Zack and I headed down to Atlanta on Wednesday night after work and Mama Sandy and I left Zack's parent's house and went to pick Rach up Thursday morning to head to Charleston.
About to hit the road
A light lunchWhile Rach and I had never been to Charleston, Mama Sandy had been to Charleston before, but it had been a while...and she had been there with Daddy G. So, they had done a lot of things like going to forts and looking at cannons...you know the things that you do when you are with your husband because you do them together, but not because they really interest you...we decided to take a little different approach...a girl's tour of Charleston. My Father in law was shocked when we told him that we had no intention of visiting the forts and battle related sites...what could we possibly find to do if we weren't doing that?!...plenty!!! :)
We made it to our hotel, Hawthorne Suites by Wyndham, at about 4 o'clock on Thursday afternoon. We were excited and laughing as we boarded the elevator headed to our temporary home. As the doors to the elevator opened, we were hit by a thick wall of smoke scented air. Refusing to have our spirits dampened, we pushed on to our room. We opened the door to our suite and headed in....sadly the air was no cleaner in our room than it had been in the hall...sigh...this just would not do. We had requested a nonsmoking room on a nonsmoking floor and this room OBVIOUSLY did not measure up...you would have had to be born without a sense of smell not to be over powered by the smell of smoke that was permeating the room. We paused for a moment and looked at each other...was it worth having to go down and talk to the hotel clerk again to see if we could get a different room?!...we finally decided that it was and after calling the front desk, we headed back down to the first floor to talk about a change. The clerk looked at her computer screen for a while and finally said...."well, I can switch you to a room with a jacuzzi in it for tonight, but you would have to move to a different room tomorrow night and you would either have to store your stuff in your car or in a room back behind he front desk." We opted against the jacuzzi room based on the hassle that it would be to have to switch rooms again the next day....and we weren't too crazy about having to stick our belongings in a room back behind the front desk. So, the clerk looked a little longer and said, " I could put you in a different room back up on the forth floor. It is WAY away from the room you originally were staying in and should be much less smoky." We hesitated a little, but decided to go investigate the situation. So, Rach and I headed up the elevator to the 4th floor while Mama Sandy stayed behind to watch all of our luggage.
Rach and I got off the elevator and laughed because the room that she had switched us to, while being on the opposite wing of the floor was literally 2-3 doors down from our original room. Doubtful of meeting success, we opened the door to this new room to have a sniff. Thankfully, the smell of smoke was not anywhere near as potent in this room....although there might have been a faint smell of dog in the room by the window...but I just couldn't be sure...but yes, this room was much better and on the up side, we wouldn't have to move again the next day. So, Rach andIi headed down to let Mama Sandy and the Hotel clerk know that the room would be acceptable.
We grabbed our stuff and brought it up to our little home away from home and got ready to head out on the town for dinner.
Rach and I had asked several of our friends that had been to Charleston before for suggestions on things to do and places to eat. Several of our friends recommended Hyman's Seafood Restaurant. So, we decided to go there for dinner our first night. I am not really a fan of seafood, but I figured that they would have at least something that I could eat that hadn't been breathing and drinking sea water. We headed downtown to the Historic part of Charleston and were lucky enough to find a parking place pretty quickly. We pulled into the parking place and walked about 1/2 mile to the restaurant. There was already a line forming outside, even thought we had arrived a little before the peak dinner time. We put our name in and went to the gift shop next door. We ended up waiting about 45 minutes to be seated. the hostess called our name and we then snaked up some stairs through a couple rooms and finally got to our table...the restaurant was a lot bigger than it looked from the street.
