MATA has finally taken the 5-hour leap to Charleston.  For a trip of that magnitude we did have a good turnout.  We'd seen some of these sights the last time that Linda and I visited with daughter Deb back in November of 2002.  Be sure to scroll down and read the record of that earlier visit.

Some of us stayed at the Days Inn in the downtown area appropriately on Meeting Street while a number of us stayed at the more economical Red Roof Inn just across the bridge in Mount Pleasant.  On Friday night we dined at Magnolias on East Bay Street.  I had a cup of crab bisque and the crab cake (both quite good).  Linda had the fried chicken.  On the evening of the 19th we ate at the Carolina's Restaurant.  I ordered the homemade ricotta gnudi (Mepkin Abbey oyster mushrooms, shiitakes, maitake, with Farrah's goat cheese) which was really excellent.  Linda ordered the soup 'o day and the scallops appetizer (pan roasted with parsnip pistachio moustarda and onion gastrique) which looked great but she still swore by my own version of sauted scallops.

Charleston, SC	Feb. 19th, 2010	Gathering at Days Inn	St. Michaels Church
		Time to count up - maybe 12	then Margaret and Jerry joined us.			Group in front of fountain
			Richard	Our lunch at an Irish Pub	Fort Sumter Tours - SpiritLine Cruise	Arthur Ravenel Jr. bridge	Fort Sumter
		Charleston Harbor Tours	Lily and Karen	Karen's great picture	Night life photos	Cathedral of St. John the Baptist	Dock St. Theatre

We visited another piece of the old South this weekend - Charleston, South Carolina.  We got together with my daughter, Deb, and her husband, Jason, for my birthday.  I'd never been there and was eager to explore the city.  The pictures tell of a treasure trove of the expected and unexpected.  Fine dining, shopping with the excitement of tourists enjoying the sights.

The first meal we had was at the Blossom Café.  I had a marvelous beef carpaccio, which I had never tried before.  When we left, we realized that next door was the Magnolia, a restaurant which was highly recommended to Linda.  Strange that we should immediately find a restaurant that Linda had talked about every time we mentioned Charleston.  We returned to the Howard Johnson motel to find Deb's truck parked next to our Toyota.  We left immediately for town on the CARTA, Charleston Area Rapid Transit Authority.  The HoJo is conveniently astride two routes, the Broad Street Shuttle and the Gateway Loop Shuttle.  The former takes you to City Hall, Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon and the Waterfront Park.  The latter takes you to the Visitor Center and the Charleston Museum.  We decided to take one of the many carriage tours and this was exciting and informative, even describing the origins of the terms cathouse and hookers, tsk, tsk.

Charleston, SC	Nov. 22nd, 2002			CARTA and leave your car at home		Classic Carriage Tours, Inc.
Saturday we wandered over to Waterfront Park	Nov. 23rd, 2002		Celebration of the Restoration of Market Hall was 7/24/2002.
Deb and Jay had brunch	Nov. 23rd	Charleston Farmers Market in Marion Square		Folk singer, dog walkers, admiring babies in the sun
A visit to the home built by George Walton Williams	Nov. 23rd	Calhoun House

Our dinner on the 22nd was at Magnolias Uptown/Down South (185 East Bays Street).  Linda had this highly recommended by one of her friends at work.  Linda chose the Chateau St. Michelle Chardonnay to accompany the following: Goat Cheese app, her and Deb's Atlantic Salmon, my Snapper, Jason's Sea Grits, exquisite Espresso Cake, 2 scoops of ice cream.  I thought the Snapper was first rate.  The tab was $154.49.

Saturday morning, Linda and I wandered around the Waterfront Park.  Later, we met Deb and Jay at the Slave Market and walked on over to the Farmers Market.   It is a most pleasant gathering place just behind the Citadel's imposing fortress-like buildings.  We listened to the folk singer belting them out on her old amplifier while proud parents paraded their little babies and proud dog owners paraded their babies.  Deb came away with lots of goodies like honey and such.

The most recent George Walton Williams, whose ancestor built Calhoun House in 1876, now resides at the Forest at Duke.  The house, largest in Charleston at 24,000 square feet, was recently featured on the A&E's American Castles.  An amazing Victorian Baronial Manor House has in recent decades been reconstructed by Gedney M. Howe, III, attorney.  The gardens are magnificent and the tour, of one hour duration, is well worth the $15 price.

Deb and Jay hosted me at Fish on the evening of the 23rd.  Jason had a whole Snapper while I had the scallop app, couldn't handle more than that.  It was delicious.  One of Deb's gifts was a pomegranate which she had grown in her own backyard.  This was a heavy fruit which contained garnet-colored seeds...upon tasting had overtones of licorice and blackberry.  This certainly was not the wimpy pomegranate of the mass food market.    The green thumb is a family trait, and Deb follows in the footsteps of her grandmother.  She has now become an accomplished orchardist.   A complement to her landscaping business.  Her customers want her latest discoveries.  First it was orange trees instead of that pair of junipers and now it's pomegranates!