South Carolina & Georgia

Itinerary

Oct 28 (Sat) Chicago - Charleston

Flew too Charleston from O’hare with a stop in Charlottesville. Arrived late afternoon and rented a Mustang convertible!

Was a little too late for sight seeing so we headed to the hotel (Double Tree near the airport) which was nice.

Dinner at Hominy Grill which was featured on several food network shows. We had a low country favorite appetizer of fried green tomatoes which were really good. We split our dinners. Pine Bark Stew and another low country favorite Shrimp and Grits. Both meals were very good. Another low country favorite, boiled peanuts, must be an acquired taste.

Oct 29 (Sun) Charleston- Walking Tour, Harbor Tour

Weather was perfect. We headed downtown and parked the car. Everything was easy to find. Our first excursion was a 2 hour walking tour. The guide was very knowledgeable as we walked the streets she focused most of her discussion on the revolutionary war period and all the historical figures from that era. She pointed out prominent houses , streets, graveyards, churches, etc. throughout the tour. Rating: *****.

Walking Tour

Saint Phillips and John The Baptist Churches and Graveyards.

Note: It is called a graveyard when associated with a church. It is called a cemetery when not.

Fire Mark Plaque: Fire Mark Insurance Association. Several different plaques can be found around Charleston representing different fire insurance companies which started around 1750. They indicated houses that were protected from fire. If a fire broke out, the fire company would only put out the fire if the homeowner had fire insurance denoted by the plaque on the building.

51 Legare St. A typical Charleston home with the huge front piazza (porch) and piazzas on the side of the house, either the south or the west to take advantage of the local winds. Also note the fake door on the corner of the house. This was just for show and was not a functioning door.

Crepe Myrtle Tree. Seen throughout the city the trees are fragile and do not have a bark.

Four Corners of Law: Meeting and Broad St. Charleseton City Hall (City Law) Count Court House (State Law), Federal Court House (Federal Law) & St. Michaels Church (God’s Law)

Four Corners of Law- Meeting Street and Broad Street

Lunch was at Eli’s table. Food was good. Had the Low Country “She Crab Soup” for an appetizer which was created by Akin Rhett’s butler for a special dinner where he hosted George Washington.

After lunch we walked the city finding our way to the open market called “Market Street” where Kathryn bought some rice preparations to bring home.

We then took a 2 hour Harbor Tour. The wind was very strong but the boat was stable and the lower deck was enclosed and warm. We got close up looks of the bridge spanning from Charleston to Mount Pleasant, views of the Yorktown Carrier, Fort Sumter and Battery Park. Tour guide was good. Rating: ****.

Dinner was at Red’s Ice House on Mount Pleasant with Mickey Lieske and his girlfriend Allie. That was really a nice visit. Mickey is 26 and just recently retired from the Army due to medical issues related to his brain tumor. Fortunately, prognosis is very good after his surgery.

Oct 30 (Mon) Charleston- USS Yorktown Tour, Culinary Walking Tour

USS Yorktown

Weather perfect. Slept in. Breakfast at Denny’s across from the hotel. I did my good deed by annonamously buying the breakfast of a military vet (he was wearing a vet cap).

Toured the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown. This is a self guided tour that takes you through the entire ship. The Yorktown was famous for its battles at Midway and was recognized for major kills against the Japanese. The original Yorktown was sunk but a new aircraft carrier being built took on the name of the Yorktown. Seeing the vastness of the carrier, the tremendous amount of engineering and manufacturing involved in it’s design and construction, and imagining what is was like on the ship during WWII was amazing. There was also a destroyer there, USS Ter.... which we also toured. They ran a video that chroniciled when the ship was attacked by Japanese comakazees. The ship was hit by 5 kamakazee planes and two bombs being eventually saved by the U.S. airforce corsair and P51 fighters taking out the Japanese. Amazingly, the ship survived. Spent over three hours. Rating: *****.

I liked the tour so much I am publishing all the pictures I took.

Culinary Walking Tour

Again walking the streets we made our way to our culinary walking tour. This was a tour of three restaurants on the North end of King Street (where the restaurants are a bit more progressive than just traditional low country fair). At each restaurant we had three courses. Our tour guide Hoon Calhoun was a native of Charleston and a character although talked too much about himself and the Duke’s Mayo he advertises. Rating: ****.

Oct 31 (Tue) Charleston- Battery Park, Fort Sumter, Aiken-Rhett Plantation, Ghost Tour

Battery Park, White Point Park, Painters Row

Weather perfect. Our first stop was White Point Park (named due to all the bleached out oysters on the beach) and Battery Park. Battery park was pretty cool as it has cannons facing out to the river to defend the point of Charleston and the confluence of the Cooper and Ashley rivers. We then walked up the river to the famous Painters row. The mansions along the river were spectacular. In painters row, each house is painted a different pastel color and the city has strict ordinances on how the residence can paint their homes. Rating: ***.

Liberty Square, Fort Sumter

We then made our way to Liberty Square where we embarked a boat to take us to Fort Sumter. Did a combination of self guided and guided tour on Fort Sumter. Fort Sumter is where the first shots of the civil war were fired. The Federals, under Col Alexander held the fort with minimal crew. When South Carolina seceeded from the Union (the first state to do so, due to it’s heavy reliance on slave labor for its economy), they declared all federal land, including the fort be returned to the state. When the fed’s did not abandon it, they fired on it from across the river from Saint James fort and shelled it for 36 hours before the Union surrendered the fort. What used to stand 50’ feet tall has been reduced to about half of that. Interesting to walk the grounds and go back in time. Rating: ****.