We sat down at our table admiring all of the famous people who had in days past sat in THE very spot that we were now sitting...ha! While interesting, we were not as interested in this as in what we should eat. They started us off with some boiled peanuts to wet our appetite as we browsed through their menu. The menu looked great and we decided pretty quickly what we wanted to eat. We had a coupon for a free potato soup and we ordered it and some fried green tomatoes to share. Mama Sandy ordered an appetizer for her meal that had fried grit cakes and scallops on it. Rach decided to order Shrimp and Grits, and I decided that I would brave the Reuben Sandwich. I was a little leery of it with its mysterious corned beef (hmmm...I was not sure how that would taste) and sauerkraut (I knew I liked this on Bratwurst thanks to our friend Hector).
mmm...boiled peanuts!
We quickly had a second tray of fried green tomatoes delivered to our table...they were in fact as delicious as they looked! ...and we were VERY thankful that our second tray did not have any extra breading in the form of a fur coat.
A short time later our meals came out. By this time we had already started to get full. While the Reuben was flavorful and good, it is not something that I would crave. But, now I can say that I have tried a reuben. Mama Sandy and Rach other liked there meals. None of us finished our entree. So, we packed them up to take them home to eat sometime later in the weekend.
Mama Sandy's meal
Rach's meal
The Ruben
Smells like seafood
This sandwich was HUGEWhile we were eating our meal, the restaurant manager came to our table. He informed us that he heard that we had had some problems with our meal and he apologized and gave us a free dessert. By the time we got done with our meals we were stuffed. So, we decided to get a slice of Key lime pie to go. We left the restaurant full and I was glad that we had a 1/2 mile to walk off some of the calories that I had consumed in that meal. Despite the hair we would all go back for the delicious food.
As we wandered the streets back toward our car, it was hard not to admire the beautiful architecture that surrounded you. Charleston is rich in history and beauty.
We headed back to the hotel for some girl time. I had bought some toe spacers and nail polish. So, we decided to paint our toenails and watch a gilry movie. The toe spacers provided some laughs..they REALLY spread those toes out...after a while they were getting a little uncomfortable. However, the finished product was worth it.
While we were painting our nails, Rach got a phone call from her parents to let her know that her grandmother was sick. We spent a little time in prayer together, praying that the Doctors would figure out what was going on and have her grandmother feeling better soon. We got a call from Rach's family a little later stating that they thought that everything had been taken care of and thet her grandmother, while tired and weak should recover. At about 1 oclock, we settled down for bed, shut off the TV and turned off all the lights. We were planning on getting up early the next day to get continental breakfast at our hotel before heading out for a full day of fun in Charleston.
At about 3:30 I was awakened by one of the most terrifying noises to hear in the middle of the night...it was the yip yip of a little dog. I laid in bed listening with my eyes closed thinking...SURLEY the owner will get up and silence this dog...SURLEY...a few more minutes of yipping, and howling...yes, I said it...HOWLING went by and I hear Rach move. In an exaggerated whisper, I asked, "Rach, are you awake" She stated the affirmative and I responded with "Seriously!!!" referring to the concert of small dog barking and howling that was going on behind our heads in the room next door. Rach acknowledged her agreement of the ludicrousness of the situation. I kept waiting for the moment when the little dog would stop barking, but alas after several more minutes of constant yipping, I dragged myself out of bed and went to call the front desk. The night clerk answered the phone and I explained our predicament. he sounded genuinely apologetic for our disturbed sleep and asked which side of us the room was located. I informed him; he assured me he would talk to the people next door, and I crawled back into bed. The choruses of barks continued for a little while longer and then stopped. I sighed with relief and rolled over and fell asleep.
Alas, it was a short lived peace. I am not exactly sure how soon after this that the dog started to bark again. I laid awake with my eyes squeezed shut and my mind willing my ears to ignore the soulful mourning of the dog next door. Mama Sandy finally got up and made her way to the phone to see if we could get some assistance. Mama Sandy sweetly informed the clerk at the front desk that we had gotten literally NO sleep and that this dog was ...oh wait 2 dogs were barking one which was directly behind our bed and another that was in the adjoining sitting area of the suite. Mama Sandy mentioned that we had called once before and the Clerk stated that he had come up to the floor and listened, but hadn't heard anything and asked Mama Sandy if she thought that the barking could be heard in the hall....Seriously, I was thinking to myself that he should have been able to hear the barking all the way down at the front desk for how loud it seemed in our room. Mama Sandy told him she wasn't sure if the barking could be heard in the hall, but told him that the dog was barking right behind our bed and we could not sleep...and that the owner must either have in ear plugs or be dead to not be awakened by the constant barking!
