Beaufort SC and Savannah

We spent one lovely day in Beaufort SC, which is a quiet sea town about 30 min south of Charleston. Beautiful, beautiful homes shaded by the most wonderful trees I have ever seen. I love these old live oaks dripping with Spanish moss,that is neither Spanish nor a moss (just named so 'cause it resembles an old scraggly Spanish noblemen's beard!) We had a carriage tour of Beaufort and the best part, other than those trees and the southern homes, was the BIG Belgian gelding named Duke who pulled us! He would think about starting for a long time , then grudgingly step forward only to stop whenever he saw a convenient piece of moss hanging down. It took a great deal of cajoling and pleading with Duke to finish this carriage ride, but we laughed at every halt and loved this truly southern horse who was not in a hurry! A true low country town which brought to mind all the wonderful movies made there and I "made" Michael watch "Prince of Tides" which was the best of all. The tour guide told us everyone in town loved Nick Nolte and didn't really warm to Barbra Streisand ( who didn't warm to the south either!).

We are in Savannah now which is bigger than I expected. Old homes, lots of walking tourists, lots of beautiful city squares with more wonderful old oaks and a riverwalk. We had a private tour with a southern belle who told us stories about all the old homes and people affected by that"War of Northern Aggression". During one tale we mentioned the story of Drayton Hall in Charleston being spared (supposedly a "smallpox scare") by marauders. Well she laughed and said everyone here knew it was because that Drayton son was a Union naval officer and the Charlestonians won't tell anyone. We cracked up. The Civil War is still very much an everyday part of life here. "They have forgiven , but will never forget" was what she said. It has been very romantic and a step back in time. Lovely.