Dear Reader:

There was no way we were going to leave Beaufort without going to the Chocolate Tree yesterday-in fact it was the first stop on our last day itinerary… after all Valentines is just around the corner!

Plus… there is a fun story connection that dates back to the making of the movie Forest Gump with Tom Hanks. He became so fond of their chocolates… he stopped by every day during the filming in Beaufort to get his ” fix!”

As the local story goes… on the last scene of Gump holding the Whitman Sampler box… he had dumped them and refilled the box with the Chocolate Tree chocolates! … That’s their story and they are sticking with it!

From The Chocolate Tree we went to lunch just up a couple of blocks away…. Wren!

One of the girls at the chocolate shop had told us to try the Mango Tea… it was to die for… along with the chicken salad and soups! Once again the advice was right on target! From there we walked over to the food market… supposed to have great pimento cheese and many of you know… I love pimento cheese… will let you know tomorrow how that was when I make a sandwich for supper tonight!

One more interesting tidbit about Harriett Tubman that we heard on the carriage tour evolved around the Combahee River Raid lead by Tubman to free the slaves from the deserted homes fled by white owners after the union army arrived.

You can imagine many union soldiers and especially officers were more than a little taken back when they discovered Tubman was leading the operation. She planned to wear pants and several groups of union soldiers verbally disapproved… wanting her to wear a skirt.

Harriett started reading the military procedures manual thoroughly… and with a suppressed smile she called a meeting to explain that all ” uniformed” soldiers must dress alike …in uniform…so if she had to wear a skirt… then so did they. The issue was immediately dropped! Imagine!

Our tour guide said that , even later in life, Harriett always slept with a shotgun… so no one wanted to draw the short straw for the job of waking her first thing in the morning.

Brooke and I went home on the highways adjacent to the marine base

One last memory from this trip … our hotel was filled with family coming from everywhere to Beaufort to attend a family member’s marine graduation on Parris Island … we talked to many families on the elevator rides and there was excitement and also tears too… very emotional time.

It brought back memories when mother, David, and myself attended Ben’s graduation there and then had a meal before we left… I was terrified the whole time! I think I held my breath until we got back in the car and headed home. The ceremony was moving but the atmosphere was scary for me… afraid I was going to get yelled at!

So until tomorrow… Thank you Father for friends and adventures … and time to make new memories and reflect on the old.

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh