Fran, Family, and Fun!

Hooray--Mom, Dad, and Rich came to South Carolina yesterday! It is so fun to have them here. I was able to see Mom when she came to visit me last month, but I haven't seen Dad and Rich since the end of May. I also haven't seen the Barretts since the end of May--that's way too long!! Yesterday Sarah and Joel had class so we took Eliza to her school, then they went to theirs, and I got to hang out at Clemson University. I spent the morning at the library finding stuff for my research paper (no vacation from school work for me!), and then I went to the bookstore and skulked around campus. I even got to meet FRAN MAINELLA, former Director of the National Park Service!! She now works in Sarah and Joel's department, so they introduced me to her. It's kind of funny--she has her Park Service uniform in a frame in her office :-) Sar, Joel, and I had lunch together, then they had more classes, so I hung out for a while and went exploring along College Avenue. Clemson is a really pretty campus, and it's overflowing with history. John C. Calhoun's house, named Fort Hill, is located right in the center of campus. JC's son-in-law, Thomas Clemson, is the one who donated the land for the university. After they were done with classes, we went to the airport over in Greenville to pick up the rest of the fam. We had so much fun together yesterday evening, and Baby Eliza loved having so many people to play with. Today we all slept in (including Eliza!), had yummy bread pudding for breakfast (very Southern!), and then went off for a day of adventures. We first went for a drive through the university's forest retreat located in a beautiful setting right on a lake. The first picture shown up top is of Dad, Mom, me, and Rich there by a pretty little waterfall. Then we went to the little town of Pendleton, which is full of fun antique shops, cool old houses, and historic markers (that's heaven if you ask me!). We ate lunch at this fun little place called Farmer's Hall where the community leaders used to meet to talk politics back before the Civil War. Word on the street is that it was there at Farmer's Hall that John C. Calhoun first started discussing ideas of secession and states' rights with other politicians. We had a really tasty lunch there, and I loved the shrimp and grits I ate. Normally I'm not a huge shrimp fan, but I had shrimp and grits one time in Mississippi and loved it, so I wanted to try it today and it was soooooooo great. After Pendleton, we went over to Clemson and went on a tour of Fort Hill (remember, that's John C. Calhoun's house). I was in historical administration heaven!!! The second picture up there is of the parlor at Fort Hill. JC and Thomas Clemson gathered up a bunch of cool furniture over the years. Today we saw a chair that TC got from Leopold (with Leopold's likeness carved into the arms of the chair), some chairs from Mt. Vernon (one of which was with George Washington during the Revolutionary War), and a sideboard JC got from Henry Clay made out of wood from the USS Constitution! I love touring historic homes and seeing a bunch of things we talk about in class every day. When we went outside at Fort Hill, there was a maintenance guy up on the roof sweeping leaves off. The problem was that he was smoking a cigarette--bad idea on an old, wood home with wood shingles!! Visions of the Windsor Ruins along the Natchez Trace kept flashing through my head. That mansion, one of the biggest in Mississippi, burned down in 1891 when a cigarette was accidentally dropped on the floor. The third picture is of the cutest member of our little touring party, Miss Eliza Grace! She was so cute and happy all day today, even though she's had a bit of a cold. She is so smiley all of the time. Today while the rest of us were in an antique shop, Dad was sitting outside with Eliza and the stroller. Some really old ladies walked by and saw Eliza, and they just couldn't get over how cute she is. They were making such a fuss, and she was smiling from ear to ear. The people at lunch today also thought she was adorable--probably because she is! After hanging out on campus, we went to some of the fun gift shops over on College Avenue to find some Clemson souvenirs. There are Clemson souvenirs everywhere around here! Everything is orange, no matter where you go. It has been such a fun day today, and the adventures will continue tomorrow. We're planning to head up to Asheville, North Carolina, to visit the Biltmore--one of the Vanderbilt estates. Hooray for the Carolinas! It's really pretty here.