Captain_Oblivious
DIS Dad #257, Galactic Salad Dodger
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2008
- Messages
- 13,445
It was getting late in the day, and we decided we should actually set foot in Charleston during our Charleston day trip. So we piled, grenades and all, into the van and headed back over the Ravenel bridge for a 3rd time, this time on purpose.
We headed downtown and made our way toward the Market St. area. We found a public parking garage with reasonable rates a couple of blocks away and then started to wander. Charleston is an excellent walking city, as we'll see in more detail a little later. Market St. was very pleasant, lined with palmettos.
See that building in the first picture? That's the Charleston City Market, where we were headed. It is housed in Market Hall, a building which still stands from 1841, on land that was originally ceded for a public market way back in 1788.
Many locals ply their trade here, including several artists making sweetgrass baskets, a tradition dating back centuries. Hopefully those baskets are sturdy, because they wanted $300 a pop.
But surely there were many other fine local arts and crafts for sale that a peasant such as myself could afford, right?
Well, there certainly were some quality items. And don't call me Shirley.
Let's peruse the fine wares on display, shall we?
This would be a quality addition to any pitmaster's repertoire, wouldn't you say? After all, it makes all critters taste great:
I wonder if that works on shrimp. You could make pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich...
So Road Kill Grill's not your thing, huh? Well, that's ok. You can look for something else to buy for yourself. And your little dog, too!
Do you know what the penalty is for animal cruelty in this state?
...well, it's probably pretty stiff.
High-end shopping done, we were all getting hungry. South Carolina in general and Charleston in particular is known for low-country down home cookin', especially when it comes to seafood. My family hates seafood, so we headed for a burger joint instead. As it would turn out, we had a lot of burgers on this trip. Raise your hand if you're surprised. In other news, the sun will rise in the east tomorrow.
I wouldn't have minded getting some good Southern fried chicken, but we'd done our usual food research (including the road trip Food Bible Roadfood.com), but didn't come up with any places in town that were a) super-close to our travels and b) dying to try out. Except for this place: Jack's Cosmic Dogs. That looked cool, but wasn't in the city itself. We'll have to try that one next time.
I went on Tripadvisor.com and checked out the reviews there, and wound up digging up the menu at the Chucktown Tavern.
This was a little hole-in-the-wall bar and grill on Market St. that featured stuffed burgers on the menu. In other words, the burger patty itself had various ingredients inside. They also had a deep-fried burger on the menu, but my family's Health and Wellness Committee ixnayed that one.
So I went with a healthier option: The Italian Job. A burger stuffed with pepperoni, marinara sauce, and mozzarella cheese.
Mmmm...mmmm...mmmm....mmmm....mmmm....mmmmm...
Mmm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mmmm!
The Health and Wellness Committee went on the spicy side with the Fort Moultrie Palmetto Pimento, which featured pimento cheese and jalapeno peppers. Remember, kids, do as the Committee says, not as it does.
Let's see what the kids thought of dinner:
Three thumbs up. Take that, Ebert!
Afterwards, we drove down to the southern edge of the city to wander the Battery, which is the park/walkway along the bay's edge. It's a beautiful area of town, featuring all sorts of historic, stately Southern mansions in all of their elegance. I'm sure some of these people are happy to flaunt their wealth in other ways, but these homes are nicely understated and part of a whole in terms of the place. The narrow streets, old mansions, parks and bay have a beauty all their own.
Parking was limited, but I found a space and parallel-parked a minivan. Darn right, on the first try.
Well, close enough for government work, anyway.
Anyway, enough about me being an excellent driver. Let's commence the Oblivious Family 5-Minute Walking Tour of Stately Elegance:
Cool hedges:
Some of the homes had a Fake Front Door that led to a turned-sideways porch:
And we saw a couple of homes with doors like this:
Instead of being rectangular, they were angled. I'm not sure if that was done to match the grade of the street or what, but it was a little funky. In a good way. Like the deep-fried burger would have been, if, you know, I'd been allowed to try it.
Anyway, we finally said goodbye to the beautiful city of Charleston and began our drive back through the middle of nowhere to Pawleys Island. The drive was completely uneventful. After Dave stopped us 10 minutes down the road for a potty break, of course.
