April 22-28 - On the Road

“Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly.” – Morticia Addams

We’re back on the road...the road to normal and to our life in New York. It’s been over a year since we’ve eaten out, stopped to see cruising friends, stayed in a hotel or played tourist. This week we have done all of these things...and it has been amazing. Our first stop on our way back to New York was Hilton Head. We spent two days catching up with the crew of Exuberant. We talked, rode bikes, ate great food and enjoyed the comfort of their new home. 

Hilton Head has a lot of great bike trail.

One of our stops was a nature park...what a beautiful spot full of wildlife.

We enjoyed the company of Burt and Prue and they wonderful new home.

Riding bikes on the beach.

From Hilton Head we headed a little further north to one of our favorite cruising destinations...Charleston. We've spent a lot of time in this wonderful city in the past ten years and it was fun to wander the streets, enjoying the sights, the food and the places we’ve loved. Covid has changed a few things, but we were still able to have a great time. A few restaurants are missing and we noticed some empty storefronts, but otherwise the city is trying to get back to normal. The biggest difference we noticed...you can no longer casually stroll into a restaurant or bar. Almost all require a reservation and those reservations can be hard to get for the popular places. Luckily we made reservations to eat at one of our favorite spots weeks before we arrived.

On our way north we stopped at the Old Sheldon Church ruins near Beaufort, SC. The church held its first service in 1757 and is thought to be the first church built in temple form in the United States. You can read more about this historic place at the following link.

This drawing shows what they believe the church looked like during its use.

The Pineapple Fountain located in Ravenel Waterfront Park in Charleston.

Our boutique hotel was located across the street from the Historic City Market...we were located in the heart of the city.

Church Street Inn

The view from our room

To celebrate our first dinner out in 13 months we went to our favorite restaurant in Charleston...Magnolias. It was as fabulous as always. I had the shellfish over grits - sautéed shrimp, sea scallops, creamy white grits, lobster butter sauce, fried spinach. It was incredible. Magnolia makes the creamiest, cheesiest amazing grits. Stan had the parmesan crusted flounder with creek shrimp & jasmine rice pirloo, warm asparagus, sweet corn & tomato salad, citrus beurre blanc.

We have spent more than 8 months in total in Charleston and we are still finding new places to explore.  

Just a few beautiful sights around Charleston. It's a wonderful city to visit...especially in April.

Our second night out we went to Frannie and The Fox. A small place with a wood burning stove that specializes in small shareable plates and some inventive cocktails. Our cocktail of choice was the Aged White Negroni and we enjoyed beef & pork meatballs and a taleggio pizza for dinner.

On our last afternoon we drove over to Isle of Palms to have dinner with our cruising friends Jim and Betsy. We enjoyed walking on the beach and catching up with the crew of Smiles.

We had a nice dinner at Acme Lowcountry Kitchen.