Destination: Charleston, SC

Ben had to go to Charleston for top secret mission. I had to come with him for top secret reasons. Having been once to Charleston a few years ago, I basically knew what was in store for me. I had come here with the City Kids Wilderness Project for a week or two randomly in 2005 between jobs, and obviously, with a group of kids. We were doing a seakayaking trip. The trip was very hard. I don't remember much about it, but I do remember it seemed a lot longer than it was. I remember seeing C-ton over and over again in the same few blocks and being totally unimpressed. I lowered Ben's expectations by repeatedly calling it a "dump." Unfair, definitely.

Still, after a long drive and great podcasts from NPR (including the New Yorker one in which they endorse Barack Obama in a thoughtful and thorough piece I recommend to all--PLEASE READ!), we arrived in North C-ton, where we were staying. Yes, a suburban/ex-urban dump truly defined the area of Denny's, Waffle Houses, and chain motels like ours. The motel guy and I talked about the film "No Country for Old Men" and its relation to motels, and how the place reminded me of the movie. Well... we did survive the night.

But we headed into downtown Charleston, where life was much different. Glitzy/ritzy chain shops lined King St, but our focus was on the hundreds of nicely dressed, drunk college students roaming the streets. Many bumped around into objects and each other, and some were belligerent. They didn't bother me, but Ben said he felt "old." For a long time, we searched for a good place to have a good beer in C-ton. We were undoubtedly in the wrong part of town for that, but we tried a handful of bars, all of which reminded me a bit too much of campus bars in C-U. Ben was thoroughly disappointed and couldn't hide it on his face, and so we headed back to the hotel. Ben kept saying how glad he was and how lucky he felt that we live so close to the Brick Store. He's right.

Today I took myself to a place recommended in the Times' reliable 36 Hours feature on Charleston, this one called Tropical Toast at Diana's. It's a good thing I had the tip because there was an annoying guy outside the place trying to convince folks to go in. I would have run normally, especially because the decor inside walked the line between tacky and unbearably dull (yes, that sounds like an odd description...but I do believe it to be accurate). I ordered what was recommended, the Eggs Meeting Street — "a stack of poached eggs, fried green tomatoes, crab cakes and rémoulade." It was insanely good. Good good good. I found a photo (I'm not the only one who loved it) but believe me, it tastes better than this!
Then I headed out to explore C-ton and give it a real chance. It does have beautiful parts to it. Once out of the College (of Charleston) hell hole, I saw some beautiful old homes, lots and lots of oak-lined streets draped in that beautiful Spanish moss. I dead-ended into the river and walked around, passing the folks who were fishing and the joggers pushing expensive strollers. Really pretty beautiful, after all. I stumbled into a few of those historic cemetaries, eery and beautiful at once. I bought a small sweetgrass basket (see below, but mine isn't nearly as big or as nice!), and learned a bit about that popular African American art form:

Sweetgrass basket making has been part of the Charleston and Mt. Pleasant communities for more than 300 years. Brought to the area by slaves who came from West Africa, basket making is a traditional art form which has been passed on from generation to generation. Today, it is one of the oldest art forms of African origin in the United States.

Well that's all for now.