Last Hoorah!

Our last night in Charleston, we can planned to go to a rooftop outdoor restaurant on the top floor of a hotel. We tried to make reservations, but it was first come, first serve. We got there at the time recommended only to realize that it wasn't really a restaurant, it was more like a bar. There were appetizer type things to order and lots of drinks. No tables were available and crowds of people were standing around waiting for a table. Most people had already had too much to drink and were a bit tipsy. We decided that this wasn't exactly what we had in mind for my birthday dinner, so we left and went to the nice restaurant downstairs. Their next reservation was at 9-something. It was just after 7, so we had some time to wait. We walked down on the pier and watched the sunset. By 9, we were starving!! We still had to wait another 20 minutes before they had a table for us.  The late dinner wasn't really what we had in mind, but it turned out to be very good.  Our meal was excellent. That last night we stayed in a hotel because I could not tolerate this air mattress on my back another night. Sunday after going to church, we headed home.

 Sunsets and people are always hard to capture together. Either the sunset looks good and the people are dark or the people are lit and the sunset is blown out. Here's one of both. I've heard photographers combine the two to get the perfect sunset pics.

Eric multi-tasking while deflating the air mattress.

We drove home through Asheville, North Carolina and the beautiful Smoky Mountains. The reason they are called the smoky mountains is little puffs of mist settle in the trees and it looks like smoke rising. It's pretty cool. I tried to capture some of these pockets of mist while we were driving home.

Our welcoming committee! When we got home, the kids had painted their faces to wish me a happy birthday. Jesikah did a good job holding down the fort while we were gone.