Gribblenation

For decades, two massive steel cantilever bridges connecting Charleston and Mount Pleasant, SC rose over the Cooper River, Drum Island, and Town Creek.  The Grace Memorial, opened in 1929, and the Pearman Memorial, opened in 1966, were part of the fabric of Charleston until the last day they carried traffic on July 16, 2005.  Since that day, the new Ravenel Bridge - a massive cable stayed span - carries the tradition of the two that came before it.    The Grace Memorial Bridge was the first to span the Cooper River.  Built at a cost of $6 million, construction began on the 2.71 mile bridge in March 1928.  Seventeen months later, the bridge opened - in grand celebration - to traffic on August 8, 1929. (1)  The force behind the construction of the then named Cooper River Bridge was John P. Grace, a former Charleston mayor who led the Cooper River Bridge Company.  Because of his efforts, years later the Cooper River Bridge would be renamed in hi...

(Editor's Note: While there's some slow time in the few week's before we have a new addition to the family, I'm trying to catch up on blog entries that I wanted to post or started but never completed.  This is another one of those entries.) Maggie and I's honeymoon was quite an adventurous roadtrip!  We left Raleigh on Sunday afternoon and would not return back for 10 days.  We spent time in Charleston, St. Augustine, Disney World, and Savannah.  So it was a little bit of southern tradition and Disney mixed in.  This blog entry will cover our two days in Charleston featuring a guided walking tour we did around the historic city, and sunset photos of the Ravenel Bridge which came on a dinner cruise on the last night in Charleston. For the entire set from the Charleston tour, head here . Charleston is a fantastic city!  I really hadn't visited the city since 1991, and Maggie had never been to Charleston so this was a great opportunity to really lear...

On November 5th, I headed down with Chris Allen to Charleston to the roadmeet hosted by Billy Riddle. We had lunch at the well known Hyman's Seafood on Meeting Street and the highlight of the tour was a close up view of the spectacular Arthur Ravenel, Jr. Bridge. The entire set can be found here .  But before we get to the meet what about the route down.  Well it was US 64, I-440, I-40, I-95, SC 327, US 301, US 52 into Charleston. On US 52 near St. Charles was this interesting set of signs.  First, that may be the smallest Blue Star Memorial Highway sign I've seen, and secondly the Francis Marion tomb historical marker sign reads "All Rich in Iodine" what does that mean? I would love to have seen this overhead in the original button copy. Hyman's Seafood did not disappoint and i you like Shrimp 'n Grits as much as I do, I highly recommend the Carolina Delight. It's delicious! After lunch we headed over to Mount Pleasant Memorial Water...