12/22/2109

Weekly Update 12/22/2019

What a lovely week with Lisa!

First thing Monday morning, we picked up Kay and Connie and drove to Charleston SC for a few days. Kay, Lisa and I stayed at a hotel. When Connie learned of our plans, she wanted to join us to use a free B&B weekend she had that was expiring at the end of the year. Monday the weather was sunny and warm; Tuesday, it rained, but was still warm; Wednesday, it turned quite cold. We did a bit of sight-seeing, a little shopping, but mostly we ate and drank.

The Francis Marion Hotel, where Kay, Lisa and I stayed

22 Charlotte, the B&B where Connie stayed

Connie in her room

On Monday, because the weather was so lovely, we ate at a roof top restaurant for lunch. Then we took a horse drawn carriage ride in the historic area of Charleston. That was interesting, and we got ideas for other places to visit from the tour. We had seen a bar near the horse carriage rides that was a converted church, so we went back there for Happy Hour. Dinner that evening was at a burger place. Connie’s B&B was only a few blocks from our hotel, so we walked her back there, and then went to our hotel.

lunch on the rooftop

our carriage ride

the bar at 5 Church

One of the things we’d heard about on the carriage ride was the Calhoun Mansion. I thought I had been to every house museum in Charleston on all the trips I’d taken there, but I was mistaken; I’d never visited here. It was amazing! The owner is retired and lives in the house, but it’s a huge mansion and filled with Victorian artifacts collected from all around the world. Each room was more impressive than the one before. As we were leaving, a man was lighting the gas lamps along the front walkway. I went over to him and asked if he was the lamplighter, or the owner. He smiled and said he was lighting the lamps, so what did I think his job was. That wasn’t really an answer, but it led me to understand that he was a gardener or groundskeeper of some sort. When we googled it later, we found out that he WAS the owner. I made quite to fool of myself, saying how much we loved the house and we were all impressed by the collection and I asked him to please tell the owner how much we enjoyed it all. Lisa, Connie and Kay all thought it was funny; I was embarrassed. We did some shopping on King Street and at City Market in the afternoon. We went back to Henry’s, the place where we’d had lunch the day before, and had drinks, and then it started to rain. It wasn’t raining hard, so we walked to Fleet Landing for dinner. By then we were all pretty tired. We went to Connie’s B&B and sat on her porch and chatted for a while, then walked back to our hotel for the last night in Charleston.

the Calhoun Mansion

shopping in City Market

There was a wonderful advantage to having Connie stay at the B&B – the innkeeper invited us all to enjoy breakfast each morning. The Francis Marion Hotel did not have a breakfast, so we took advantage of the offer. The first morning we had fluffy pancakes with fresh fruit and sausage and the next morning we were treated to grits, fried egg on a crab cake, bacon and toasted croissants.

Thursday, we went back to toward the battery. The carriage guide had also told us about an interesting tombstone at the St Philips Church graveyard that we wanted to see. No one had to twist my arm to go to a cemetery! It was a skeleton with an hour glass for a pillow – time goes quickly.

We stopped at one more bar in Charleston for Bloody Marys before driving back to Savannah. Lisa and I had a lot of eggnog at the condo, but Bloody Marys were very good, too.

Thursday, Kay had to go back to work and Connie was needed to babysit. Lisa and I had made plans with Donna to go out for breakfast and then to see the gingerbread houses at the Westin. This is the 19^th year for the gingerbread competition. We’ve felt it has not been as good in the past several years, but this year, it was just as wonderful as when we first went many years ago. You can tell the difference between the ones made by professional pastry chefs, and those made by classrooms or girl scout troops. They all do better than I could, though.

That evening, we met Kay and Anne Nedd at The Rail for a Guinness, and then walked across City market to the Little Duck Diner. Lisa’s son, Keenan, met us, too. Bless his little heart for spending time with all us old women, just so he could be with his mom.

Friday, Lisa’s last day, we met Connie and Suzy at B Mathews for lunch. And then Kay, Lisa and I went to Churchill’s for a final meal with the Besties. What was most amazing was, we all LOVED the Brussels Sprouts! We got them as an appetizer to share, and they were so good, we ordered more. The bangers and mash, cottage pie, and Guinness meatloaf were all good, but the Brussels Sprouts were to die for. I think we ate enough (and drank enough, too) while Lisa was here. It’s going to be hard to get back to reality.

We were up early Saturday, as Lisa wanted to get back to Florida to spend a few more days with her dad there before returning to UK. I missed her terribly as soon as her car was out of sight. But, back to my life – I went to open BC in the morning. Then I drove out to Fort Pulaski because they were having special programs for the holidays. I walked on the trail to see Cockspur Lighthouse, listened to two very good singers who played and sang carols and songs from the Civil War era, and heard a lecture on Christmases during the War.

The Bills played the Patriots in the afternoon. My downstairs neighbor, Mike (from Massachusetts) didn’t get the game on his tv because it was broadcast on the NFL network and he only has basic cable. I tried to get out of inviting him up to watch with me, but I know he wanted to see the game. So we watched together. I warned him ahead of time not to piss me off. I was sure Buffalo wouldn’t win, and they didn’t, but it was a good game, and the Bills can be proud of how well they played against the New England Cheaters.

Sunday it was cold and rained all day. I stayed in to eat, watch more football, and do nothing. I’m good at that.