Today is my daughter’s 28th birthday, and I use every means of technology to wish her a happy one. I send a birthday card via a website, send a text and leave a message on her mobile. Naturally I am unable to actually talk to her and feel, as usual, like a useless mother. Parental guilt is such a bummer.
Rosemary and Bill are driving down from Middletown, Maryland to St Petersburg, Florida for a conference and stopping enroute to see us. Having said they would be here about 5 pm, they set off at 4 am and catch us out by arriving just after noon. Luckily their side of the boat is clean and tidy with bed made.
We go to Salty Mike’s for lunch, a local diner on the marina site, nothing fancy but full of local dishes. I have she-crab soup, a cream based tasty soup and collard greens again. The food is good although the wine, as usual, is crap.
After lunch we take the shuttle bus into town again, getting off at the bottom of Broad Street and walking down East Bay Street and The Battery. This is where all the really elegant houses are, evidence of Charleston’s rich and illustrious past. Some of these grand houses are now split up into apartments but have lost none of their splendour and beauty.
It’s a blustery day and walking along The Battery watching the waves beat against the sea wall is a rather chilly experience. Rosemary and I constantly leap out of the way as larger waves make their way over the wall and across the pavement. Given that the opposite side of the pavement is a 6-foot drop to the road, we tread carefully until we get to the end then we re-trace our footsteps, turning off a little while later to admire the slightly less grand houses in the French Quarter, although these are just as beautiful.
Property is extremely expensive in Charleston. Many, many of them in the downtown area are into the 3 to 5 million bracket and for that you still have neighbours practically on top of you. I suppose the verandas on every floor are supposed to make up for this. It’s the one downside of living in such a beautiful area.
We come across a young man making Sweetgrass baskets, well works of art really. Michael, who has been weaving since he was taught by his grandmother at the age of 4, has one beautiful piece which he is charging $1200 for and as I chat to him the lady who is buying it from him arrives to collect it. Given that it is a unique piece which has taken him over a month to make I suppose the price isn’t that high.
Charleston is no different from any other place in the US for its love of Halloween and some of the houses here do it really well. Life sized skeletons and phantom bats adorn the balconies of one beautiful house. I just hope they aren’t real – they certainly look like it!
I have to say that this part of Charleston is quite, quite beautiful. With its grandeur and history it really strikes a chord, but it is also the faded part of the grandeur that I feel adds a depth to it. There is evidence on the buildings of past hurricane damage and lots of the buildings are a bit crumbly around the edges due to the other ravages of the climate here. I just love it.
On the way back towards the market, we go down the end of Broad Street known as gallery row, due to all the art galleries. Rosemary and I pop into a few of them but they are beyond my wallet which is a pity as I see some beautiful hollowed out and polished wood, stunningly priced at $800, and I bet they didn’t take over a month to make! This road also houses estate agents so there is something for everyone as Mike stops and gazes in shop windows at the properties on offer.
We stop for a drink in bar back on East Bay Street which houses its own micro brewery. Mike selects the weakest one on offer which he pronounces to be tasteless while Rosemary, Bill and I stick to margaritas. A couple across from us order ‘mac and cheese lollipops’ which are balls of macaroni cheese rolled in breadcrumbs and deep fried. We stay long enough to see what they look like and depart. None of us are tempted!
The market is packing up when we arrive so after a wander through we catch the shuttle back to the marina. We take them to look at Liz and Gordon’s beautiful Privilege and arrive just as they are leaving to go out for dinner. Gordon asks them if they want to have a look around and after they leave, Danielle gives them the guided tour while I, once again, try to stop myself tripping over my tongue which is hanging out in barely disguised admiration.
The boat is absolutely beautiful in every way and is now being offered for charter in the Caribbean. Having met the staff and seen the boat, anyone who takes her for a holiday is in for a real treat.
By the time we get back to the boat it’s already quite late, and while Rosemary and Bill head off to the showers, I hastily put together a Chicken Pelau, Mike’s favourite. They just about stay awake long enough to eat it then we head off to bed.
Sandy is getting closer although still predicted to be well out to sea when she gets to Charleston’s latitude, but it looks like the east coast further north could sustain some catastrophic flooding. Fingers crossed Sandy heads further out to sea or dissipates, although neither seem likely at this point.
Position: 32 deg 46 min N, 79 deg 57 min W
Distance so far: 3276 miles
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