The Mize Muse

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.

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.