Charleston Day 5

I was sad to see our last day of vacation arrive. We had such a great time exploring the area and eating      our way through so many different restaurants. We noshed tasty morsels and daydreamed about moving. I was very taken with the Southern lifestyle. I have always considered myself a Southern girl, but there is a definite difference between Texas girls and Southern debutantes! We also laughed numerous times throughout the week at all of the men in pink. I have never seen so many pink polos, pink oxford shirts with the sleeves rolled, seersucker suits, plaid shorts, or even solid color shorts with little prints. (I saw a grown man with a blue pair of shorts with little red anchors embroidered all over them. He was secure in his masculinity.)

We ate our last meal in Charleston at a place called The Glass Onion. (I got a cookbook from them as well the The Hominy Grill. I love to read cookbooks!) Once again, they had deviled eggs and pimento cheese. As it was our last meal, we felt obligated to eat both!

Shane also had the fried chicken po'boy with a side of mac and cheese. They actually ship in their po'boy bread from New Orleans. It was pretty authentic. This restaurant is a firm believer in local ingredients and support the local suppliers by buying as many of their ingredients from local farmers, fisherman, and butchers as possible. It was a fine meal. 

Grilled pimento cheese with house made bread and butter pickles. There is not much in life that makes me happier than good food. 

After we enjoyed our lunch, we were off to explore the other side of Charleston. (Up to this point, we had only been in the downtown area and western side.)

While we were driving around we found the plantation district as well as the original Charles Town Landing. We started to tour a plantation, but decided on the Landing instead. I'm glad that we did, it was fascinating. Charleston wasn't originally built on the harbor. When the original colonists came to the area, they actually settled across the river and the creek at this spot. They lived here in a fortified city (That term is used loosely. There were only about 250 colonists.) that was bordered by the marsh, the creek, and a fence with cannons. After 10 years of not really being able to trade, the colonists picked up the city and trekked across the river and set up a new city in the harbor. The rest is history! (hee hee)

We opted to use a self paced audio tour. I'm really glad that we did. The park was beautiful, but there was so much information that was added per the audio tour. It was very interesting. This fence below was an example of fencing from the time period.

This statue depicts the chief of the Indian tribe that met them at the river and invited them to shore. He was hoping for an ally to fight against neighboring Indian tribes.

 

These were stocks that were used for discipline within the town. 

None of the original buildings are still standing. This was an example of a house. 

We were looking classy with our headphones. :) 

Four cannons pointed towards the river to provide protection from anyone approaching there. 

Little huts with thatched roofs were the original dwellings. 

After the town was moved, one of the families purchased all of the land and then lived on the premises for the next 200+ years. In 1970, the land was sold to the state for the tricentennial celebration and then turned into a state park the next year. The property was a plantation for years. 

The park was beautiful with some of the oldest and largest trees that I have ever seen. 

Seriously.

The plantation had beautiful gardens and the governor actually lived in the big house for a while. 

After sweating through our tour, we climbed back into our air conditioning and drove back to Charlotte for our return trip home. 

We have decided that we love the Carolinas. We met so many truly friendly people that were so proud of their state and were happy to visit and to help. We got many recommendations from others for restaurants, parks, at one point we even got a ride from someone back to our car. Southern hospitality at it's finest. I think that this was the BEST birthday gift ever and I smile every time that I think about it.

Charleston Day 4

We woke up a little late after our jam packed activity of the day before. I took a screen shot to show how far we had traveled. I was missing my kids just a bit.;)

We kicked off our day with brunch from Dixie Bakery and Supply Cafe. (We ate breakfast there the day before. It was that good!) Seriously, the BEST cinnamon roll that I have had. Ever. 

I also decided to try what I had changed my mind about the day before. I did not go wrong with peaches and cream pancakes. They were delicious! I also added an order of crab cakes. Those were out of this world!

Shane had a chicken biscuit sandwich with eggs. Really, there's not much better in life than a good biscuit. 

I just can't get over the beauty of the houses, streets, and shutters. 

After stuffing our bellies, we drove over to The Citadel. It is a military school that feeds into all of the branches of the military. 

Because of it being summer the campus was pretty empty. The parade grounds were impressive and there were full size tanks, jets, and helicopters surrounding the grounds. It was interesting to look around. 

After looking over a map, we decided to go exploring past Mt. Pleasant and see what we could find. We were not disappointed. We drove to an area called Isle of Palms. First of all, the neighborhoods were unreal. We were able to park in a secluded area near some houses and find this little public access path to the beach. 

Just one of the houses. Love the color! 

And then over a little hill... 

And then the beach! 

We parked ourselves here for the rest of the afternoon. It was glorious. We found two beach chairs and an umbrella and I have to say it felt like paradise. Some napping happened... 

I found lots of shells. I never could find a whole sand dollar. 

Just watching the waves...

After lounging on the beach until nearly dark, we decided that we should find some dinner. We passed this lighthouse.  

We went to a place on Sullivan's Island called Home Team BBQ for dinner. It did not disappoint! Shane had ribs, mac and cheese and red rice. He was not a fan of the red rice (it's everywhere there), but everything else was delicious! 

I had the pulled pork sandwich with slaw and a side of cucumbers and tomatoes. I have been eating cucumbers and tomatoes ever since we have been back! 

The restaurant itself was one of the most fun memories of the trip. They had live music with a great band (one of the guys had a trombone), people were dancing, drinks were great, and a relaxed party atmosphere.

It was a great ending to a very relaxing day.

Charleston Day 3

We stayed at a non-fancy hotel right in the middle of downtown, which meant that we could walk everywhere. We started off with breakfast at the Dixie Supply Bakery and Cafe. This place was so good. There was a line out of the door BOTH of the mornings that we ate here. :) When there are more locals than tourists, that's a good sign!

