergreens!), checked out the really low level of Lake Bowen,

stopped by Clay's friend Ryan's house and Wal-Mart before heading back home. It was a really quick, but enjoyable trip.

We Went to the Beach!

Yesterday morning we decided to take a road trip down to Myrtle Beach. We got there in time to have lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe and walk around Broadway at the Beach for a while. AFter walking through a few shops and having a snack at KISS Coffehouse (see previous post!), we headed towards the ocean. We parked and walked out on Pier 14 and then out to the beach itself. The water was cool, but the weather was gorgeous! It wasn't too warm or too cool and it is one of the only times I have ever worn jeans on the beach...during the day.

After leaving the beach we drove down the strip which was depressing as the Pavillion is completely gone....nothing left......just a big open field. So sad. But we recouped with a trip to the Polo Outlet on the way out of town and then a stop by Coastal Carolina University (see previous post).

It was a wonderful, quick family trip! We had a great time, with lots of family time to talk in the car and enjoy each other's company. And, we really haven't been out of Columbia since we moved here so it was nice to just get out of town for a day. We have learned one of the benefits of being here is, in fact, the close proximity to the coast!
BubbleShare: Share photos - Thanksgivingtime!

The Funnest Part of the Trip, Besides the Ocean! :)

Next to walking on the beach, the BEST part of this trip for me was the "KISS Coffeehouse"! Who would have thought it?!?! There is actually a KISS-themed coffeehouse at Broadway at the Beach. The outside has giant props (one actually breaths smoke out its nose), huge flatscreens showing videos and concerts and inside has KISS memorabilia, loud KISS music and, yes it has coffee. I, of course, had to have a karamel "rockucuinno" (think Starbucks frap). It was really, really good!


We did ask and it isn't owned by the band members, but by a BIG (obviously!) fan.....though, all but one band member has been in....it was AWESOME! It made us want to "Rock and Roll All Night"!

The boys rockin' at the first boot (this one sends out smoke, you just can't see it in the picture)

Me at the second boot with my rockuccino!

Inside the coffeehouse...boots worn in the concert by the band.

No Coincedence

If I had my copy of "Christmas Tapestery" with me at home, I would post the opening line which is one of my favorites. Basically it addresses that there are no coincedences in life, but rather every thing is perfectly orchestrated by God. And, I absolutely LOVE those moments....the ones that were just meant to happen.

On our final stop of the day, I encouraged Ron that we should drive through Coastal Carolina's campus and look for the Chad Beatty Memorial. Chad was Ron's little brother in Pi Kappa Phi and he transferred to Coastal where he started the Pi Kapp chapter there. While I was pregnant with Clay, Chad was killed in an accident. Several years ago the chapter began the process of creating a memorial for him and each February they hold a service. We've not been because, well, that is just how Ron has dealt with Chad's death. But, he has stayed in contact with the chapter over the years.

Well, we drove into campus and got out to walk around for a while and take some pictures. But, even after asking several students, no luck on finding the memorial. As we headed back to the car, I encouraged Ron to stop in the student center and see if they had an information desk. They did, but the guy didn't know anything about a memorial. We were heading out the door, when I told Ron to stick his head in the student lounge and see if anyone had on a Pi Kapp shirt. He was hesitant, so I peeked in and lo and behold there sat a guy in a jersey! Ron went in and went over to the guy and as it turned out ALL of the guys were Pi Kapps in there to watch football together! Ron explained that he was Chad's big brother and chatted with the guys for a while. They were so nice and welcoming...even inviting us to stay for pizza.

The crazy thing was that they were absolutely amazed we found them and that they were even there. The time was normally meeting time (held in an upstairs room where we would never have seen them), but they had cancelled to meet for the game instead. And, they were supposed to watch the game at a brother's house and then opted instead to be in the student center. Isn't that amazing?!?! The turn of events that led for them and us to be in that place at that time!

They were very nice young men and I've met Pi Kapps from a multitude of colleges over the years and I am always impressed when they are as polite and welcoming as these were. We hear so many negative things about college students and greeks in particular that I just love the ones that prove people wrong. Moments like that make me proud to be greek and be married to a greek!

We're looking forward to going back in February for the memorial service this year. As it turns out we will already be there that weekend for a conference, so, again, no coincedence, just perfect timing.
As for the memorial, the school recently dedicated a clock tower and doesn't want two on campups, so they are reevaluating what to do....hopefully in a few years we'll go back to see the final result!

One day, my boys will also be Pi Kapps and hopefully they will remember moments like this!

