Charleston

   "Could y'all mash seven?"
    I reached out and pressed button for the seventh floor as requested by the lady in the elevator. It had been a long time since I was last in South Carolina and I was pleased that I could still remember some of the language. After stopping at the seventh floor we rode up to our eighth floor room and to plan out our first full day in Charleston.
   We got into town the night before. C was looking for a steak and we were directed to Hall's Chophouse. It is a lovely establishment. We were given a table right near the door with a good view of the windows outside. We ordered our steak with a side of asparagus and a side of pepperjack cheese grits. We could have had potatoes with our meal, but we could have that anywhere. Besides that we both really like grits. Even though both of us were fairly full we each had dessert. In retrospect we should have shared one, but it was good anyway.
   We decided to drive into the area where we were the night before,park the car and walk around. Somehow we had forgotten to bring along a street map so we spent some time just wandering around. We found St Michael's and St. Philip's Churches. These are two Anglican churches whose roots date back to Revolutionary times. George Washington was said to have visited both of them. We walked into the sanctuary and saw the various memorials to people on the wall dating back to the 1800s. The pulpit was in front of the alter and high up so the minister could be seen and heard by all. We also saw the pews with their locked doors. I remembered the custom for families to purchase a pew. I wondered what you would do if you were visiting. Where would you sit? 
   We wandered into the cemetery near each church. Some of the stones were so old the the inscriptions were worn off. There were many that could still be read and the dates went very far back .Some of the graves had stone slabs on the top. People must have been much smaller then.
  We saw a courthouse that was coloured a light pink with what looked like marble steps. We saw the large white Hibernian Society Hall.
   We continued our wandering around looking at the buildings and the lush plants around us. We would stop once in a while when a building would catch our eye to take a picture. We wandered past historic inns and houses. We found a place where the formal secession from the United States was signed.
   We wandered around until we got to Market Street. One thing I wanted to do was buy a hat. Market Street seemed to be the perfect place to do that. We found a shop with a nice display in the window. They had all kinds of hats. There were a few that I liked, but I had to be practical. There was one hideous purple thing covered with sequins. I wondered who would ever buy something like that. I found two very nice navy blue summer hats. One had large white polka dots. The other didn't. I couldn't decide between them so I decided to buy them both. I could wear them for many years and well, I don't often indulge myself in this way. The lady in the hat shop boxed them carefully and wrapped them in tissue paper. I would have to ship them home. C was right. He told me that I would buy more than one.
   We walked around some more and then returned to the hotel. C was tired and needed a nap. I needed to rest my feet. While he napped, I finished knitting my first project which was a dishcloth. It turned out all right, but I could see that I had made a couple of mistakes because it wasn't perfectly square. I also thought it was too big. I started another one, but decided that I was going to make it slightly smaller.
   When C got up we went to Folly Beach. It's a beach eight miles south of down town Charleston. It's a small beach,but has plenty of room for walking in the soft sand and wading in the cool sea water. It felt good to alternate between the two. I love wading in the ocean. I know that it is possible to swim in the ocean, but I'm not a good enough swimmer to try. There were a few people that were surfing on Folly Beach. I thought surfing was something that was only done in California and Hawaii. There were enough waves to surf on though and the surfers were having a good time.
   We found a restaurant on a pier to eat in. These are usually the best places to find good food. We had fried flounder with cole slaw and hush puppies. The fish in South Carolina is so good that I don't like to eat fish in Minnesota anymore. We walked on the beach until it got chilly and then went back to our hotel.
   The next morning we got up early. We wanted to look around a little bit more before we left for Myrtle Beach. We wanted to look around Meeting Street and Broad Street. We also wanted to pick up some souvenirs. We parked near the Charleston Market. This is a covered structure that has served a shopping place for since the 1700s. It wasn't open yet so we walked around. We found the large Customs Building near to a port where a cruise ship was docked. People with suitcases where waiting around the area to board the ship. We walked past the port and over to a park. The Port had a great view of the ocean. C and I took several pictures. We found the old Customs house. There is a museum inside, but we didn't have time to tour it.
   By this time the market was open and we went inside. There were all kinds of crafts, clothes and jewelry. There were also several stalls where baskets where being sold. The baskets were made locally and some of the women tending the stalls were weaving them. I wanted to buy one and I looked over the selection. I saw one that would make a nice basket to hold my knitting supplies. I turned it over to look at the price. It was fair considering the time and skill that it took to make it. It was also way out of my price range especially since I bought those two hats yesterday.
   We found our souvenirs. I also found yet another hat. It was a cloche hat. It had a black band with white polka dots so it would be very versatile. It was also packable so it would not need to be shipped.
   The last thing I bought was a book with walking tours of Charleston. This may have seemed like a silly purchase as we were preparing to leave. I had decided that I wanted to come back. The day and a half that we spent was a lot of fun, but there was so much we had not seen. We hadn't seen Fort Sumpter or the Magnolia Gardens. We had not taken a carriage ride of the city. Those looked like fun. The historic part of Charleston wasn't going to change much. It would be a good investment and incentive to return.
   We got into our car and headed to the Revenal Bridge out of town. I could see this bridge from our hotel window. It is a landmark in Charleston much like the St Louis Arches. The bridge looked large and scary to me. I'm scared of bridges anyway. As we got on it it didn't seem so bad. I managed to snap a few good shots as we drove over it. We were on our way to Myrtle Beach.
  See you later Charleston!