Bridge Time

We left Sunday morning for the bridge walk.  And it went a whole lot faster than last year. 

http://to-the-beach-2009.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html

Maybe it was the company.  Maybe I am that much more fit.  Whatever the reason.  It was a nice walk.  And perfect timing - they were just closing it to pedestrian traffic as we were finishing up our walk.

Again to our surprise... the Blue Angels were flying again on Sunday.

Night on the town

You can imagine a bit of anxiety that brews in me with the crowds.  Are we really going to drive all the back in there... 10 mile drive give or take.. and deal with those crowds again?  It reminded me of why I stay away from NJ in the summer and why I cringe at the arrival of cruise ships in Bermuda.  We decided to wait a bit and let the crowds die down.  I mean they would die down right?  People surely wouldnt sit out and watch the air show all afternoon and still be out there?  Wouldn't they go back and shower and rest somewhere?  And what about all those kids?  They cant still be out.  It is getting late. 
Well not that late.  It was still light out.  And when we pulled out of the hotel only to see a lone fighter plane in thes sky, KP and I had the same reaction.. OH NO, they can't still be flying, can they?  Phew they weren't.
And we were able to find parking in the little lot again and things were good.  OK it was a bit crowded and we needed to pick up some trinkets.  But overall, things were good.  The other nagging in the back of our minds was our attire.  We wanted to check out a rooftop bar.  The manager of our hotel said it was a nicer atmosphere.  A no jeans type of place.  Well that may be what they tell her to say but let me tell you there were all walks in that rooftop bar.
http://marketpavilion.com/index.cfm?page=pavilion
There were kids in prom dresses and tuxedos.  We wondered if they were even old enough to be in a bar.  I know I am older and the kids are older even though I think they look young.  But why would so many of the guys be in tuxs?  And they did look mighty young.
Then there was the group of older women in their tennis shoes and hiking boots and jeans.  And here KP and I were nervous about our fancy jeans and capri pants.  Go figure.
We got a seat at the corner of the bar.  We could people watch, sunset watch, and order our drinks with ease.  **sigh** no Goslings at the Pavillion Bar...  "Sounds like the lady is looking for a Dark 'n Stormy" said the bartender.  But alas he had neither ingredients so I opted for a Mango Mojito instead.
We had some guys come up and talk to us given our "prime real estate" at the corner of the bar.  They were rather interesting to talk to.  And either the one guy hand done some incredible research as to what line he was going to use while on his guys weekend...  or he really was a founder of ciao bella... ICE CREAM!!! 
http://www.ciaobellagelato.com/
There's a cookbook coming out too in May but in an effort to not undo all the good of the other blogs...  I will not be buying a copy.  That ice cream maker in the bottom of my pantry can be dangerous.
We ended up eating a lobster and scallop ceviche at the bar.  I am used to the shrimp and fish version.  As you can imagine little chunks of lobsters and slices of scallops were far more appealing.
From there we walked around again and given the power of suggestion... went and had some ice cream.

nap

we didnt take in the whole show
we dreaded having to sit in that traffic on the way out
so we headed back to the car/hotel after about 30 minutes..
and took naps...  isnt that was mini-breaks are for?  relaxing?

Blue Angels

The camera technique used here was... point and click and hope you get something in the frame... without a view finder on the camera in the middle of the day it is hard to tell with a digital camera what you are taking pictures of...  I can honestly say, I was impressed with what I walked away with.

Did someone say traffic?

Well the first bit of traffic - it was 1pm - was the on the hour bridge opening off of Sullivans Island.
The second bit of traffic was people making left hand turns into Patriots Point and using more than the turn lane.
The third bit of traffic....  Air Show in Progress...  Expect Delays...
And that we did.
Thankfully we made it over THE bridge in time.  That was already closed to pedestrian traffic when we drove over.  And it was manned with military personnel.  Makes you feel safe.
Then the traffic in down was just incredible.  Our little unknown parking deck?  FULL!
So we decided to meander out towrds the Battery...  roads closed...  right hand turn down an unknown road... I looked to see there was traffic moving along the waters edge further along and decided to turn out to see what we could see.  A PARKING SPACE IS WHAT WE SAW!!! 
I truly believe that was some sort of Jimbo interference right there.  Hell if he would let his daughter drive out of that town and not see the Blue Angels fly!
So we parked - OK it was a tight parallel park and it did take some time... But we parked and headed towards the water.  In looking at the map we had driven further from the harbor than anticipated but we were OK with it.  As we should have been... because we did see some airplanes..  and boy can I be a partriotic, remininscent sap...

