Sunday, October 31, 2010

Charleston Trip 2010

FabHub had a two day Algebra conference on a Friday and Saturday in Charleston in October. I happened to have the Friday off, so I went along for the adventure.The conference was held in the Embassy Suites, which is also were we staying.
Our room was on the top - 9th floor. It is a long way down from the top of this building.
On the Pioneer Woman blog, when she goes on book tours, Ree always shows pictures of her hotel rooms. So I thought I would do that too. Mostly because of the humorous comparison. 

This was a suite, which is the only thing we had in common. Her rooms are always beyond huge. Like apartment size huge. Like such a huge waste of money for one night on a business trip huge.
Our room was adequate. We were there for two days and other than the sinking middle on the couch it was a nice place to stay.
Funniest thing is the art hanging behind the television in the front room.

On Friday, after FabHub went to this conference I headed down the street. First stop was Taylor's Books. An awesome bookshop in the historic district. I picked up a couple of books on back to nature, homesteading types of subjects. Books and subjects that are very likely to never be on any audio book listing. I also picked out a magazine and after making my purchases went to the coffee shop section of the store and tried to have a snack in a really nice atmosphere. Unfortunately, the staff was failing for the people in front of me, I gave up and headed off to my next destination.

The Clay Center. 
The Clay Center is an arts and science center that according to their website is a place for creativity, learning, and wonder. I happened to arrive just before the press conference supporting the opening of the new Exploratory. The governor's wife was there. Oooh.
There were also a whole bunch of third graders and pre-ks. That was okay until they tried to play with the stuff I was.... okay never mind. :) 
The Clay Center has a lot of fun activities and art on display that everyone can enjoy and might even learn something. 
I was actually there to see the domed theater movie Fighter Pilot - Operation Red Flag. When I was in the Air Force I knew all about Red Flag, a military exercise at Nellis in Vegas. It was a great show. I enjoyed it. The third graders seemed to also like the show.

 
Out in front of the Center there is a sculpture called Festival of the Performing Arts. It is a bronze sculpture that has a character depicting each of the different arts. 
I thought they were kind of cool and freaky at the same time, but then this done by a famous artist so what do I know.
After that I went back to the hotel and then over to the mall to do some shopping. Nice day in the big city.
On Saturday I walked down to the Capitol Market. It is the nicest farmers market I have seen. Not saying much really, since the only ones I have seen are Princeton and Hinton - mostly anyway. That would be not counting the open markets in Europe of course. Now they know how to sell to their neighbors.
Capitol Market is a year round market that sells whatever is seasonal outside under the old railroad shelter.
This time of year there are lots of pumpkins and marigolds. There were also plenty of late season vegetables and things that store well. I was walking again so didn't have space to carry much or I might have left with a bunch of stuff.





There was a pumpkin decorating contest going on at the market on the day I visited. Can you tell who was sponsoring it?
Of the two that were on display while I was there, these are the two that I really liked.



On my way back to the hotel I stopped and picked up some fresh baked sour dough bread from the Charleston Bakery. I would be in so much trouble if there was a bakery like that around me. I love fresh baked bread. I can do it myself, but the variety from a bakery would be very nice.
Well that is all I have to post this time. We had a nice weekend. Did some shopping. Enjoyed a couple days out in the big city, but ended up coming home appreciating what we have because we are just a couple of small town people who love to travel and enjoy coming home to the farm in the end.
Take Care Everyone!

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