Gardens and swamps

Charleston is full of plantations and historic houses. So many in fact, it's hard to choose which one you should see. While the family was in town, we had to see at least one of them. Mom chose Magnolia Plantation and Gardens because not only is it a plantation, it also has famous gardens and a swamp tour!

Us in front of the plantation house before our tour.

Mom and Larry keeping cool on the veranda.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house, so you'll have to take my word for it — it was a nice big house with some interesting furnishings and an extensive family history dating back to the 19th century. I liked the house tour (and gift shop for that matter) because it was air conditioned!

The rest of the beauty of this plantation was out on in the gardens...where it was not air conditioned unfortunately. Don't get me wrong, the gardens were absolutely beautiful and included several miles of winding trails with hidden gardens, alcoves, water vistas, cute gazebos and many many beautiful bridges. However, as much as I wanted to get into it, it was really hard to when I felt like I was melting. My advice: wait until spring to visit this plantation, when the weather is cooler and the flowers are in bloom.

Me and Sarah posing in a gazebo, or trying not to die in the heat, one of the two.

Us on one of the many beautiful bridges laying over the swampy water.

Larry in my favorite little garden. Loved the flowers and the Spanish moss, but I especially loved the little maze of hedges because it reminded me of the OU campus :) Sigh.

Although we were all dying from the heat, apparently the critters didn't seem to mind. We spotted many animals, birds and reptiles on our tour of the gardens. Got to give mom props for the pictures, I was too hot to worry about my camera.

Mossy turtles

We saw many of these birds

We also saw several beautiful peacocks

Mom, Larry and I braved the heat to also go on the swamp tour. I wanted to see an alligator! Unfortunately, I just got bit by a lot of swamp mosquitoes. We did find an old slave cemetery in the swamp though that was pretty neat and spooky. And one more critter I was not happy to encounter....

Ahhh!