Reunion!

Kelly D.  is one of my best friends from Clemson. We met our first day on campus in August 2003 as freshmen and have been friends ever since! We made it through Spanish classes, honors chemistry, and nursing school together. We've gotten together almost every fall since graduation. I somehow spent four years in the state of South Carolina during college but never made it down to Charleston. This year we decided that it was high time for to fix this, so off we went!

We started off Saturday by taking a tour of Fort Sumter. There's not much left compared to its former self, but I really like history, and it was interesting to see where such an important part of our nation's history took place.  Some of the walls and cannons predate or are from the Civil War, and other walls are from re-construction following the war. Following Fort Sumter, we walked around downtown Charleston and through the Market and the Battery. 

What trip to Charleston would be complete without a visit to a plantation? We went to Boone Hall which has been (and still is) a working farm for over 300 years. The current home was built in 1935, but a home has been on the same site for a few hundred years. The house itself wasn't overly impressive, but the setting was gorgeous; the oaks lining the driveway were the inspiration for Gone With the Wind if I remember correctly. The most interesting part was the slave cabins; several original slave cabins are still standing and have been restored; they also have audiovisual displays inside that detail the history of slavery and civil rights in the United States. It was late when we got there, so we didn't get to stay long; but I'm glad we stopped by! I'm looking forward to going back and seeing some of the other plantations.

Kelly and I are both the kind of people who like hotels with free continental breakfasts. However, on Sunday we decided to be different and venture to a restaurant for brunch. I forget the name of the one we chose, but I definitely won't forget the experience! On the way there, I was driving and Kelly was reading the menu...amongst other things, there was rabbit stew, duck-something-or-other, and several items that we had to google.  We briefly considered playing it safe and changing to Cracker Barrel but decided to be adventurous. The restaurant was really cute, and the staff was very friendly, and I'm sure there are many, many people who consider their food very good. However, it was quickly apparent that Kelly and I are apparently not nearly foodie enough to patronize restaurants such as this. The bread was great but our main courses were not exactly on our food preference palate. But, we made a memory and are fully satisfied with being normal, ordinary food people.

We had a great time and Lord willing, I can't wait until next year!