Clay's Back

Clay got home last night about 9:00 from his field trip to Washington, DC. For once he took a ton of pictures! He had a great time visiting the White House grounds, the Holocaust Museum, all of the monuments, the Capitol Buidling, Smithsonian, the National Archives, Arlington and Mount Vernon (there might be others, but I can't remember everything!)

The funniest story of all, Clay and some of his friends kept getting "yelled at" (his words...which means probably means they just spoke to them) by security guards for sitting on the floor while waiting in buildings. One of them finally explained that they couldn't sit on the floors of government buildings because it is a sign of protest!

The only picutre with Clay in it (he and his friend, Colin on the bus ride to DC)

The Korean War Memorial was one of Clay's favorite things.

He also loved Arlington and wants to go back.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today is my dad's 60th birthday and we went to Spartanburg to have lunch with him. We met he and my mom at Wade's for some good country cooking and birthday cookie.

Ben and his favorite Poppy

After the waitresses sang, Ben decided he needed to sing "Happy Birthday", too...it was very sweet

Field Trip #2

Today we met at the SC Railroad Museum in Winnsboro and had class in a Pullman dining cart. That was an experience! We had the opportunity to view primary sources including a letter from the 1865 mayor of Columbia to the governor of SC just days after the burning by Sherman and the "Black Codes". After lunch at a great country cooking buffet (in the back of a convenience store) called "Barn Xpress", we took an hour or so ride on the train to the Rion Quarry. Along the way we saw chimneys left over from the homes that used to line the countryside, a delapidated and a restored sharecropping home and

several abandoned manufacturing facilities.

Tomorrow, we head to the archives for a day and then we finish this week at the Caroliniana Library on Friday.

Field Trip #1

Just coming off of my learning vacation last week, I started another class here in town yesterday. This time we're studying US History from Reconstruction to 1920. This is an area that I really don't know very much about at all....so, I am learning a tremendous amount of information each day.


Part of the purpose of this class (it is sponsored by the SC Dept. of Archives) is to encourage the utilization of primary sources in our lesson plans. One of the requirements is that we complete two plans from this time period and actually teach them.


We meet every day, all day, through next Friday and then have a fall retreat in October and a mid-year, overnight retreat in February. Each day we have a session with a professor from Clemson (content), a session with a master teacher (utilization in the classroom, ideas, etc.) and then a cultural institution session. Yesterday we met at the state library (which I didn't even know existed) for our cultural institution and our learning was about DISCUS, the database of information available to SC residences. Today, we met for our sessions at St. Phillips School, a three room school house and then we toured Kensington Mansion, a restored 1800s planation located on the Wateree River and viewed some primary sources about the slaves, tenants and sharecroppers from the property. It was a beautiful property and the historical information was was great.

As you can see Kensington Mansion is not the typical "Gone With the Wind" plantation-style house we associate with the 1800s antebellum home. This is actually in the Italianate style.

St. Phillips School was opened in 1938 and was founded after the original St. Phillips from the Reconstruction era.

We viewed census records from 1870, 1910 and 1920, as well as maps from varying years. The bonus, we were given a copy of My Life in the South, a narrative written by a slave on the property who gained his freedom at the end of the Civil War. Unfortunately I have too much class reading to devote a night to reading it cover to cover, but I'm grabbing snippets on the van to the locations.


Other places we will visit/study at include a couple of days at the Archives, a couple of days at the Caroliniana Library at USC, two days at the SC State Museum and, tomorrow's visit, the SC Railroad Museum (I'm sure I'll have a post about it tomorrow night!)

My Vacation

no husband....no kids....no dog.....late nights.....early mornings....no cooking.....no cleaning.....no laundry....books to read.....new friends.....Revolutionary War experts.....battlefield hikes.....getting paid(!!!!)

I spent last week in Spartanburg at Converse College studying the Revolutionary War in the Backcountry as part of NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities) Landmark grant with 46 other teachers. It was such an awesome week, my idea of a vacation!!!

We arrived and checked into our rooms on Sunday, had dinner and a reception, met each other and two local authors who signed books. (I bought Courageous Kate --- a true account of Kate Moore Barry --- a heroine from Spartanburg). On Monday we spent the day in the classroom learning from SC historian extraordinaire, Walter Edgar (if you are a USC grad, I'm sure that name means something to you), a professor from Wake Forest who spoke about women's roles and another professor from Carolina who spoke on African-Americans.

