A Historic Day in Charleston

We got a late start yesterday morning. I was up early but dared not wake anyone for fear of losing my quiet time. I was finally able to get a good start on my book! Once everyone was dressed, fed, and scooting along, we headed into the city.

According to my AAA guide, we were definitely to visit Charles Towne Center, which we did. The place we visited is apparently the original landing site of the settlers in the 1600's. We walked around the museum, even Arianna enjoyed the museum. Then we ventured outside.

There are quite a few things going on at the massive property and we weren't sure what to do first, so we followed the people in front of us since they had a map. The maps cost $1 and I wasn't about to pay for a map we were going to use for a few hours.

Anyways, the people ahead of us went through the African-American graveyard to the native animal zoo. The African-American graveyard was just an open field, no marked graves. Apparently, the people who buried them there meant for them to “go back to nature” and because of this, the graveyard was only recently discovered. Our map-bearing leaders led us to the bison, skunks, puma, deer, otter, and other various animals that live or once lived in the area. Naturally, we lagged behind and lost our free access to a map. Some little girls also got tired of walking and exceptionally grumpy.

With all the energy the kids could muster, we headed toward the historic village and ship site, with promise of a free shuttle. I really wanted to do the history stuff but knew I couldn't get them to walk another mile to the ship; so, the shuttle was going to be my saving grace. Annnnd....the shuttle never came. I was told at the front desk that a shuttle comes every 15 minutes. After waiting for what David estimated to be 30 minutes, 2 women with strollers passing by told us the shuttle driver was operating the boat tour while the boat person was on lunch break.

At that point, I decided I was hungry. When we left, I complained that the shuttle never came and the NEW PERSON at the front desk told us the lunch break story as if it were a known fact that the shuttle doesn't run during those times. I was disappointed but more importantly, I was hungry.

David chose a place called Hominy Cafe that boasted authentic southern and Charlestonian fare. It was delicious but pricey. I got the shrimp and grits and Aurora got the she-crab soup, which are apparently must-haves when visiting Charleston. David had some kind of fried chicken and gravy biscuit called The Big Nasty and the other 2 girls ordered grits and carbs a la carte. Everything was so good but we vowed not to eat out again for a while.

After rolling out of the cafe, we hit the visitor's center to find Charleston offers a free trolley service. I was all about that. We rode the trolley in a complete loop because we realized we didn't have enough money in the meter to justify getting off. It was a nice way to digest our food and determine where we wanted to go.

After getting off, we ordered gelato from a cute Italian sweets shop called Paolo's. Again, good but pricey. We walked to the car and took our own driving tour of the city. Unable to find parking near the splash fountain, we parked in Battery Park and walked along the bay. The weather perfect, overcast and pre-storm, as if the clouds were holding everything back until our visit was complete. We looked out to see Fort Sumter and 2 other forts in the distance. We strolled past Rainbow Row, marveling at the impressive homes against the bay, their lush gardens, and their enticing entryways.

Everyone was in high spirits as we stopped to wonder at a statue in Battery Park. Then it almost happened, Arianna ran straight for the road. I was too far away to catch her, all I could do was yell for her to stop. She would have been hit had the driver not been paying attention. She was so upset with herself, she cried for the next 5 minutes. David picked her up and carried her back to the car and we all went back to camp for burgers.

Then the rain came. We were forced to go out for pizza because who can cook in such weather? That night, the rain REALLY came. We were in the middle of a severe thunderstorm and flash flood warning for the Charleston area.

The girls naturally had trouble falling asleep initially but once they crashed around 11-ish, they were out for the night, before the real trouble came. For about 3 hours, David and I worked to move kids and stuff around so the water damage in the tent was only half soaked instead of being fully immersed. After all the shuffling of people and stuff, we concluded with an area of about a queen sized bed for all 5 of us. David and I kind of sat around and looked at the situation for a long while before attempting to carve out a small slice of bedding. We didn't think we'd sleep at all, but he and I finally succumbed to sleep around 3 in the morning.

The camp ranger this morning informed us that local meteorologists reported over 800 strikes of lightening in a 15 minute period. I believe it too. Last night was crazy, I guess the clouds really were holding back while we were in town!