Mama Sandy hung up with the clerk and went out into the hall. This was to serve 2 purposes. 1 to ensure that the clerk actually did come to the floor and 2. to see if you could hear the dogs barking in the hall. I think that the barking might have been even louder in the hallway and we were all shocked to think that no one else had complained...the whole floor must be deaf to be sleeping through that racket.
The night clerk stepped off of the elevator and Mama Sandy looked at him, threw her arms out to her sides and gave him a "See, do you hear that!" exasperated look and then started to laugh. The ridiculousness of the situation had started to hit us at this point. (Mama Sandy kept saying she felt like we were on candid camera)
The clerk looked at us and proceeded to the door next to us. He knocked a couple times and then used his key to open up the door. As he opened the door, a dog started to try to come out the door and we heard the clerk say, whoa, it's ok...it's ok. He picked up the dog, turned to us and with a bewildered and almost fearful expression stated, "this dog is terrified!" He asked me to come hold the outer door of the room so that he could go knock on the door to the adjoining bedroom. As I stepped over to the door, I surveyed the chaos that had ensued in the room. There were CD's strewn over the floor, a half chewed up teal bra laying under the coffee table, and a couple of chewed up paper bags lying in the floor. I looked at the clerk and said, "do you think that the owner is sick or dead?" He looked at me with that same fearful expression and said, " I don't know, but She's in the military, we don't need to worry about her; she's really nice". I think that he was saying this more to reassure himself than to make me feel better. Off to my right Rach was standing in the hall saying in a worried voice, "should we call 911?!"
The clerk approached and knocked on the door of the bedroom, "front desk." no answer...again..."front desk" He opened the door and a little fluffy white dog came flying out with it's tongue hanging out of it's mouth and a little smile as if to say, "People!! yay! People!!" He started toward the door I was holding so I had to step into the room and block the opening with my legs to contain the excited ball of fur. As I did this, I looked to my left and saw a LARGE pile of puppy poop. There was no one in the bedroom and the clerk turned to me and said, "I will find their leashes and take them downstairs so that you can get some sleep." Who knows how long those poor little dogs had been shut up in that room.
I left the room and walked back into ours with Rach...I was wracking my brain on how to photographically document this moment without being offensive to the clerk....sadly I couldn't think of anyway to do it.
Mama Sandy had stayed in the hall and I heard her knock on the door and ask the clerk if he was ok. I stepped back into the hall as he came out of the room carrying two wiggling and happy dogs in his arms. As he waited for the elevator to open, we were discussing how the lady had left them in the room all night alone and he mentioned again that they were scared. We asked him if it was usual for the lady that owned them to be gone over night, as she was an extended stay guest. The clerk said, "Oh, yes, it's normal for dogs to be afraid when they are left alone." I looked at him strangely and said..."No, is it normal for her not to come home all night!?" He didn't think so. The door to the elevator started to close and he tried to sneak his body and the two wriggling dogs into the elevator before the door closed. it really was a comical sight.
At this point, it was about 6 oclock in the morning...so much for a good night's sleep. i was feeling a little like I used to on my surgery rotations when I was getting up at 3:30 every morning...so, I laid down to try to sleep. Rach did the same, but Mama Sandy decided to head down to the front desk to see if we could get some kind of compensation for such a poor nights sleep.
So, needless to say, we did not make it to the continental breakfast, and we did not get up and out as early as hoped. We ended up moving all of our stuff to a room on the second floor and the hotel gave us our frist nights stay free.