Tuesday morning we headed to Brattonsville, SC to tour. This was phenomonal! We learned about colonial housewife roles (helped make a bread pudding, learned how to dye material and make clothes), herbal medicines (too cool! Did you know rosemary is supposeed to stimulate memory??? I need a whole lot of it!), the role of African-Americans on the farm and heard the story of Watt, a truly heroic slave of the Brattons. And, Miss Kitty took us inside one of the original slave quarters on the property....it was very humbling. We toured the houses and grounds. And two re-enactors taught us about weapons, Militia clothing and the battle, Huck's Defeat, that took place there. We hiked through the woods to the newly discovered battlefield. I learned SO much.

this is an original hinge on the door of the slave house

Our Wednesday morning we prepared to head to Kings Mountain Park. We hiked the battle trail with Rudy Manke, SC Naturalist expert and USC professor. He was funny and so knowledgable. I did not realize the connection between science and social studies until this disucssion. We learned all about the trees, plants, insects and animals of the area, while also walking in the steps of those fighting for American freedom over 200 years ago! After we arrived back on campus we participated in a session with the curator from the Greenville Museum of Art on using art in the classroom to teach history. Great learning!

this marks where Ferguson fell at King's Mtn.

it is believe that this is where he is buried...with one of his Virginia's

For our Thursday field experience we travelled right down the road from the school to hike around Cowpens Battlefield with East Carolina University professor and author of A Devil of a Whipping Lawrence Babbitt. I have been to Cowpens several times, but this was the first time that I really understood the battle and its significance. it was truly an experience that was worth the hike in the heat. On Thursday night we joined Dr. Babbitt again to watch The Patriot and then he led a discussion on the benefits of the movie and the inaccuracies that Mel Gibson took in filming --- uniforms, battle events, etc. Entertaingly it is a great movie and I learned that it is most valuable in showing linear battle.

The view Daniel Morgan's army would have seen on the morning of the battle

Our final day took us to Ninety-Six, SC where Star Fort is located. We were given an in-depth tour by Dr. Cann from Lander University and then given a lecture on the archeological excavation of the site by Dr. South from USC. We were exahausted by this point, but still managed to take in even more valuable information in this hike.

inside the stockade

from inside the Star Fort

• Did I learn a lot? That would be an understatement.


• Can I use this in my classroom? Oh YES! I really think this will change how I teach the Revolutionary War completely.


• Will I apply for an NEH next year? Most definitely! I've already got a couple of ones that I am interested in...but we'll see when next year's info comes out.


• Am I glad I attended? Absolutely!

Before we left....me and my roomate for the week, Emily (from Concord, NC)

and my new friend, Kathy (from Texas)

I missed Ron and the boys, but this was one of the best educational experiences that I have had in my career. I learned a lot, made some new friends, grew as a teacher, and as a person. I had a great vacation!!!!

(I do have some other pictures on my 365 blog and at some point I will put together a slide show and post it of all these pictures)

The Wilbur Smith Company Picnic

The picnic was held at Saluda Shoals park. We ate, hiked, got wet and had a generally great time! The only downside was that the rain didn't hold off....as glad as we are to have rain, too bad it didn't wait until after 5!

Ben played horseshoes and met a new friend, Victor.

Ron, Clay and I hiked a short trail down to the lake before the rain really started. Then, Clay and I hiked back later with Ben in the rain.

One of the main focuses was FOOD!! There were hotdogs, BBQ pork, fried chicken, wonderful grilled veggie skewers, typical southern sides, cookies, sno cones and cotton candy!

The best part for Ben was the water park. It warmed up just enough that, even though it was raining, he was able to play in the water with his new friends.

Saturday Morning in Columbia

After sleeping in this morning, can you guess where we ate breakfast?!

Yep, Capital Cafe....can you guess what we ate?!

Nope! No, shrimp 'n grits today! But, we didn't give up the pumpkin cinammon rolls!

After breakfast we enjoyed a wonderful walk down Main Street. The weather was perfect! There was a rain cloud blowing in so it was cool and breezy. We admired some of the neat architecture on our way to the Art Museum. Here is one of those little known facts about me...I really wanted to be an Art History major. I took several classes and loved it, but wasn't sure if I could actually ever get a job and chickened out. We walked around the travelling exhibit which included several Picasso's, Chegal's, Matisse's and, my personal favorite, Mary Cassatt. I can't wait to go back and explore the permanent exhibit. I was very impressed with Ron! He had some unique insight into several pieces.

We also stumbled upon a very cool antique store that was more like a museum. This guy had memorabilia from Box Car Willie, James Brown, USC and tons of other things. We found a couple of prints that we'd eventually like to have of Carolina football from the '40s.