Charleston

We had a long drive down from Hyco Lake to Charleston, SC where we stayed at the James Island County Park Campground just south of the city proper.

James Island County Park was starting to set up for the Christmas Festival of Lights and here is the one at the entrance to the campground:

Looks like it will be beautiful! Too bad we will be long gone from here. Here’s our site:

Nice site but with all the trees it will be another week without satellite!

We got settled in in time to shower up and head into town because we had dinner reservations at the Delaney Oyster House.

Our friends, the Fluhartys, son David is the Asst. General Manager. We sat at the bar and the bartender created some wonderful drinks before getting seated upstairs in the old converted house.

Outstanding meal served ”tapas” style and we noshed on oysters, shishito peppers, octopus, hush puppies, and shrimp.

If you are ever in Charleston I highly recommend this place!

Kevin Fluharty was also in town visiting with David and his finance, Jenny. So after dinner we met up with them at a place called Krazy Owls before heading over to see the new home that they had recently rented.

The next day we volunteered to help them move across town. It was hot! Moving them out of their third story apartment and into the new raised house meant a lot of steps. After we loaded up our truck Katrina and I stopped at CAVA for lunch. Katrina had eaten at one years ago and raved about the flavorful food. It’s kind of like a Mediterranean Chipotle’s. Fantastic stop for lunch!
We continued with our load to the new house and unpacked. Katrina went straight to work organizing the kitchen. After getting a lot put away we stopped at the Tattooed Moose for a quick bite to eat. Very interesting place:

We headed on home for showers and relaxation.

Katrina got out to play some pickleball at the local park where the games were pretty competitive. It rained most of the day so Katrina and I caught up on some TV. Around dinner time it turned to more sprinkles so we went to the town of Folly’s Beach. We ate at a local dive called Chico Feo and got tacos and lettuce wrapped pork sausage.

The food was good but we were getting a little wet as we had to sit outside. We left there and walked a block over to Taco Boy

and sat at the bar out of the rain.

Split a guacamole and had a drink. Nothing special. We headed back to the Busse Bus.

Katrina went to pickleball the next morning and I went along to watch. It was fun watching her play and seeing the courts. Temporary pickleball nets on top of old tennis courts. Pretty typical as the sport continues to grow.

We went to see the Angel Oak:

Can you believe the size of that tree? It’s over 400 years old and can live to be 900. Hopefully they can continue to protect it for generations to come.

We wanted to catch an early dinner at Minero’s, a scratch Mexican place. However it wasn’t open for service yet so we went across the street to the Estuary Beans & Barley coffee shop and brewery. After tasting a few of the brews, Katrina and I settled in on our choices.

Once we finished our pours we headed back over to Minero’s for dinner.

Excellent food! We sampled the three types of salsa with the benne being the most interesting and different than we have had before. Benne is the African term for sesame which certainly was not a type of salsa that we have ever tried before. I had the steak fajitas which were outstanding! We got to sit outside and watched the Cubbies beat the Cards in the first game of a double header. Afterwards we went back across the street, but this time we went next door to the Charleston Distilling Co.

I had a manhattan and while sitting at the bar we found out that the owners were from Lake Forest, IL. We chatted with her for about an hour before heading home.

The next day Katrina played pickleball again before we went downtown to take a city tour. We had a guided bus tour for an hour and a half where we learned about Charleston checkered past. Here are some of the highlights that I remembered: 1) In 1670 Charles Town was started when King Charles II of England ”gave” land to settlers in lieu of repaying debts he owned to the Lords when they funded his return to power after a civil war ten years earlier. 2) In 1783 it was reincorporated as Charleston. 3) Charleston was the largest slave port in the colonies. 4) The colonists realized that the region best grew rice and created the Carolina Gold variety. 5) The slaves from the western coast of Africa knew how to grow rice in tidal basins and estuaries. 6) These enslaved people are known as ”Gullahs” as an ethnic group. 7) There was a slave rebellion that was thwarted in 1822. At that time the enslaved outnumbered the free men two to one. 8) The first shot fired of the Civil War was by the Confederate troops against Fort Sumter which is a manmade island in the middle of the rivers emptying into the Atlantic Ocean. 9) Palmetto palms were used to reinforce the walls at Fort Moultrie during the Revolution War and the cannon balls bounced off saving the lives of the soldiers within. After that the Palmetto Tree became the official state tree. It is also incorporated on the South Carolina flag. 10) After the Civil War Charleston fell on hard times. After about a century Charleston started to come back when in 1974 the City of Charleston developed the Historic Preservation Plan to preserve its’ architectural heritage. 11) Today Charleston is a vibrant community that that attracts tourism based on its’ history, architecture, and restaurant experiences. Charleston ranks number one from establishments such as Travel + Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler, and Southern Living.