Friday, once we got up and ready, we headed to historic downtown Charleston. My friend Andrea had suggested a carriage ride through town. So, we decided on a carriage company to go with and headed over to their barn. There are actually 3 distinct parts of town that the carriage tours can go through and each carriage has to receive a zone from a lady prior to heading out. This is done in a lottery fashion. This is to keep carriage traffic down and spread out through the city.
Meet Jake
He was living the highlifeWe enjoyed our tour. It was informative. John was our tour guide and Jake was the name of the horse that pulled us. We learned alot of fun facts about the history of charleston from this carriage ride...and we got a GREAT suggestion for a place to eat lunch from John.
We went to a little hole in the wall restaurant called Cru Cafe. We LOVED it. We were seated at the bar, which wasn't a bar in the traditional sense. It was a bar like table that opened directly into the kitchen. It was awesome! We felt like we were on food network as we watched the chefs prepare the food. The food was also DELICIOUS! We asked one of the chefs what was good and he said everything. Rach and I ordered 2 different entrees and split them. She ordered the balsalmic marinated portebello wrap and I ordered a hamburger. They were both AMAZING!!! Mama Sandy got a fried oyster wrap...we let her eat that all by herself as neither Rach or I are fond of Oysters...but she said that it was good.
Mama Sandy's Wrap
My Hamburger
Rach's Portobella wrapWe left the Cru cafe and went to look around at the open Market. There were several Gula women selling handmade sweet grass baskets and many other people selling their wares. It was a lot of fun to see what people had in their little shops. we walked around downtown for a while and later that afternoon, Rach got a call from her mother to let her know that her grandmother was worse. Rach wasn't sure what she should do, but we decided to head back to the hotel, shower, and then head the 2 hours to Savannah for her to send some time with her grandmother.
It was gonna be another late night and we hadn't gotten a lot of sleep the night before, but I would have wanted to have the opportunity to go see my grandmother had she been the one that was feeling so poorly. So, we piled into the car...we stopped briefly at a little shop along the way for a bathroom break. They had several flavors of cider and we ended up getting some peach cider before heading on toward Savannah.
On the way back, we stopped by McDonald's for coffee frappes. They were just what we needed to have the energy to make the 2 hour trip back to our hotel for the night.
We also stopped and got earplugs ....just in case it was another loud night.
I'm sorry, what was that? couldn't hear you! :)Saturday morning, we got up and went to the continental breakfast at our hotel.
After breakfast, we headed to the Middleton Place. A colonial era plantation. We spent our whole day looking around the grounds and in the remaining portion of the house. Most of the home had been burned during the civil war. It was really beautiful and really interesting.
It was amazing all of the thought and math that was involved in the formal gardens.We got a very interesting tour of the grounds by a lady
We also toured the house. This was our tour guide. She reminded me of a hummingbird. She was always flitting here and there. talking REALLY fast, and jumping from subject to subject.
Saturday night, we couldn't figure out where to eat, but ended up eating at the Southend Brewery. It was a disappointment to us after having loved the Cru Cafe so much the day before. After dinner, we strolled around down by the river front for a while before heading back to our hotel.
She crab soup
Mama Sandy's BBQ
Rach and I both got the meatloaf.These were the NASTIEST collards...yuck!
There were children playing in the fountains downtown
They were even swimming under the bottom basin in this fountain. i was just waiting for one of the to get stuck under it and drown. Seriously scary!!Before we left for our girl's weekend, I bought some mud/chocolate masks for us to do. We decided to put these on Saturday night and it was a lot of fun.... we laughed a lot!
Sunday morning after a good breakfast, we headed out for a few more hours of wandering through shops in downtown Charleston before heading back home.
MMMM Kelwin's Ice creamWe had a GREAT time spending time together and building memories. We all plan to at some point go back with our husbands...of course, then we might have to tour the forts, but we would like to share Charleston with them....just maybe staying at another hotel...
I am also hoping to get the opportunity to go to Charleston with My mom sometime this fall. She has been wanting to go, but wasn't able to go this time.
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