Visited Kara in Charleston.. beautiful city, historic…summary would be- Folley Beach (Taco Boy)- all kinds of Mexican food, tacos, good margarita selection. Surf Bar- real chill place right on the strip, surfers on the tvs, decorated very well- pics, articles on wall, surf boards, island feel, chill bartender and friendly staff. Reminded me of the keys, down by the beach…sandy parking, palm trees everywhere- excuse me, Palmetto trees (South Carolina’s state tree).
Kara had to work the next few days, so I went to downtown Charleston, walked around King Street, got some ideas of stuff around at the Visitor’s Center… had a picnic at a park downtown and watched some sword fighting slash tai chi type stuff…at first I was surprised to see people all ver sunbaithing at the park, but then I realized, why not? Who cares if it’s mid October….it’s great weather, and keep in mind I’m not in NY anymore! Dinner at Vickery’s…beautiful setting right on the water, boats, good view, yummy food and drinks…then Red’s Ice House- cool bar right on the water, open, bi-level on a canal…Phillies San Fran baseball game on, live southern music…
Isle of Palms…beach accesses all over the place..at first I didn’t realize that you can park all along the road as long as you’re 4 feet from the curb. Tons of huge houses, like 3 levels along the beach. I also visited their town recreation center and talked to a great lady who I learned had lived in many places and she recommended some places to check out. Mount Pleasant has a larger recreation department than Isle of Palms, but it’s because they are a larger community/ town than Isle. I learned a bit about their facility and the types of programs that they run in their recreation department. After checking that out, I headed to the beach to enjoy some sun and the ocean. The water was incredibly warm…about 76 or so…maybe even warmer. I caught up on my travel journal while I was there too, which was a good idea because I had been doing so much!! I learned that pretty much all of the houses that were more than 2 levels were built recently, and the “original” town houses were smaller, a lot of times one level houses.
I checked out Market Street Saloon..Coyote Ugly type bar..fun atmosphere- gets kinda crazy, but fun! The bartenders have choreographed dances on the bar, and a few even hula hoop- which, as you can probably guess- I joined them for that part J. Fun times…then, after that part was over, proceeded to hoop around the bar, both in and outside on their deck…I wish I made (or purchased) a hoop that you can take apart for taking on the plane…I will have to invest in one, or everyplace I go maybe I will just buy one and leave it as a gift to those I am staying with for their entertainment later on!
Kara had the next day off, so we enjoyed bottomless mimosas downtown at Toast- and I got a very southern breakfast, but delicious. (crabcake on a fried green tomato, w a poached egg, biscuit and gravy, and cheese grits). I didn’t know grits were made from corn..also, I am not a fan of the famous gravy everyone loves down here, but the rest of the meal was delish. I really like the friend green tomatoes..I’m gonna have to start making those! We went shopping at the Market downtown, then went back to the house and took naps. Market Street again, and afterwards decided to have a crazy dance party back at Katie’s… aka dance with some Svedka till 5am. I woke up the next morning to find I had 3 cats asleep on top of me all night (thank you to Kara’s camera phone). They must have known I am an animal person!
Last day, crazy schedule…finally were around/ showered/ dressed and out the door to lunch/brunch at Triangle by 1. They have great black bean burgers, and I got my collard greens- good, but they were spicy (for all of you that know I don’t like spicy I sure have been up-ing my heat/spice level tolerance- yes, be proud). Decided that we needed a “morning coffee” at 3 in the afternoon…process haha. Then we went and checked out the Firefly Distillery….famous for their sweet tea and lemonade infused vodkas. The lemonaide one you can only purchase at the distillery itself…their staple vodka. We did their vodka tasting and then a wine tasting from Irvin-House Vineyards. We visited Angel oak- the oldest Oak tree in the US…they think it’s about 1500 years old, incredible to see…the branches get so heavy they touch the ground then keep growing up from there…pretty amazing that something can get that huge! Chill night- BBQ’d at Katie’s and watched a game.
Next day, Amtrak at 5am. Cheap way to get around if you have time to kill in getting to your destination…I ended up sleeping most of the way. I talked to a girl from Spain who was pretty cool- she went to school in Winter Park, FL but we talked about our Charleston visits.
