Mosaic Life

Charleston

We really enjoyed our short trip to Charleston. We pretty much walked all over the city and took quite a few pictures. The city has quite a bit of history; I didn’t realize it, but it’s 100 years older than New Orleans. The first thing I noticed when we stepped out of the car in downtown Charleston was the smell. Horse urine and poo. Ah, just like going back in time. Saturday was hot and muggy, not unlike the weather in most of the South. We ate dinner at Hyman’s Seafood. I had the crab cakes and Brandon had some sort of fried fish. Not a bad restaurant. A little hectic because of the layout. They definitely had the southern tradition of frying everything covered.

If you’re going to Charleston for the first time, I must warn you that the visitor centers aren’t just normal visitor centers. They’re visitor centers with a goal of steering you their specific company’s services. And for your own sake, do not answer the question, “Are you going to be around tomorrow?” with a yes. We fell for it the first time because we were all innocent and had time to kill while waiting for a table at Hyman’s. The person will try to interest you in some sort of service similar to a timeshare; free tour and breakfast if you’ll just listen to them pitch their merchandise. The people selling this must get a good reward for recruiting, because they’re quite insistent and will offer you money (fifty cents!) if you stop and talk to them.

Sunday we started the day with breakfast at Joseph’s Restaurant. The food was great. If you’re starving to death or if you’re just really into gluttony, order the giant pancakes. They’re the size of an average person’s waist, until they’ve eaten the pancakes. We were able to stay outside much of the day since the weather was much cooler than on Saturday. We took a tour of the dungeon at the Exchange. I was sort of disappointed. I mean, it was a dungeon, but the tour basically was like, “There were no pirates in this actual room, most of the dungeon is far younger than you’d expect, and we have animatrons.”

We ate dinner at Bocci’s Italian Restaurant. Brandon got the lasagna, and I got the chicken conchiglia (which I definitely recommend). If you go, get the small portions, because they’re actually quite filling. The restaurant had a nice atmosphere. They played jazz and I’m not sure if it was just because it was Sunday or what, but it seemed like a very comfortable, relaxing sort of restaurant. Our table was next to a window on the second floor, and it was nice to look down on the street as the sun set and horse drawn carts with tourists made the rounds.

We took a walking tour at night of the Dark Side of Charleston. It was a rated-R tour because of the subject matter (murder! prostitution! scandal!), which basically translated to us that there would be no children on the tour. Bonus! It was a pretty interesting tour. It was also probably far more bearable than most tours that you might take there.

We really enjoyed the city. It’s beautiful, there is great food, and lots to do. Definitely a nice place to spend our anniversary.

Going to the Country

We’re heading to southern Alabama for the weekend. And since I broke the Nissan, we’re renting a car to drive. Guess what kind of car Enterprise Rent-a-car gave us? A Nissan Sentra! Just like our car, except newer, and a different color (black). Why is that exciting? Well it’s not, really. It’s just that we feared they might give us a Ford Taurus, and that would cramp our style. So we were relieved to find that that wasn’t the case. Nothing is cooler than a Sentra.

Have a great weekend and I’m sure I’ll have pictures for you on Monday. My dad has a yellow lab puppy now, and I’m sure the puppy needs to be photographed heavily.

FSU in the Spring

We got back from Florida State University last night. I enjoyed the short trip. Brandon did a great job presenting his paper, we got a chance to walk around campus snapping pictures like the tourists that we are, and we got to eat some pretty decent Italian food.

We also got to experience a pretty nasty hotel the first night, along with some sub-par Mexican food. Lesson learned: it’s worth paying extra money for comfort and quality. We’re too old to be staying in squalor. When you’re a teenager it’s all well and good, but when you’re older and you’ve seen dateline specials about just what all is on the comforter and growing in the bathroom, it’s just not cool. We checked into a much nicer hotel on Saturday. Totally worth the extra money.

Brandon’s experiencing the glory of spring in the south for the first time. Hello, pollen! He was so cute. He was all like, “What’s that all over the car? Will it blow off when we get on the interstate?” And then I started sneezing and got a sinus headache and became a little jealous because he doesn’t seem to be bothered by pollen.

Here’s Brandon’s take on the trip, and my photo set on flickr.