Charleston, SC (10/27-11/5)

We used to live in Charleston, 30+ years ago.  We have been passed through a couple of times over the ensuing years.  Some things about it never change and others don't seem familar at all.  Charleston never disappoints on landscape, waterways, historical significance and food.  The traffic however, has become disappointing.   

We stayed at Oak Plantatation Campground on John's Island.  It is a large, rustic campground in which we had stayed before.  We had a bit of a snafu when we drove to our first site.  It was long enough for us to pull through but was extremely narrow which in turn made our picnic table basically 5 inches from our neighbors sewer hose.  Not ideal for an 8 night stay.  We got everything all set up and then decided that we would not love this site.  The office was accommodating and changed our site.  We had to do everything all over again, but it was worth it in the long run.

We had a lovely day on the water one day.  Got a boat out of Seabrook Island Marina was practically the only boat on the water. We saw a flats boat drop a guy in the water near a bunch of cages in the water.  He was jumping out of the water a bit, putting his hands on the top of the cage and flipping it over.  Not something you see everyday.  Turns out these cages were an oyster bed.  Who knew there was such manual intervention required for those tasty treats. 

On the way home from our boat ride, we passed this little market with a cute dog and an apple crumb pie, BONUS!Add caption

 

No visit to Charleston is complete without viewing the downtown and Battery.  The beauty of those old homes just never gets old.  Several of the shoppes on King Street were boarded up and closed, a very sad sign of our current times. The Market had a similar subdued feel.  There were tourists out and about, but not as bustling as I remember.  

A bucket list food establishment was on our list for Charleston as well.  If you have never seen the Netflix special about Rodney Scott Whole Hog Barbeque, watch it.  It is a great story. 

His BBQ restaurant usually has a line out the door, but I imagine a mix of Covid and shoulder season in Charleston allowed us to sneak in with only a few folks ahead of us.  We got a generous mix of porky goodness with accompanying delicious sides. 

 

We ate outside at picnic tables.  Worth the stop if you are visiting Charleston. 

There were some new distilleries to the area that we also sampled.  Both made very good small batch liquors.  We bought a bottle of Amaro from High Wire Distilling that we have enjoyed with the bourbon we brought along on our trip. Firefly Distllery made it's name distilling Sweet Tea Vodka, but has a large variety of liquors now with a great story and a beautiful tasting room experience. 

We drove out to several of the outer islands for sun and sand (Sullivan's Island, Folly Beach, Mt. Pleasant).

Also was able to fit in a little live music at an awesome little venue called Tobin's Market in the heart of the city. 

We experienced both Halloween and the Election in Charleston, which were both pretty scary, but had a great time revisiting The Holy City.  Next stop, Fort Mill, SC just outside of Charlotte to meet up with Mike's siblings.