Little mention is made of it elsewhere, but I managed to meet the cutest girl in the Fort Sumter gift shop.  While Baldie was purchasing a book on the H.L. Hunley, I came up as a topic of discussion (and funny-looking wallets, but that's another story). Well, since I don't quite freak out like the boy does when people talk to him, I took over the conversation. The girl working in the gift shop at the Fort Sumter Historical Museum proclaimed I was "too cute", which means she's both brilliant, and of course, meant she got a FrankPen.

I think I read her name to be "Ashton", as she showed me some of her drawings (which were really quite good; a bit abstract, but the talent was apparent). She can draw, was witty, and quite attractive as well. If I weren't such the slow-thinking duck, I'd have asked her to dinner... but didn't think of it until miles later. Alas, she even likes Disney World. How cruel life -- and how feeble my mind when out of my native habitat -- can be...

Fort Sumter as seen from the Charleston harbor area	As we approached the Fort from aboard the Spirit of Charleston	... and me on board the very same ship
The entrance to the Fort, along with the standard construction materials of all historic sites	We were told children must not be stuffed into the cannons, but no word on ducks...	Overlooking the northwest  corner of the Fort, including the ruins of the officers' quarters
And looking across the northern corner of the Fort, facing back toward Charleston, sort of...	On top of one of the big guns, reconstructed to 1860s specifications	Fort Sumter is actually a man-made island, built on 70,000 tons of imported granite