What to Do in Charleston
We are not the sort of people who go on a vacation and try to do everything. Nope. We're the sort of people who go on a vacation and say, well, how disappointed would you be if you didn't go on the three-masted schooner tour? And then the answer is, not very -- and we go have a rest.
We spent the morning at the Aquarium, which we see every year when we come to Charleston, as we are highly in favor of the Aquarium. I like to sit and watch the giant ocean tank -- it's so big you can't see all the way in. so things appear out of the dark and then disappear -- oooh! look! the shark! -- a very restful place. The child likes the hands-on exhibit, wherein you get to hold the horseshoe crab, which is really a spider. Sam likes the whole thing -- I don't think he even has a favorite part. It's all fish, all the time. It's good.
Yesterday we went to Charles Towne Landing, another place we're highly in favor of. Unlike the Aquarium, however, it's not a popular tourist site, so we worry about it. They're keeping their head above water, but they're not flourishing. The ancient ship replica is in dry dock; they no longer cook food, though they've got vending machines; there aren't any teenagers dressed in unconvincing (to me) Colonial costumes, explaining the arts of spinning and blacksmithing.
However, the animal park is still there, where you can see several sorts of wild animals which must have Truly Startled the English colonists. You don't get so many bobcats and alligators in Yorkshire.
Also, much to our glee, we met the archaeologists. Our little brochure this year told us we could "observe archaeologists in season," making them sound much like oysters, or maybe deer. We guess it WAS archeologist season, cause they were there, excavating part of the colonists' palisade.
So, we successfully stalked the wily archaeologists -- and informed them they were in season, which they hadn't known, and which made them slightly nervous -- and then we went back to the hotel.
Mostly that's what we do in Charleston. We go off in the morning and see something educational, then we come back and have lunch, and then we take naps or read, and then we go out to dinner.
Also. We go to the same place for dinner, pretty much, even though to the best of our knowledge there is NO bad food in Charleston. We love Slightly North of Broad so much we don't really want to go any place else, though, and besides, if you go two nights instead of one you don't really have to decide whether you want the Maverick Shrimp and Grits, or the Pan Seared Scallops, cause you can have both.
The one thing we still might try to fit in after our Rests is a carriage tour. It's pretty amusing to be hauled around Charleston in a horse-drawn carriage while some teenager in an unconvincing (to us) Confederate Rebel costume tells outright lies about the city. The part where one is tying up traffic is amusing, too. And sometimes the horse is actually no kidding an honest to god Percheron, and then I'm especially happy, cause I get to imagine the horse is descended from medieval warhorses, though probably not the horses that traveled -- poor dears -- from Normandy to England with William the Conqueror. (Hic exeunt caballi de navibus.)
And then the child is allowed to pet the horse. High point of the trip.
We're easily amused.
We spent the morning at the Aquarium, which we see every year when we come to Charleston, as we are highly in favor of the Aquarium. I like to sit and watch the giant ocean tank -- it's so big you can't see all the way in. so things appear out of the dark and then disappear -- oooh! look! the shark! -- a very restful place. The child likes the hands-on exhibit, wherein you get to hold the horseshoe crab, which is really a spider. Sam likes the whole thing -- I don't think he even has a favorite part. It's all fish, all the time. It's good.
Yesterday we went to Charles Towne Landing, another place we're highly in favor of. Unlike the Aquarium, however, it's not a popular tourist site, so we worry about it. They're keeping their head above water, but they're not flourishing. The ancient ship replica is in dry dock; they no longer cook food, though they've got vending machines; there aren't any teenagers dressed in unconvincing (to me) Colonial costumes, explaining the arts of spinning and blacksmithing.
However, the animal park is still there, where you can see several sorts of wild animals which must have Truly Startled the English colonists. You don't get so many bobcats and alligators in Yorkshire.
Also, much to our glee, we met the archaeologists. Our little brochure this year told us we could "observe archaeologists in season," making them sound much like oysters, or maybe deer. We guess it WAS archeologist season, cause they were there, excavating part of the colonists' palisade.
So, we successfully stalked the wily archaeologists -- and informed them they were in season, which they hadn't known, and which made them slightly nervous -- and then we went back to the hotel.
Mostly that's what we do in Charleston. We go off in the morning and see something educational, then we come back and have lunch, and then we take naps or read, and then we go out to dinner.
Also. We go to the same place for dinner, pretty much, even though to the best of our knowledge there is NO bad food in Charleston. We love Slightly North of Broad so much we don't really want to go any place else, though, and besides, if you go two nights instead of one you don't really have to decide whether you want the Maverick Shrimp and Grits, or the Pan Seared Scallops, cause you can have both.
The one thing we still might try to fit in after our Rests is a carriage tour. It's pretty amusing to be hauled around Charleston in a horse-drawn carriage while some teenager in an unconvincing (to us) Confederate Rebel costume tells outright lies about the city. The part where one is tying up traffic is amusing, too. And sometimes the horse is actually no kidding an honest to god Percheron, and then I'm especially happy, cause I get to imagine the horse is descended from medieval warhorses, though probably not the horses that traveled -- poor dears -- from Normandy to England with William the Conqueror. (Hic exeunt caballi de navibus.)
And then the child is allowed to pet the horse. High point of the trip.
We're easily amused.
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