Annual Charleston Pilgrimage
We made our annual pilgrimage Monday to one of my happiest places on earth: Charleston, SC
It's still probably the only place in America I'd agree to leave Texas for. :-P (Maybe...) The drive down from Charlotte felt strange, though: the drive b/t CLT & Columbia is the same route we always took "home" to south Georgia. ♥ How does it feel like we lived there for 10 years?
We drove straight into town and parked along the Market - our favorite place in town to browse & shop. We went to lunch at Hyman's - one of the very few places I willingly choose to eat a seafood dish: best crabcakes evah!!! (No bell pepper or celery filler! Just sweet crab & the tiniest bit of breading & egg binder, topped with the perfect remoulade.) Annelise fell in love with boiled peanuts, and Will tore up a big bowl of mussels; yes, my son won't touch a chicken breast w/o me threatening or bribing him, but he will suck down some mussels (& sushi! Tuna rolls. Crazy.) Random, non-food best part: the minute manicure salt scrub in the ladies room. :-D Kids' best part: the fake dollar they got to exchange for free ice cream after eating. ;-)
Along the Market after lunch, we stopped in The Fudgery and caught a fudge show. What's a fudge show? (Don't feel bad; we didn't know, either! ;-)) It was 10 minutes of really cute songs & jokes while the main guy flipped a whole marble slab of fudge! If you're there & have 10 min to catch the show, it's worth your time. :-) And it ends in free samples! :-D
Monday afternoon, we drove over to our beloved Isle of Palms - "our family beach". We walked the beach and savored the sea breeze. The highlight was finding thousands & thousands of rainbow-colored coquinas with our toes along the water's edge! We'd dig them up with each tiny wave and watch them bury themselves back before the next. :-) I hadn't done that in ages; my brother & I always used to. :-)
We went over to another family fave, Shem Creek Bar & Grill, for dinner. What did I get? Fried green tomatoes (one of my ultimate fave foods on earth!) and prime rib sliders (ohhh.emmm.gee.) What did Will get? MORE MUSSELS!!! :-D
We stayed overnight Monday, and Annelise & I did a YouTube yin yoga class there in the room! Mom & Will fell asleep instantly in their bed to the lady's voice, and Annelise scored the yoga dream: falling asleep at the very end in savasana! Then I had to try to go to sleep...while everyone else snored... :-P
Tuesday, we had planned to go eat breakfast at Seabiscuit & play on the beach at IOP...but we needed to get back to CLT earlier than we'd thought, so we switched up the plan. In all our years of going to Charleston, I'd never been out to Fort Sumter; so we took the cruise over across the harbor. It was fascinating!
We finished our latest Charleston tour w/ lunch at Locklear's (mmm, corn fritters with tomato jam!!!) ...and hit Sbux (best grande 6-pump no water Chai ever) before getting back to CLT in 3 hours flat. :-)
It's still probably the only place in America I'd agree to leave Texas for. :-P (Maybe...) The drive down from Charlotte felt strange, though: the drive b/t CLT & Columbia is the same route we always took "home" to south Georgia. ♥ How does it feel like we lived there for 10 years?
We drove straight into town and parked along the Market - our favorite place in town to browse & shop. We went to lunch at Hyman's - one of the very few places I willingly choose to eat a seafood dish: best crabcakes evah!!! (No bell pepper or celery filler! Just sweet crab & the tiniest bit of breading & egg binder, topped with the perfect remoulade.) Annelise fell in love with boiled peanuts, and Will tore up a big bowl of mussels; yes, my son won't touch a chicken breast w/o me threatening or bribing him, but he will suck down some mussels (& sushi! Tuna rolls. Crazy.) Random, non-food best part: the minute manicure salt scrub in the ladies room. :-D Kids' best part: the fake dollar they got to exchange for free ice cream after eating. ;-)
Along the Market after lunch, we stopped in The Fudgery and caught a fudge show. What's a fudge show? (Don't feel bad; we didn't know, either! ;-)) It was 10 minutes of really cute songs & jokes while the main guy flipped a whole marble slab of fudge! If you're there & have 10 min to catch the show, it's worth your time. :-) And it ends in free samples! :-D
Monday afternoon, we drove over to our beloved Isle of Palms - "our family beach". We walked the beach and savored the sea breeze. The highlight was finding thousands & thousands of rainbow-colored coquinas with our toes along the water's edge! We'd dig them up with each tiny wave and watch them bury themselves back before the next. :-) I hadn't done that in ages; my brother & I always used to. :-)
We went over to another family fave, Shem Creek Bar & Grill, for dinner. What did I get? Fried green tomatoes (one of my ultimate fave foods on earth!) and prime rib sliders (ohhh.emmm.gee.) What did Will get? MORE MUSSELS!!! :-D
We stayed overnight Monday, and Annelise & I did a YouTube yin yoga class there in the room! Mom & Will fell asleep instantly in their bed to the lady's voice, and Annelise scored the yoga dream: falling asleep at the very end in savasana! Then I had to try to go to sleep...while everyone else snored... :-P
Tuesday, we had planned to go eat breakfast at Seabiscuit & play on the beach at IOP...but we needed to get back to CLT earlier than we'd thought, so we switched up the plan. In all our years of going to Charleston, I'd never been out to Fort Sumter; so we took the cruise over across the harbor. It was fascinating!
We finished our latest Charleston tour w/ lunch at Locklear's (mmm, corn fritters with tomato jam!!!) ...and hit Sbux (best grande 6-pump no water Chai ever) before getting back to CLT in 3 hours flat. :-)
Oh, my - wish I'd known you were in Charleston - we're so close by!! Isle of Palms is where we always go to the beach and I've eaten at most of the places you mentioned (though I've never caught the fudge show!) So glad you had a nice visit here!
ReplyDeleteWe enjoy Charleston, too, although we've only been there a couple of times. And touring Fort Sumter is something, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteCharleston is one of our happiest places!!! I'll give notice before next time! :-)
ReplyDeleteI have never had fried green tomatoes! :(
ReplyDelete*GASP* Heather!!! :-O MAKE SOME!!! I'll post my favorite healthier oven-fried version sometime, but here's the Southern Living recipe that is the basis for mine:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/oven-fried-green-tomatoes-with-lightened-bread-and-butter-pickle-rmoulade-10000001898501/
Do you make it with the remoulade too? I'm a little concerned about that part, because mustard of all varieties makes me nauseous.
ReplyDeleteNot often. You totally don't need the remoulade. Most of the time, I'm too lazy to make it. :-P I just eat a giant plate of the maters. :-)
ReplyDeleteShem Creek is one of my all time Favorites...and like you I would pack up tomorrow (well, since I am not totally unpacked it might not be so bad!!) to settle in Charleston!!!
ReplyDelete