Coming Up Next: Odds and ends as we finish off the Pawleys Island portion of the trip. In other words, whatever I feel like cramming into the chapter so we can get to the good stuff about Disney.
We headed downtown and made our way toward the Market St. area. We found a public parking garage with reasonable rates a couple of blocks away and then started to wander. Charleston is an excellent walking city, as we'll see in more detail a little later. Market St. was very pleasant, lined with palmettos.
See that building in the first picture? That's the Charleston City Market, where we were headed. It is housed in Market Hall, a building which still stands from 1841, on land that was originally ceded for a public market way back in 1788.
Many locals ply their trade here, including several artists making sweetgrass baskets, a tradition dating back centuries. Hopefully those baskets are sturdy, because they wanted $300 a pop.
But surely there were many other fine local arts and crafts for sale that a peasant such as myself could afford, right?
Well, there certainly were some quality items. And don't call me Shirley.
Let's peruse the fine wares on display, shall we?
This would be a quality addition to any pitmaster's repertoire, wouldn't you say? After all, it makes all critters taste great:
I wonder if that works on shrimp. You could make pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich...
So Road Kill Grill's not your thing, huh? Well, that's ok. You can look for something else to buy for yourself. And your little dog, too!
Do you know what the penalty is for animal cruelty in this state?
...well, it's probably pretty stiff.
High-end shopping done, we were all getting hungry. South Carolina in general and Charleston in particular is known for low-country down home cookin', especially when it comes to seafood. My family hates seafood, so we headed for a burger joint instead. As it would turn out, we had a lot of burgers on this trip. Raise your hand if you're surprised. In other news, the sun will rise in the east tomorrow.
I wouldn't have minded getting some good Southern fried chicken, but we'd done our usual food research (including the road trip Food Bible Roadfood.com), but didn't come up with any places in town that were a) super-close to our travels and b) dying to try out. Except for this place: Jack's Cosmic Dogs. That looked cool, but wasn't in the city itself. We'll have to try that one next time.
I went on Tripadvisor.com and checked out the reviews there, and wound up digging up the menu at the Chucktown Tavern.
This was a little hole-in-the-wall bar and grill on Market St. that featured stuffed burgers on the menu. In other words, the burger patty itself had various ingredients inside. They also had a deep-fried burger on the menu, but my family's Health and Wellness Committee ixnayed that one.
So I went with a healthier option: The Italian Job. A burger stuffed with pepperoni, marinara sauce, and mozzarella cheese.
Mmmm...mmmm...mmmm....mmmm....mmmm....mmmmm...
Mmm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mmmm!
The Health and Wellness Committee went on the spicy side with the Fort Moultrie Palmetto Pimento, which featured pimento cheese and jalapeno peppers. Remember, kids, do as the Committee says, not as it does.
Let's see what the kids thought of dinner:
Three thumbs up. Take that, Ebert!
Afterwards, we drove down to the southern edge of the city to wander the Battery, which is the park/walkway along the bay's edge. It's a beautiful area of town, featuring all sorts of historic, stately Southern mansions in all of their elegance. I'm sure some of these people are happy to flaunt their wealth in other ways, but these homes are nicely understated and part of a whole in terms of the place. The narrow streets, old mansions, parks and bay have a beauty all their own.
Parking was limited, but I found a space and parallel-parked a minivan. Darn right, on the first try.
Well, close enough for government work, anyway.
Anyway, enough about me being an excellent driver. Let's commence the Oblivious Family 5-Minute Walking Tour of Stately Elegance:
Cool hedges:
Some of the homes had a Fake Front Door that led to a turned-sideways porch:
And we saw a couple of homes with doors like this:
Instead of being rectangular, they were angled. I'm not sure if that was done to match the grade of the street or what, but it was a little funky. In a good way. Like the deep-fried burger would have been, if, you know, I'd been allowed to try it.
Anyway, we finally said goodbye to the beautiful city of Charleston and began our drive back through the middle of nowhere to Pawleys Island. The drive was completely uneventful. After Dave stopped us 10 minutes down the road for a potty break, of course.
Coming Up Next: Odds and ends as we finish off the Pawleys Island portion of the trip. In other words, whatever I feel like cramming into the chapter so we can get to the good stuff about Disney.
: 
(sympathy vote?)