LUNCH TIME

We got back in our car...  have I mentioned yet that I am in a rental?  I was supposed to have a Hertz and return it so we would just have one car.  That didnt' work out so I ended up with an Enterprise and it couldn't be returned early.  I cant complain in hindsight it was far nicer than driving one of our cars around...
We parked on the side of the road at Sullivans Island and walked along the beach there as well.  It's so nice this time of year, this time of day... parking wasnt too hard to come by.
Once we left the beach we walked into town.  We went through an art gallery... it always make me want to yuck out a tarp and some paints and use my easel for what it was intended, instead of a lamp stand.  We also went into a little gift shop.  And by then convinced ourselves we could eat lunch.  Thank goodness we did because we had no idea what lay ahead of us the rest of the day.
We went to Poe's.  LA and BB have both recommended this restaurant to me.  I always just go to Dunleavys but this time decided to do something a little different.
http://www.poestavern.com/
And as suggested I had a burger.  It was TASTY!  I had the Black Cat and it was good.  Again, if we had known what we knew later there would have been a good chance of us staying there with our afternoon.  But we didn't so we moved on.

FYI - Edgar Allen Poe fans...
After a brief stint at the University of Virginia , Poe enlisted in the Army under the pseudonym Edgar Allan Perry and was stationed at Fort Moultrie at the western end of Sullivan's Island for thirteen months beginning November 18, 1827. His time on the island inspired “The Gold-Bug”, a story about a mystical beetle that led to buried treasure. He died alone, impoverished and inebriated at the age of 40 amid conflicting accounts, yet left an indelible legacy on American literature.

On the beach...

We stopped at that beach between Sullivans Island and Isle of Palms.  I state that like you would know what I am talking about.  But there is an inlet of sorts between the two islands and pretty strong currents.  There isnt any swimming there but there is some surf fishing (a hobby I have yet to understand).  We found parking and stopped.  We both brought our beach chairs from last years trip but we left them back at the hotel.  Neither one of us thought we would want to sit on the beach in the breeze.  We were wrong.  When we got there we both admitted that if we had our chairs we certainly would have lounged there for a bit.

We had a good laugh too while walking down the beach trying to take a photo... 

Day Three

WE SLEPT IN!!!  How sad is it that 8am is sleeping in?  We shuffled down to the lobby only to find the place was hoppin' with people...  At this time I should mention that over the course of days one and two I had come to find out that not only was the
Family Circle Cup (tennis tournament) was in town.
http://www.familycirclecup.com/
But so were the Blue Angels.  One flew over me while practising on Thursday and another went by the hotel on friday.
http://www.navyweek.org/charleston2010/index.html
http://www.charlestonairexpo.com/
Not to mention the normal run of Home and Garden Tours, Arts & Crafts Fairs and the such..
So the hotel was packed.  We ate, showered, dressed and headed on out.
We went towards the beach.  I took 526 to Isle of Palms and then we drove towards Sullivans Island from there.

Day Two and three-quarters...

When my day was done I went back to the hotel and waited for KP to arrive.  It worked out rather well.  I had just enough time to grab something to eat, change, check emails and relax some before she got there.  I spent some time in the lobby as well and the manager of the hotel gave me some pointers on where to go.  My friend from the night before gave me a list of things to see as well.

So night one - we went to Shem Creek - or as they say it Shim Crick...  I dont know how many times I have driven by this little area in Mount Pleasant.  It always looks inviting but I have never stopped.  It reminds me some of the inlet on the Point Pleasant side.  Of course the body of water is a bit smaller but the concept is the same - outside dining on the water.  We had dinner at a place called Water's Edge - original I know.  We had some crab dip, crab cakes, steamed clams, salad...  It was a mice meal.  Nothing too too heavy.  We sat on the water as the sun went down and before the wind picked up.  Across the way were a few other bars - they were a bit more bar like and less food oriented.

