Blogs from Charleston, South Carolina, United States, North America - page 2

We rented the car for two days, so we could do a few things outside of Charleston proper. Yesterday was the Antebellum South, and to day is a History Lesson./ Since we did not have to pick up the car, we did get to rest our weary bones a bit longer this morning and the three of us could lounge in bed before the day began. Yesterday I made the huge mistake of not taking a pain pill for my back, which I paid for (well Jerry paid for because I was a b***ch by the end of the day) dearly. Today, I took the pill and it made for a much more pleasant day, with almost no lower back pain. We had a quick breakfast before we headed out of town. Five days of vegetable ... read more

The initial plan was to sleep in a little and then go to the Frances Marion Hotel, for their buffet breakfast. The Frances Marion is a historic hotel named after, yes you guessed it, Frances Marion, also known as the Swamp Fox, as he used the swamps around Charleston to hide from the British during the Revolutionary War. This was of course our plan, but instead we slept in a bit more and are leisurely getting ready for our pre-Thanksgiving dinner walk. Tarragon, is now fully settled in to his Southern lifestyle. Truly enjoying the comfortable and cozy king-sized bed. While I had my coffee, I watched a bit of the pre-parade run/walk, looked like most of the down was running or walking down the street. This is a good opportunity to give some general impressions ... read more

Morning came to early, and none of us, including the cat, wanted to get up, but we had a full day ahead so up and at’em. The bed while cozy, was too soft for my back, so morning stretching and a pain pill were in order. This getting older is for the birds. Even with a full day, we did not rush to get out the door. Tarragon, needed attention before his day of lounging on the king size bed, and breakfast was served until 10. So after, petting and feeding Tarragon, and our showers we went down to the complimentary breakfast. Pretty standard hotel breakfast. We were only expecting a continental breakfast but there were a couple of hot dishes as well, a vegetable frittata and breakfast potatoes with vegetables. Not great, but free and ... read more

You're probably wondering about the title of this Blog page. The last time I was in Charleston- Karen and I took a Historic Charleston guided tour carriage ride. The young southern girl serving as our tour guide- pointed out a building which she said: "was a jail where they housed prisoners during the WAR of Northern Aggression". I of course raised my hand and said "excuse me Miss - do you mean the Civil war?" To which she promptly replied "Sir - down here we call it the WAR of Northern Aggression". The civil war began here in Charleston with the attack on Fort Sumter in 1861, so I decided to include the story in my title. The Charleston area was also a center point in the some of the key battles in Revolutionary war, indeed ... read more

Growing up in Charleston, a coastal city with large areas that are at or below sea level in elevation, one learns to respect hurricanes. We moved here in 1952, moved away for two years 1954-6, then back here permanently. So we missed Hazel. But we were here for Gracie. At that time we were living in the apartment building on Dunneman Avenue on the Citadel campus. Only the practice football field lay between us and the railroad tracks. At night we heard the poor lion in the small Hampton Park zoo with his coughing roar. Transistor radios were relative rarities, and computers for the home were not yet invented. So what guidance we got was from the television (as long as the station, and we, had power) and from the radio. Radio was mostly AM at ... read more