From the Passenger Seat: Sea to Shining Sea- Charleston

We are close to the end of the road on my cross country road trip from early this summer! Charleston was, well... disappointing. We arrived later than expected, which was what we had come to expect on this trip. When we got there we decided first to fill our empty stomachs, leading us to Jestines. This down home cooking restaurant is featured in the book 1000 places to visit before you Die. The food was scrumptious! Especially, the corn bread; I thought it was the most amazing corn bread I had ever eaten, until my parents took me to Corona Del Mar to eat at Banderas, then Jestines became the second greatest Corn Bread in America.

Afterwards, we decided to take the tour of Fort Sumter.

We had decided prior to hitting the road, Fort Sumter was a must see sight and I was really excited about finally getting a chance to see where the Civil War broke out. Fort Sumter was a big reason we decided to go to Charleston rather than Savannah, Ga. (That and it saved us some miles). I suppose in my mind it was like seeing Gettysburg; it might be true that I'm not a Civil War aficionado, but by going I had a leg up on most people who have only looked at the civil war from a text book. So, you can imagine my surprise and frustration when about a 100 miles out from Charleston Jonathan stated that he was not interested in seeing the place. I think his reasoning was that he would rather see where the south had bombed the place than going to where the north was stationed. Anyhow, I was going! I had driven across the United States to see Eastern Shores and walk upon one of the most Historical places in the United States. Not going would be like going to Washington DC and not viewing The White House.

Anyhow, we made it to the launching site that took us to Fort Sumter. The only problem was that we had shown up for the last tour, but there were two places where the tour boats launched from and the last tour launched from the other destination, which was on the other side of the harbor. It would take us 20 minutes to drive there, but we only had 15 minutes to board. Suffice it to say we didn't make it! It probably wouldn't have been as disappointing if Jonathan would not have made the initial comments and then still kept up his reservations about going all the way up until the end. Knowing that Jonathan is very organized and is usually versed in times of Departures for trips, I felt like a Beastie Boy...Sabotage!

We walked around the city Jim and Jonathan loved the place; I took a lot of pictures, but wasn't really excited. To top it off for some reason I never even stuck my toe in the Atlantic Ocean. Stupid.

I did however try oyster shooters, not as bad as I imagined and they went well with Tapatio. The Local Brewed beer was exceptional. The townies with most the south drove me crazy! I reiterate why did no one warn me that Polo Shirts and Dockers were the casual attire of the South.