I had made my menu decision and was holding the table while Shane was in line to make the order. After watching other plates come out the door, I changed my mind twice before I finally settled.

I didn't take any pictures of our breakfast, but we had the BEST cinnamon roll that I have ever had. ever. We also noshed on eggs, hashbrowns, biscuits, ham and sausage. You know, a regular breakfast.

After all of that food, we were ready to walk! First up, Market Street. Charleston has the oldest open air market in the United States. This market has been on this spot and open since the late 1600s. Whaaat?! 

We walked through stalls and stalls of traditional Charleston wares - woven, sweet grass baskets, wafer cookies, and such and then of course lots of jewelry and tourist stuff. 

This picture shows the front entrance to the market, but the market itself stretches for 3 or 4 city blocks.

Headed back to our hotel with our bags, we stumbled upon this hidden alleyway. Very charming and secretive.

I love that everything in Charleston is labeled. In addition to the marker below we also overheard a carriage driver giving a tour and telling his riders that this alleyway used to be the "dueling" alley. When dueling was legal in Charleston, this alleyway was recorded as having 43 deaths by gunshot.

 

This little gate led into another area.

Original cobblestones and brick. 

Lots of buildings looked like this with the exposed brick. 

Gardening inspiration. 

We enjoyed peeking into private gardens around the city. The entrance to this home is from the alleyway. 

Just a city street. 

Every city street had the most beautiful, old, colorful homes. We felt that we needed to walk every one of them.

I'm seriously getting some window boxes! 

I was amazed at how many churches were in the area. This was a beautiful Presbyterian church that of course has been there since the 1700s. 

This house was right next to the cemetery with headstones dating back to the 1600s. That cemetery was also on the "ghost" tour. We overheard a couple of ghost stories later in the week. 

After all of our morning walking, we decided to go and check out a little pharmacy/soda shop, Pitt Street Pharmacy, that we had heard about. We drove across the bridge into Mt. Pleasant and were pleasantly (he he) surprised to find an area that we liked even more than the downtown Charleston area.

We pulled up on a little street lined with trees, white picket fences, and shuttered homes facing the beach. It was like walking into a movie set. (I don't think that I have mentioned how much I love the shutters. Out of everything, the window boxes and shutters are my favorite!)

 

We walked into an old fashioned soda shop with an antique, working Coke machine with glass bottles.

We ordered chicken salad sandwiches and milk shakes. After eating lots of heavy food, it was delicious and light. (except for the milkshake.) 

Of course, we had to drive around and see the sights. Across the water was Battery Park and Charleston. This is someone's back yard. I'm ready to move, thank you. 

We finished a quick tour and then hurried back across the bridge to catch the ferry for a trip to Fort Sumter. The fort sits in the middle of the harbor and the only way to reach it is a 3 mile boat ride.

It's hard to see in the picture, but there were lots of sailboats in the harbor.

And a cruise ship! I would have never thought to board a cruise ship in Charleston! 

After seeing lots of pelicans and a couple of dolphins, we arrived at Fort Sumter. 

The first shots of the Civil War were fired here at Fort Sumter, a fact that South Carolinians are fiercely proud of. South Carolina is also the only state that voted unanimously to secede from the Union.

Fort Sumter was an active fort until right after WWII, when it was decommissioned and handed over to the National Park Service. It was also a line of three forts in the Charleston Harbor that worked together to provide crossfire for protection of the harbor. We later visited Fort Moultrie. Fort Johnson is no longer standing.

We headed back across the bridge to go see what we might have missed in Mt. Pleasant. We stumbled across Patriot Point Park. This park was unreal. Shane was park geeking all over the place. A linear park complete with large open green space, playground structures, a moving veteran's memorial, the star of the park was the pier. Stretching for at least half a mile, the pier ran underneath the highway above and offered beautiful views of the harbor, the marsh around it and of course fishing. 

As we were looking over the side of the bridge, I noticed that the ground was MOVING. These little crabs were everywhere and were fighting each other. Fascinating. 

Not only was the pier well built and comfortable for large crowds, it was complete with stations containing nets, bait cutting tables, and an occasional water hose.

We watched a guy reel in a sting ray. That was exciting.  I was glad that it was him and not me. I would not have know how to get it off the hook!

Every little bit were these huge swings. We sat here for a while. 

The parks department in Charleston is doing some great things. Their programming was quite impressive and they even have a gift shop/deli that is operated from the pier and completely run by the department. 

As we were leaving, people were showing up in droves for a dance that the department was hosting on the pier. We almost stayed.

Instead, we headed for a hot dog stand that we had heard about. Jack's Cosmic Dogs. I have heard that in this world there are hot dog people and hamburger people. I am a hamburger person, but I married a hot dog guy. This place did not disappoint. It almost made a hot dog person out of me! We ate here twice.

 

Our kids would have LOVED this place. They have a regular old hot dog, but then they also dress up their hot dogs. Shane had his with onions and cheese. I had mine with sweet potato mustard and bleu cheese slaw. Oh my. My mouth is watering as I'm typing this. Since we were in SC, I also had to try Cheerwine. I have heard of this before and it did not disappoint. Cheerwine is a cherry soda. I actually grabbed the diet by accident and it was still good. Which says a lot because I detest diet drinks.

We also ordered some cheese fries with our hot dogs. Mmmmm... 

After dinner, at the recommendation of someone that we had met in town, we drove to the end of a street that just turned into a park. No sign. Not on the map. Everyone there was local. Fantastic! The park was simply a pier that stretched out into the marsh. 

We enjoyed a beautiful sunset and evening from the pier. It was a beautiful ending to a very full day.