From Mount Pleasant we drove over the bridge and went into town.  It was still light out so we figured we would check out the sites.  We parked in the lot LA suggested - thank goodness for her or I would have been lost on the parking concept - and we walked to Market Street.  NOT without stopping at a local bakery along the way.
http://bakednyc.com/
Funny the website notes there is also a location in NYC.  KP had what I would call a Hello Dolly bar.  I had a whoopie pie.  We both had cafe au lait.... like we needed caffeine to go with all that sugar.  We sat outside by the street and watched the people.. aaah a favourite pass time.
From THERE we walked to Market Street and checked out some of the other items mentioned on LA's list.
And that was our Friday night.

Day Two

Was more of the same.  Get up early.  Head out early to see my client.  See lots of people.  I did get a brief Cliff Notes version tour of the facility.  It was neat.  All these times I have meandered down along this wall in the loud plant area to the ladies room....  I never knew that the strings of stuff going by me in that one area was actually part of the product...  At the end it is in sheets of polyester - for lack of a better descriptor.  It was neat to see.  So much different than what I do on a daily basis.

Day One

Well Day One was officially a work day.  I got up early, went to the client, saw lots of people, had lunch, saw some more people, went back to the hotel.  I do luck out in this visit in that a friend lives in the area and she met me at the hotel and we went out to dinner.  It was nice to catch up with her.  I really enjoyed my day. 

Keane at the beach?

I was sitting on my bedroom floor shuffling through things and listening to Virgin Radio in 2004.  I was in the prcess of changing jobs and preparing to go on a little trip to Bermuda in between.  This song came on.  It captured my - my attention, my heart, my smile....



In the winter of 2005 my friend Lauren and I stumbled across a show here in Charleston...  We actually made a day trip ofr the concert... had lunch, kicked about, and took in a great small venue performance of Tom, Tim, and Keane....  It wa a wonderful show.  I cant help but think of the when I arrive....

I am here

in North Charleston... unlike previous visits it is actually not balmy and warm here this evening...
ahhhh - but there are palm trees out front - always makes for a nice welcome...

One week....

OK - actually I will be prety darned close to the beach on Wednesday of next week... problem is, by the time i leave the office and head that way it will be too late when I get there to go the extra distance to check out the beach... that plus the fact i will need to be awake pretty early on thursday...
but one week from right now i will be in full mini holiday mode... oh i wish i could remember what bridget jones calls that...  I googled it - min break? - that doesnt sound right...  i googled some more... but now i get the impression it is to be used for romantic getaways which this is not... so we will just call it a girls weekend out....
I am looking forward to it... It is perfect timing... It has been a long time getting to this last stretch of work related meetings.  Atlanta, Mississippi, Wisconsin, South Carolina, and now this....  It will be nice to spend 2 whole days ignoring the rest of the world and relaxing.
And for those not in the know - I do refer to Charleston as "My Bermuda away from home" - so I look forward to it even more.  I look forward to this great little hotel in the middle of the city.  It has a bar in the lobby and when you walk in - this will sound wierd - there is just this faint hint of lingering humidity and dampness that you only get when being really close to the water....  the A/C doesnt do enough to dry it out and you can smell it in the air...  it is the same when you walk (or should I say walked) into Triminghams.
Oh and I hope the Le Creuset shop is still open.  I never buy anything but man it is sure fun to window shop.
Dunleavys for a beer and pub food.  This place reminds me of The Bluffs.  The bar in The Bluffs not the B&B that used to sit on top of it.  Just a bunch of locals taking a break from the hot mid-day sun.  And you can walk to the beach from there.
And as always I willpay homage at the bridge and think of my dad.  I wont post anything else on this.  I have done enough in the past.  If you want to learn more about the bridge you will have to look at older posts.
So one week.  Let's hope it goes smoothly.