Category Archives: Vacation

Cypress Gardens (12/27/12)

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If you’ve seen either The Patriot or The Notebook you’ve seen the swamp at Cypress Gardens.  We went there to enjoy the natural setting of the gardens and the swamp.  We saw three alligators in captivity (they are unable to survive in the wild), and enjoyed seeing a great variety of swamp life in the Swamparium.  After that we toured the Butterfly House, seeing birds and butterflies in there.  The colors on the wood duck were amazing!

Despite Sary-Jo’s reservations, we then got into a flat-bottom boat and paddled around the swamp.  The water was amazing, with colors developed by the oils secreted from the cypress trees.  We had been told we would probably not see any alligators because they are hibernating at this time of year.  However, Margie offered $5 to whichever of the boys spotted the first alligator.  Leave it to David (who had bought binoculars in the gift shop) to spot a good-sized specimen.  We paddled relatively close and Sary-Jo took pictures and video.

After the boat ride, we spent a little more time – walking across the bridge from The Patriot and looking for more wildlife.  It was a beautiful place and a great day.

Click the photo above to see more pictures.  Watch the 6 minute video below.

Boone Hall

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David & Daniel in an old Live Oak

After Cypress Gardens (and lunch at Moe’s), we toured the Boone Hall plantation.  Seeing a place like this brings such a mix of emotions – it truly is beautiful, and walking the grounds brings a sense of majesty and awe; then you walk through the slave quarters and ponder what a terrible situation the slaves lived under.  One cannot help but be changed a bit just by spending some time there.

The most striking physical characteristic of Boone Hall is the long entrance road lined on both sides with Live Oak trees.  These trees were planted in 1743 and they create a spectacular entrance to the property.

There was a great storyteller explaining the Gullah culture and language.  We were moved by the history and very impressed by the property.

Click the photo to see more pictures.  Watch the 5+ minute video below (ignore the narration that calls the place, “Boone Farm”).

Charleston – December 26

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Two things we knew were thoroughly confirmed on this trip: 1) Charleston and the surrounding area are very interesting, and 2) Sarah really knows how to plan and host a trip (no slight to Kyle; I just think Sarah does the logistics on these things).  Every day had just the right touch – we had rest when we needed it, but were on the go the rest of the time so we could see as much as possible in the time allotted.

On the 26th of December we went to downtown Charleston, toured a historic home (Edmonston-Alston House) that is just amazing, enjoyed walking around the waterfront area including White Point Garden Park, and finished with another fantastic home-cooked meal.  This time dinner was Ceviche and Charleston Boil.

The tour of the Edmonston-Alston House includes a lot of discussion of history.  One can imagine watching the Civil War break out on Fort Sumter out in the harbor.  And of course, with South Carolina on the wrong side of that struggle, there are statues and other tributes to the Confederacy.  We took a picture of the boys in front a statue labeled, “To the Confederate Defenders of Charleston” and refer to that picture as “Irony.”  We are so blessed that our country has moved in the right direction.  Even in the South, our family’s diversity rarely caught anybody’s attention.

The notable exception happened on the freeway: Kyle was driving his truck with David sitting next to him and me (Randy) next to David.  I can’t recall who was in the back seat.  Another pickup passed us with a black man in the passenger’s seat.  I watched him as he was casually looking our way until he saw David in the middle and his mind had a great deal of difficulty processing what he was seeing.  He just completely locked on to David until his truck was well ahead of us.  The look on his face seemed to be one of pure bewilderment.  I wish I had video or pictures of the moment.  But otherwise, the looks we got were just like home meaning, really, that people are quite comfortable with mixed-race families.

None of us had eaten Ceviche or Charleston Boil before.  Both were fantastic!  And, keeping with the Jensen way, there were multiple varieties.  My favorite Ceviche was the shrimp.

Click the photo above to see more.  Watch the video below (there’s a fair amount of wind noise).

Christmas Day

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We continued our fantastic stay in South Carolina by spending most of Christmas Day at Kyle and Sarah’s house.  Food was, once again, excellent.  We took our time getting moving in the morning and with the opening of gifts.  We also kept our family tradition by having the boys recite the Christmas story from Luke 2.  They memorize it every year, as the girls did when they were younger.  This time, Sarah helped the boys with the recitation (you can hear her on the video).  Also, Zheng continued David’s musical education by working with him on the piano and the guitar.

