Charleston!

One of the cool things about playing junior tennis is the ability to pick tournaments yourself. We usually stick around the area, within a 2-3 hr drive radius, but sometimes we ventured out further afield for bigger events. Family Circle tennis tournament in Charleston is one of the biggest ones in the area during winter months, and the fact that it usually is held over President's Day weekend, makes it even more appealing. We had never been to Charleston, so it was decided we would drive down to SC as a family and, I must say, it was probably the best decision ever because of how much the big kids learned about what it is that Mark does at his tournaments.

To give you a quick version, tournaments usually start on Fridays with doubles matches. They move into Saturday with singles matches and, if you do well, and don't get knocked out into the consolation draw, you play on Sunday as well. If there is rain--we are on delay. Sometimes lots of delay and lots of unknowns which could be extremely annoying. Usually, registration for tournaments ends a week before the tournament and then by Wednesday or Thursday we know the exact time of the first match (but again, if there is no rain delay) of the main draw. After that--it's unknown when you'll play, all depends on the draw and if you win or lose. And sometimes you wake up at 6:30 am ready to go warm up on Saturday, but the tournament director posts that there is a delay of an hour or two or "no play before noon" because of wet courts... and the wait begins. 

So much talk about rain delay because that's exactly what happened on Saturday morning. Oh wait, let me back track... Since Doubles started on Friday at 5 pm, and we couldn't leave before 3 pm because of work, Mark got a ride with his doubles partner, Kahven. They played their match and won, which meant they moved on to the next round happening on Saturday. Yeah...so we are back to Saturday morning. We all woke up, ready to go by 7 am and saw that rain delay was posted because it had rained during the night. We didn't want to waste any time, so decided to drive around the historic downtown to get acquainted with the area and then drove to Sullivan's Island to see the beach. 

Good morning!

The weather was cloudy and sad looking but it wasn't freezing.

A bit windy--that's all.

Around noon, the courts were finally dry enough to play. Mark beat his opponent from Charlotte 4:2, 5:4 and moved onto Round of 16. Katya and Alex watched the whole match, cheered at the wrong times, and had a great time, but at least they finally figured out the rules.

After that we had a bit of a wait again, so Robert and I used the opportunity to walk around the beautiful neighborhood. That Spanish moss....

 

That afternoon Mark had another successful match, beating #2 seed from SC 4:1, 5:3 (do you see the pattern with those second sets;)?). He also got to play doubles and they won again. The big kids were very involved watching Mark and hanging out with Kahven's siblings who were there as well.

On Sunday morning, we woke up yet to another rain delay. This time we were determined to see  bit of the historic part of town, although it was a lot colder and windier this time. Here we are at 7:30 am at Rainbow Row--a row of thirteen different buildings with connecting walls. 

We walked down to the Battery.

Enjoyed some "untraditional" warm ups recording running videos for fun.

And then drove over to Fort Sumter National Monument. We did not take the boat over to the actual fort, but learned lots from the free exhibit inside. Fort Sumter was one of the important forts built after the War of 1812. It's the place where Confederate artillery fired on the Union garrison in 1861, then it remained in the Confederate hands for four years till General Sherman marched through South Carolina. 

...And back to tennis. The courts were dry, and play continued. Mark lost his semi-finals match and moved to the 3rd-4th place playoffs where he lost, unfortunately (it was a great match though) and got FOURTH place.  

Our boys continued to play another doubles match in the finals, but lost, so they got SECOND! 

Here is the whole crew, celebrating with our little dudes. It meant a lot to Mark to have his older siblings watch him play. 

That night we wanted to go somewhere special, so we took the kids to a Japanese steak house for some hibachi--a food show cooked in front of us. It was delicious and we all had a wonderful time!

In the morning on Monday, we got up early again and drove over to the nearest plantation for a tour. This is Boone Hall, one of the oldest working plantations in the US. It was built by one of the first settlers in South Carolina colony, John Boone at the end of the 17th century. 

Do you recognize this "driveway"? This is where Patrick Swayze rides up his horse to "Mount Royal" in "North and South" series (if you are familiar with them). 

We did the house tour and learned a bunch about life on the plantation two centuries ago. Fascinating! 

It turns out that these houses out in the country were not really lavishly decorated because this was not their main house. Their main house was in Charleston proper--that's where they entertained and had guests for dinner. 

This house is where special guests were received during the hot summer months--with a big purpose in mind of hearing the latest gossip/news in the social circles in the city.

It was hard to imagine that before bridges and fast boats the trip from Charleston to Boone Hall took more like eight hours versus 35 minutes. 

The grounds around the plantation are beautiful. Nowadays they still grow different seasonal crops throughout the year here and do Halloween hay rides, mazes, pumpkin picking, strawberry picking--I mean, it's hopping with activities here.

They have a beautiful venue by the lake where people hold their weddings. 

We also were able to watch a presentation about the Gullah people by one of the ancestors of the original Gullah people brought here from Africa. I really enjoyed the stories and traditions she shared about how her people were surviving slavery. It was a moving experience actually because most of the people watching her presentation were of white European decent. And when she said "It's MY history", pointing to herself and then "It's YOUR history", pointing to the audience, and then sort motioning towards all of us, she concluded, "It's OUR history"--twice, so that it would sink in.

We really enjoyed our visit as we had never been to a place like that before. I am glad we have a chance, living on this side of the country, to explore these Southern roots. 

I know I've been hopping with my narration over pictures...but thought I would share them all. I've been experimenting with my new phone. 

And in case you want to see a good close up of us--here is another one. Last one, I promise. 

It's quite possible that our trip to Charleston in February might become a bit of a tradition, but we'll see what happens next year. One thing for sure--we really hope we'll be luckier with the weather next time!

Lyana.