With a three day weekend and family within a long day’s driving distance, we decided to plan a short trip to Charleston, South Carolina. Susan’s parents and sister’s family were spending the week at a condo in Edisto Island. Charleston is the closest city, and someplace we enjoyed visiting in the past, many years ago. We figured we could meet up, spend the day touring the old parts of town, then hang out at the condo for a few hours. We even took our bikes, in case we wanted to explore on our own.
Susan found us a nice hotel in downtown Charleston that accepted our credit card points – free boarding for two nights. And even better, they had free breakfast, free wi-fi, a pool, and a workout room.
We left home around 3:00 PM on Friday and arrived at the Comfort Inn just after 10:00. The drive up was long, and at first, our GPS kept telling us our arrival time was getting later. I guess it was busy adding traffic into the routing equation. There was a wreck near Jacksonville, but it didn’t effect us at all. Once past that, the arrival time started dropping as we motored up the interstate.
On Saturday, we got up early and enjoyed our free sausage, eggs, waffles, bagels, and juice. We went for a short walk, then returned to the hotel to plan our day. We decided to skip the plantations and instead headed for Hampton Park near The Citadel Military College of South Carolina. We rode our bikes around for about an hour, exploring the park and the Citadel campus, then stopped to get something to eat from a hotdog vendor by the softball fields. There was a game on, so we cheered for the guys and gals in red while munching on our hotdogs.
Meanwhile, the relatives were have some maintenance issues back at the condo and were running late. So we took our time and started watching the next game while we ate some Italian Ice.
After awhile, we headed for the visitor center on Meeting Street. The streets were crowded and we knew that parking was going to be difficult. We circled around town, past a festival in a park, past the aquarium, and eventually back to the visitor center.
Meanwhile, the relatives were out of the condo and on their way to Charleston. We eventually joined up at the visitor center, then started our tour of the old parts of town along Meeting and Battery Streets.
Along the way, we caught one of the free trolleys that continuously loops around the city. It took us most of the way, along King Street to Broad Street. From there, we walked along Meeting Street to White Point Gardens on Battery Street.
By now, the heat was starting to wear us down. George, who stayed behind at the visitor center, drove to Battery Street to pick up Noemi and Peter, while the rest of us walked back up Meeting Street to catch a trolley. We arrived at the intersection of Meeting and Broad just as a trolley drove past, oblivious to our frantic arm waving. We decided to try to head it off at the pass by taking a more direct route to a stop a few blocks away. Once there, we couldn’t find the stop and were concerned that we’d miss it again. With the help of a local shopkeeper, we found the stop and caught the trolley back to the visitor center.
We were all hot and hungry and decided to go our separate ways and meet up again at the condo. We stopped by a local barbecue restaurant – Bessinger’s Barbecue – for dinner. I was longing for some good pulled pork, but the greeter ushered us to the buffet line instead. The food was great, but my craving was left unfulfilled.
After dinner, we started our drive to Edisto Island. Susan gave me an address and I followed the GPS all the way into an area of the island I’d never seen before. Since I was there before – albeit many years ago – it was obvious we were in the wrong place. We tried a different route around the island and came to a resort. The guard looked at us funny when we told him who we were looking for. He let us in anyway and once again, nothing looked familiar. Susan called her dad and was able to get another clue from him. We talked to the guard again, and with this new piece of information he was able to guide us to their resort.
When we pulled up to the condos, it was clear that we were finally at the right resort. Peter was out front and guided us to the right suite. We parked behind the Pearce-mobile and walked up a flight of stairs. After a short visit, we said our good-byes and headed back to the car. On the way out, David commented about the rudeness of someone in a small white car blocking him in. Of course, that was us! He hadn’t seen us pull in and didn’t know that was our car.
To be continued…
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