Hey y’all! At this moment we are sitting at Safe Harbor Marina in Charleston. It has rained off and on a lot while we’ve been here which is something we have not experienced in at least several months. It is, however, a nice reprieve from the sweltering hot that we’ve endured. Does it sound as if I am complaining? I’m not, but maybe I am–a little.

This marina is large and full of vessels of all sizes and sits fairly close to downtown. We took an Uber into dinner at the Blind Tiger the first night, June 29th. Nick and I ordered Nashville Hot chicken. It lived up to it’s name and Nick could not finish his. Everyone had a bite and agreed that it was probably the spiciest chicken we’ve ever eaten.

We rented a car and spent part of the early afternoon in downtown Charleston. I shopped and the boys went looking for lunch and some brews. 

Wednesday, July 1st we visited the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier and Ft. Sumter National Park. We spent the very warm day wandering through the ship and got up close and personal with Apollo 8 and various planes and fighter jets. The ferry then took us to Ft. Sumter for about an hour tour. It seemed smaller than Ft.Zachary Taylor in Key West, but still very interesting.  Dinner and ic cream followed.

Friday, July 3rd we took the boat out for part of the day. We had a pleasant trip around the bay and anchored near Ft. Sumter for awhile. Tom grilled burgers for dinner, we sat out on the bow for a bit, then headed back to the dock for the night. We thought we might see more fireworks in the area, but not so much. The city fireworks display has been cancelled, but we thought maybe someone would have a neighborhood display that we could witness. 

On Independence Day we decided to brunch at  Bay Street Biergarten and really enjoyed the food and atmosphere. Lots of German sounding beers and, of course, a soft pretzel on the menu. We spent the evening eating pizza and watching fireworks from the flybridge of the boat. 

We struck up a conversation with the vessel docked just across from us. It’s (I always feel funny calling boats “her” or “she” but that’s pretty common) name is Johnathan III and it has quite a history. It was built in the 1950’s for the owner of Jim Beam distillery. Back in the day, it hosted the likes of Red Skelton, Buddy Hackett, and Marilyn Monroe. 

It sold a couple of times and is currently in the hands of a retired doctor from Savannah who bought it in 2008 and restored it to its original condition. Upon chatting with him, we found out that he hosted Tom Hanks while he was in town “shooting some movie.” 

Johnathan III also played an important part of 9/11 history. It was docked in NY harbor during that time. On 9/12/01 Rudy Giuliani cruised the harbor onboard it to assess the damage done to the city from the water. 

We put Nick and Matt back on planes home on July 5th (Jimmy left earlier). Those boys were fun to have aboard and such a help docking and washing the boat. They’re welcome back anytime.

Monday, July 6th, we checked into The Belmond Hotel in downtown Charleston just for the night. We decided to celebrate our anniversary which was way back on April 25th. The hotel is beautiful and we checked into suite 425-coincidence???  We had a late lunch at Hyman’s which is sooooo old (originally established as a dry goods store in 1890) and so good. Apparently, famous people eat there while in town. We happened to sit at Hootie’s table who must have shared it at one time with Vanilla Ice. The picture of Alice Cooper was on the wall beside us. The whole experience was lovely. It was nice to sleep in a bed I didn’t have to make, swim in a pool and watch cable tv.

Note: We haven’t indulged in cable tv, dish or satellite tv since 2001. At home, we have an antenna in the attic. We get to re-position it on occasion which can be hilarious to watch.

While I originally intended this post to be more about pictures of historic buildings and cool homes, it’s kind of…not. There are plenty of those around, one cooler than the next but I guess I just found too many other interesting things to post. I’ll sneak in a few homes and churches below.

Last night was one of my favorite experiences so far. We signed up for a cooking class with Chef Bob Waggoner in downtown Charleston. I highly recommend doing one of these where or whenever you get the chance. The food was delicious and WE made it. Chef Bob was laid back, gave us great instructions and provided us with a fantastic experience.

We move north soon to Georgetown then onto Myrtle Beach and Wilmington, NC where we will pick up more passengers.

Charleston has been an experience filled with history, gorgeous scenery, very nice people and OH–the food! Can’t wait to come back.