Here are some snapshots along the way:

Very interesting place! I wrote about other aspects regarding Charleston during our last visit three years ago – check it out.

We exited the tour in the downtown area to do some shopping in the Historic Charleston City Market and to grab some food. Katrina found an unique cover up before we headed Hyman’s Seafood for a refreshing drink and shrimp appetizer.

From there we went to the Dewberry Charleston Hotel and headed to the roof – the Citrus Club.

Great views and exotic drinks!

For dinner we decided on Xiao Bao Biscuit which offers mixed Asian fare in a former gas station. We tried the Okonomiyaki, Dumplings, Pad Kra Pow with sticky rice, and bok choy.

Outstanding cuisine!

The following day Katrina played some pickleball before the rain started. When she returned we played some Qwixx (the game Laurie taught us during our last stop) until we headed downtown for dinner. We stopped for a drink at Doar Bros:

Great cocktails!

We then went across the street to eat at FIG’s. FIG stands for Food Is Good! And it was!

The Ricotta Gnocchi was phenomenal!

We capped off the evening at Eleve Rooftop Restaurant & Lounge atop the Ryder Hotel.

Nice venue although we had hoped the rain would have stopped so that we could go outside and see the city at night.

Guess what? Katrina played pickleball the next morning! Who would’ve thunk?

Finally got some pictures of the courts! Katrina is usually too focused to remember mundane things like pictures.

We met up with Kevin, who was back in town for the weekend, for an early dinner at Little Jack’s Tavern for a burger:

Great burgers, although expensive!

Katrina and I scooted over to the wharf to catch the sunset harbor tour on the Charleston Princess. We motored by the beautiful Arthur Ravenal Jr. Bridge:

While we where under the bridge the Captain sounded the horn and the echoes were delightful to hear, kinda like music!

From there we traveled by the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown:

This was not the original USS Yorktown as that one was sunk in the Battle of Midway during WWII. This one was commissioned about a year later.

It’s starting to get closer to sunset:

Next we went by the remains of Fort Sumter:

Fort Sumter played critical roles during the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War. Today it’s a National Monument.

We love being on the water:

Check out these sunset pictures of Charleston:

Once docked we headed home for the evening.

The following day Katrina got to play pickleball again. Later in the day we met up with Kevin, David, Jenny and Mike at the Low Tide Brewery:

And my favorite video ever:

Doesn’t that look good?

Right next door was the Italian Restaurant where we had dinner called Wild Olive. Kevin helped me find the way:

Delicious meal:

Fantastic evening!

The following day we awoke to rain so no pickleball. Kevin came over to the Busse Bus to meet up before we head to a BBQ lunch at Lewis’. Again Kevin showed us the way:

Where’s the meat?

Oh, that’s where! And here’s how you do it :

Excellent meats! Our favorite was the smoked turkey. Very tasty! That’s why:

After stuffing ourselves, we went two blocks over to Revelry Brewing Co. We sat upstairs in the container structure at drank a few brews while watching Rory win the PGA.

Afterwards we headed back to the Busse Bus for a bourbon and we taught him Qwixx. We said our goodbyes to Kevin and started to gear up for leaving the next morning.

After finishing packing up we headed out to our next destination, Savannah, GA.