Street Walkers

Yep, that's us! Charleston is a delightful city in which to simply give oneself over to peering into lovely hidden-away courtyards and reading small plates on houses that tell when built, who owned, when/how destroyed, when restored. This city reminds us strongly of New Orleans, but right now the temperatures are more reminiscent of our native South Dakota! If we look chilly in our photographs, it is because we are. The good news is that there is not the remotest possibility of snow (oops, did I really say that? Remember South Padre Island?).

We started out this morning by driving downtown. All was well until we took a turn onto a street that was two-way but with the cars parked on both sides had become a one-car-at-a-time road. We escaped that but where to actually park? Luckily, we found a parking lot that had a few meters for parking along with the private parking. However, we had a limited amount of change; we filled it up for an hour and ten minutes and took off for our main destination of the morning, the Edmondston-Alston House, which is administered by the Middleton Foundation and for which we had bought tickets at the plantation yesterday. No photos allowed. The gracious Southern ladies working there traded us quarters for dollars before we took the house tour. We then hurried back and fed the meter to keep us through the afternoon.

A Carnival cruise ship was in port right above the restaurant we selected for lunch, the Fleet Landing. It had great food and, more importantly, it was WARM. A lovely little waterfront park fronts on the bay; I took another couple's photo and they reciprocated, so now we have at least one photo of the two of us on this trip.

Our next stop was one of my favorites of the museum tour, the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon. Here docents are dressed in period costumes; the admittance price is reasonable; you are looking at rooms that held entertainments for the likes of George Washington; you can feel and see the history and heartache of the old dungeon where many men waited for the hangman. Many of the early patriots of the Revolutionary War served time here during the British occupation of Charleston. A notable pirate and his crew were imprisoned here. Tea was impounded here and eventually was seized by the Revolutionaries and sold to finance the war against the British. No dumping the tea into the harbor here! What a waste.

Admission to the Old Exchange can also include admission the the Old Slave Mart just a few blocks away. That museum is self-guided and does not allow photos. Also. . .my camera/phone had died. After leaving there, we ambled around the streets a bit and then went back to the car for the trip out of town. On our way into town in the morning we had seen a filming crew; we saw them again on the way home. Our museum docent said that the series Army Wives films here.

Charleston is an interesting city and definitely worth another visit. Next time we will fly in and stay downtown so we can see some of the nightlife.

Tomorrow we have to move to another camping spot within the park, return the car, and spend the afternoon in town before catching the shuttle (which doesn't seem to be running at this point) or a cab back here. We loaded up with groceries at the Piggly Wiggly so we are ready to camp starting on Sunday. The weather looks a little dicey on the route home. Heaven forbid that we should have to stay longer. Ha!