Katie and Dan's Travels

If this is Tuesday, it must be, er, ah, Charleston?

Saturday was moving in and housekeeping in our starter-kit condo in the agreeable town of Mount Pleasant, on the eastern side of the Cooper River and at the foot of the spectacular Ravenel Bridge where there is a Whole Foods and a Trader Joe’s both within 5 minutes.

Sunday morning we drove around Mount Pleasant which has a lovely small old part of town with gorgeous places and view on the river and a cluster of boats and eateries at Shem Creek. That evening we were taken in by Georgia Crawford Nettles (daughter of an old Small Point friend of Katie’s) and her husband Brian for a drink at home and then we treated them to a fun dinner in S.N.O.B. (Slightly North Of Broad), a great restaurant in Charlestown. Georgia gave us a way to use a parking area downtown, which is wonderful – as well as being within ten minutes of our condo. So thanks again to Georgia.

Monday we hit the Visitor Center and managed to get ourselves ensnared in a pitch for time-shares in return for $ 100+ worth of tickets to things we actually wanted to do, so while the whole pitch was even more egregious, venal and tasteless than most, we came out ahead. We actually enjoyed SarahLyn, who introduced us to a concept we didn’t know: for Thanksgiving, her family is having a TurKuckEn; sounds delicious, and a lot of work; has anyone out there ever had one?. We did a drive-by on the rows of gorgeous houses in the southern end of town in order to get oriented and then took in the SC Aquarium (free tickets), with a spectacular three-story ocean tank but a less intimate and welcoming feel than the NC Aquarium on Cape Fear.

This morning was our turn to use the free tickets (again) to take the horse-drawn carriage trip through town, and listen to the guide describe what we saw and discuss some of the history of Charleston; it was well-done: he had a fine sense of humor and a solid grasp of not only the facts but also the social and political trends of the times. Moving at a clip-clop pace is useful, as you get time to see details and are high enough in the air to snoop over the neighbors’ fences. The horse come equipped with pooper-catchers and are clearly well-cared for and trained.

This afternoon, we took a tour of Magnolia Plantation still in the same family after 16 generations. This was one of the rice plantations but survived after Reconstruction by selling off 2/3 of its 2000 acres and diversifying. Despite the hype on its website, its a beautiful spot and manages to convey a sense of how people lived then (we didn’t do the house visit….). But the alligators were on display.

At first you think that the South Carolinians were just the most rebellious around: first to declare themselves no longer a colony, first to secede (unanimously) from the US. Then you add it up fast that they were most determined to protect their slave-driven economy and privileges and it takes the shine off the gestures. But there are a LOT of Oldest Thises and Historic Thats here: gardens, houses, churches, attitudes. It is undeniably a lovely downtown area and appears to be thriving; there a lots of young people around (and an unusual and noticeable number of gorgeous girls), some clearly students at the College of Charleston (our guide asserted that SC comes 49th in educational ratings of the 50 states) where the student body is 2/3 female); clearly there are also many local businesses, likely many related to the tourist trade. Charleston is also the fourth-largest shipping container port in the US, and the second largest on the East Coast. They are, unfortunately, planning to add a cruise ship pier in the near future, which should seriously affect the quality of visiting the downtown area. It’s the only city we’ve been in so far which has touts all over the place, in front of some eateries or peddling horse-drawn carriage tours; unusual, though they are low-key about the pitch.

We try to mix visits to the “usual suspects”, i.e., Magnolia Plantation or doing the horse-drawn carriage tour, with looking for wild corners, back streets, architectural details, people in their back yards, swamps, critters and other details not quite so susceptible to commercial packaging. Sometimes it just means driving around, or walking around the corner, or going to the local grocery store. It’s a bit harder in a city like Charleston.

Dan’s brother John arrives, by train from Boston, tomorrow morning early, we’re baking a pie tonight, and going to cook a turkey on Thursday; that in itself will be unusual as we are nearly always in Switzerland at Thanksgiving, and have to have it on the weekend after if we want to do it.

This being our favorite holiday, we will think of all of you, and raise our glasses to absent friends and family, and wish you a lovely holiday in good company.