In the afternoon, we left the house to take in a movie – Les Miserables opened on Christmas Day so we went to see it.  The boys have been singing the music ever since.

Christmas Eve 2012

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Dinner time

We enjoyed a fairly quiet day on Christmas Eve.  Margie and Ruli had arrived early in the morning after a 3-day travel delay and two long drives sandwiched around some long flights (watch “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” and you’ll get the idea).  Dinner was awesome (that seemed to be one of the themes of this trip) as Kyle and Sarah prepared pasta and several types of fish.

After dinner the boys each opened a small gift.  Daniel’s was a “Merry Oke” microphone that alters the voice.  David’s was an audio version of “Mad-Libs” in which he would answer questions (e.g., “Name a place”) and then the device would read a story with his words filling in the blanks.  These two things really helped fill in the entertainment void (that’s a joke – there was never an entertainment void!).

David & Sarah (12/24)

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David doesn’t do “quiet” very well.  He loves to start tickle wars (which he NEVER wins), or to otherwise keep things lively.  He decided to try to take Sarah down.  I don’t think it worked out too well for him.  See for yourself.

John’s Island – Light Display (12/22)

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David, Santa, Daniel

We went to John’s Island to see the Christmas lights.  For us, the display was like going to two different displays here at home: a drive through and a walking park.  The lights were very well done and, although it seemed cold at the time, we appreciated how much warmer it was than at home.  In addition to the lights, the boys climbed the rock wall and, of course, we found plenty of treats!

Click the picture to see more (including David getting piano lessons from Zheng).

Busy Day in Charleston (12/22)

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Angel Oak

There is so much to do and see here in Charleston that we have to double-up on most days.  On Saturday, we had to do triple duty!  We started by going to Angel Oak, which boasts the world’s largest Live Oak tree.  It was quite a specimen and we enjoyed this sprawling tree.  We took some very nice family photos (and tried to delete most of the crummy ones).

After Angel Oak, we headed down the road to the Charleston Tea Plantation, the only active tea plantation in North America.  It is owned by the Bigelow family and produces Bigelow and other brands of tea.  Touring the facility was educational (we did not know that black and green tea come from the same leaves; they’re just processed differently) and fun.  Naturally, we had to do a little shopping in their gift shop.

When we had finished at the tea plantation, we headed to the Firefly Distillery (some of you are thinking, “Now we’re talking”) to sample their products.  The distillery is in a beautiful setting (to be clear, everything in the Charleston area is in a beautiful setting) and is home to rabbits, chickens, ducks and other animals.

Click on the picture (taken at Angel Oak) to see more pictures.

Daniel Island

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DanielAs we drove to church for Christmas service, we crossed Daniel Island.  It’s a very upscale part of the Charleston area.  On the way back from church (excellent sermon, by the way), we had to stop on the island and get a couple pictures of Daniel on “his” island.

Friday

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Our first full day in Charleston was fairly relaxing.  We spent much of the day at home with Kyle and Sarah.  Margie & Ruli had planned to arrive that morning but ran into travel difficulties; they would not arrive until Monday morning.  In the afternoon, all the boys (Randy, Kyle, Daniel & David) made a bunch of sandwiches to take downtown later.

David & Kyle

At dinnertime, we went with a large group of volunteers to feed a number of people who lined up for food.  All of the people receiving food were extremely nice to us and very appreciative of the food.  Many of these people were quick to engage us in conversation and they were generally optimistic and upbeat, despite the fact that most of them would spend the night outdoors on a very cold (for Charleston) night just a few days before Christmas.  The experience was a good one for us, althoug it might have been a bit more than Daniel was prepared for.  He didn’t really want to talk about it so all we can do is speculate, but it seems he wasn’t prepared to see poverty in America.

After that we met up with a couple of Sarah & Kyle’s frieds, Matt and Crystal, for dinner at Barsa restaurant.  Dinner was fantastic and the conversation even better.