I neglected my usual Sunday chore of adding to my blog. It was a full day and I chose to do more fun things. We started out in the morning heading to Mt Pleasant (the Charleston area) to visit the Charles Pinckney National Historic Site. Pinckney was a South Carolina planter (which means in those days a really rich guy) who fought in the Revolutionary War, served as governor of SC several times as well as US Senator and Representative, and produced a document that helped guide the writing of the US Constitution. Anyway, he was a really important person in our history that you never heard about. Reading about him and what was happening, and we read everything, gave us a better understanding of what was happening in the 18th century, the Gullah, and the role and importance of SC in our nation's history. We were amazed to learn that SC was the wealthiest colony and therefore wielded a lot of power and influence with the British and in the origins of our nation.

Our plan was to go see Lincoln while in the Charleston area and that was our plan last Sunday as well. Similar to last week, we got distracted and didn't see Lincoln. We decided to drive up along the coast, visit Cape Romaine NWR, make our way through Francis Marion National Forest, and then back home. It was dark when we made it back, and then it was time to catch up on a little football watching, the holy grail of Sunday. So, the day was full.

Along the way we ate at a restaurant that goes high on our list of places that we are really glad we experienced before we die. The grilled shrimp (local and fresh caught), the hush puppies, the fried okra, and the key lime pie were all to die for. I'm afraid everything else from now on in will be tasteless and boring, and there is nothing really to look forward to in the culinary area. However, we will keep trying.

We're finding out that if you really want to eat a good meal and go where the locals go, you have to screw up your courage to enter places that look from the outside that the buildings should have been condemned years ago. Stepping inside, doesn't do anything to dispel your first impression. There is usually a collection of different size and shape tables covered with plaid rubberized table cloth, you know the kind you take camping, and the collection of chairs, benches and old church pews are something out of visits to many garage sales. The walls are covered with unfinished plywood and the ceilings are simply the bare roof or floor joists. You bounce in your chair whenever anyone walks by where you are sitting. There is usually an eclectic collection of antique or old flotsam and jetsam  purchased at the same garage sales or maybe picked up from the local landfills. But if you can get past all of that, the food is absolutely other-worldly, in a good way. These places are without a doubt the places to go and eat.

There is more to talk about like our new neighbors and more impressions of SC, but that can wait until my next post.

Hope you are all enjoying the cold and snow in the north. We kind of like this 60 and 70 degree weather. here in SC.