1984 East Coast: Charleston (2/22/1984)

Wednesday, February 22, 1984

We just had snacks for breakfast, since the pizza had become rancid. I drove us back into Charleston, passing a Piggly Wiggly supermarket we had seen all over the South. We crossed the Ashley River and headed down Lockwood Drive, passing deep sea fishing boats. It turned into Broad Street, a narrow street through the old town. Turned down King Street, but no parking. Followed a garbage truck east on Tradd Street. Finally on Bay Street we saw a ‘P’ sign and followed an alley to a parking lot. Saw purple crocuses. We walked over to Meeting Street on Queen Street. Queen Street was cobblestoned with gas street lamps, and neat old houses.

Queen Street

From Meeting Street, we went into a cemetery, St Michael’s Churchyard, to see really old tombstones, and a really beautiful engraved slate one.

Slate tombstone

We also found the tombstone of Charles Pinckney, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
We saw buildings with wrought-iron balconies.

Dock Street Theater

Rainbow Row

There were black women on corners weaving baskets from sweetgrass and selling flowers. Down a side street we passed colonial brick homes. There was a large black dog pacing outside an iron fence, and inside the fence was a blonde dog. A Kathy petted the blonde dog, the black dog came up to lick her. “Oh!” Kathy said, “True love!” But she didn’t see what the male black dog was doing! Once she did, she was glad that no one overheard her remark!

We turned up King Street and stopped in several antique stores. One shop had a cute little old lady proprietress. There was a photo of her with a gun across her lap, labeled as “Salesperson of the Month.” We walked up to Market Street and over through the Market that had boutiques and a bakery where we had breakfast. I had a cream puff and coughed when I breathed in all the confectioner’s sugar. We continued to the open stands area of the market, with lots more of the basket weaving items. A horse-drawn carriage full of tourists went by. One area of the market was for fresh produce. We went to an antiques barn, passing a Belgian chocolate shop and Haagen Dazs ice cream shop. Later we went to a group of eateries in a plaza of sorts for subs. As we waited, we saw a lot of sailors in the place. There is a naval base nearby. A fish store proclaimed their fish spent last night in the sea! We walked down State Street, passing a bus “trolley” full of tourists. Down a side street we saw a lone horse tied up by a mini-mart store. He was relieving himself next to the ventilator.

We returned to the car and drove off after paying $1.40. We headed down US 17 again. Saw a lot of vultures flying above. It was easier to find good music on the radio compared to our West Coast trip. There were signs warning of “Smoke Ahead.” We could still spot underbrush fires here and there.

As we entered the “Low Country,” it started to rain, but we took the scenic route, turning south on US 21 and then SC SR 170 along the coast. Ended up back on US 17 and headed into the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge. We stopped at a turn-off and walked out on a dike into the swampy area. We spooked ourselves by imagining alligators crawling up behind us. But unfortunately we didn’t even see a log that resembled an alligator! We saw plenty of coots and a few ducks, and barn swallows swooped everywhere. It was the same across the road, but in the distance you could see large black birds sitting on birdhouses on poles in the marsh. We couldn’t see them well enough to identify (cormorants?). They flew like Canada geese. We drove farther to find an entrance to a drive through the refuge. In the rain we saw a huddled American egret and a Great Blue heron. Then a kingfisher on a post. In a single tree in the middle of the wet marsh was a raccoon, positively identified through binoculars by his tail! We drove through a couple braces of trees. It almost felt like a jungle cruise amusement park ride, because the car sidled through and gently rocked in the ruts of the road. The trees were overhung with moss, the underbrush was thick, and a cacophony of bird sounds added to the impression. Caught glimpse of a lot of birds. We found we were following another car that made as many stops as we did. We saw an American egret standing at attention, then catch a fish.

Ardea alba/American Egret

There was a great blue heron in plain sight, good enough for a photo.

Ardea herodius/Great Blue Heron

It was getting dark as we left, although only 16:00. We left on US 17, but a detour put us on SR 21, as we drove into Georgia, my third new state on this trip. Savannah stunk mightily of paper mills. We ended up on US 80 to Tybee Island, passing the entrance to Fort Pulaski. Tybee Island turned out to be a beach resort town and we decided against staying at a motel there. Back in Savannah we checked into the Quality Inn Heart of Savannah for $36. Despite pouring rain, we walked to find a place to eat. It was funny that the farthest south we went, was where we experienced the coolest weather! We took the steps of the sidewalk of road that dropped steeply towards the river, and walked along River road past trendy restaurants (i.e., expensive), boutiques, and saloons. We climbed back up to Bay Street, and found ourselves at Broad Street. So we headed to the Pirates' House, a conglomeration of dining rooms.

Pirates' House brochure 1

Pirates' House brochure 2

We entered looking like drowned rats, checked the menu, and decided to go for it. We were seated near the kitchen I the Buccaneers' Room, with a fine view out the window of a well and a waterfall (rain leaking from a gutter, we assume). Our waiter was Alvin who brought us garlic toast and butter, and kept our water glasses filled with the help of hair-netted Victor who was in training as his name badge proclaimed. Our dinners came with salads, and we chose tossed with the house dressing. It had lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, carrot slices, and bean sprouts, with garlic croutons. The dressing was an herbal creamy white French dressing. As Alvin brought our dinner, Kathy asked what his other name tag meant, with the initials of SRFOOOLHD. That meant: Save Room For One Of Our Luscious House Desserts! I had Jambalaya with Southern Red Rice that had a barbecued breast of chicken on top of a rice dish with shrimp, scallops, oysters, and sausage. As I ate one oyster, I crunched. A pearl! (Of sorts!)

Kathy had the Shrimp and Crab Au Gratin. Alvin served her stringy cheese concoction along with her baked potato. We both had stir fried vegetables with zucchini, squash and carrots. We were also given a tiny loaf of freshly baked bread. Yum! We stuffed ourselves, but were convinced that we did SRFOOOLHD. We had a slice of Toll House cookie pie to share. It was still warm in a chocolate crumb crust, smothered in whipped cream and topped with a maraschino cherry and a little flag!

Pirates' House dessert flag

Our bill came to a whopping (for us) $31.72. Savannah was to be our splurge town. We checked out the gift shop, then waddled back to the hotel, where we wrote postcards. Kathy had water in a plastic drinking glass, and found it was leaking. The other cup was also cracked! The blankets on the bed were like thin sheets of foam rubber.