After Fort Sumter we ate a a great little deli Ted's and had smoked pulled pork and salami/pastrami sandwiches.

Aiken-Rhett Urban Planatation

We then walked to another neighborhood in Charleston and made our way to the Aiken-Rhett Urban plantation. This is a small walled plantation in the middle of the city. It has not been restored at all so, the entire house and out buildings are as they were back 200 years. Lot’s of disrepair from all the hurricanes it survived. The self guided tour was interesting. Seeing how it was back so many years ago was neat. Seeing where the slaves worked and cooked and where the family slept, slept and entertained was interesting on the self guided tour. Spent a little over an hour. Rating: ****.

We had some time to kill so went to Sticky Fingers for a couple of beers.

Ghost Tour

At 7:00 we started a Ghost tour of Charleston (on Halloween night!). A young guide walked us through the cobble stone back alley ways of Charleston stopping and graveyards and supposedly haunted homes as he told stories of ghosts. Walking the back alleys was cool. The stories... not too scary. Rating: ***.

After the Ghost tour we had a late dinner back at Sticky Fingers.

Nov 01 (Wed) Charleston- Drayton Plantation, Hilton Head- Hiking, Savannah, GA

Drayton Plantation

Weather perfect. We ended up skipping a planned plantation tour of Boone Plantation and decided instead to visit the Drayton Plantation up the Ashley river in the country. This was a plantation built by the third Drayton son where they harvested rice.

This was a 1 hour guided tour. The house has been maintained by the historical society so, unlike the Aiken Rhett plantation which was left to age, this house is maintained. But, it still has an old feel as the last paint job was many many years old in most of the house. The house was interesting as it was set up, as many are, as primarily a place to entertain. It was filled with various rooms for different types of entertaining and different types of guests. More formal rooms with more ornate woodwork for formal entertaining and less formal rooms for family type gatherings. The slave quarters originally were two wooden structures on each side of the house but, unfortunately, the weaker structures did not survive the various hurricanes over the years. Rating: ***.

Hilton Head, Sea Pines Forest Reserve

After the plantation tour we put the mustang convertable’s top down (We really enjoyed that) and headed 110 miles to Hilton Head.

We went to the harbor in the gated community of Sea Pines at the tip of Hilton Head. For lunch we stopped at the Crab .... . Lunch was ok. After lunch we strolled along the harbor looking at the big boats and then found a couple of rocking chairs and relaxed after lunch enjoying the perfect weather.

After a bit of navigation troubles we found our way to the Sea Pines Forest Preserve. It was getting late in the day so we took only a short hike in the forest. The forest was incredible. Huge Oaks and (the state tree) Palmetto’s with wispy, spanish moss hanging from them. Gave a picturesque, very southern look to the landscape. Hike to a couple of lakes that had warning signs not to feed or harass the alligators. Unfortunately (or fortunately) we did not see any alligators. Rating: ****.

Again with the top down we headed the rest of the way (about 50 miles) to Savannah, GA.

Dinner at Sam Snead Restaurant near the hotel. Rating: **.

We stayed in another Hilton Doubletree, and again by the airport out of downtown. I think we got upgraded because we had an amazing suite with two rooms. Very comfy, very nice. Rating: ****

Nov 02 (Thu) Savannah- Culinary Tour, Forsyth Park

Weather perfect. Slept in and headed downtown for our culinary tour. First impresssions of downtown Savannah was not great. Busy, crowded, noisy, construction and hard to find parking like any typical city downtown.

Culinary Tour

We did a culinary tour that hit seven restaurants sampling something at each restaurant. First a seafood chowder soup, then a pork butt on a doughnut, then shepards pie, then an english sausage roll then a cupcake, and finally a honey tasting (missing one stop). Our guide was friendly and we did some walking through the squares as we made it to each restaurant. The food sampling was good as it reflected the heritage of the city. The city is mainly Austrian, Scottish, English and Jewish. Rating: ****.

Park Squares and Forsyth Park

We then walked about a mile up from downtown through the various park squares until we got to Forseyth Park which is the green center piece of Savannah. Spend some time relaxing in Forsyth park.

Finished early and had an early dinner at Molly MacNally’s (a sister rest to one on the culinary tour) near the hotel. Food was ok. Service terrible. Rating: **.

Nov 03 (Fri) Savannah- Bonaventure Cemetary, Fifth Army Air Force Museum

Bonaventure Cemetery

Weather perfect.

First stop was a tour through Bonaventure Cemetery. This is a must for any visit to Savannah. Our tour guide Shannon Scott was a true story teller. The stories he told as we spent 2 ½ hours walking the cemetary grounds were captivating. Rating: *****.

Lunch at Tortugas seafood place. Small quite place with good food. The picture on the right is a typical Savannah tree lined street. Fantastic!

Fifth Army Air Force Museum

Then we went to the Army Fifth Air Force Museum. This was very cool and emotional. The tour had some videos that put you in the plane of a B17 on a combat mission. The main display was a fully restored B17 which was amazing. They also had a B24 (largescale model) with some real pieces and some other planes. What made it very special is we went up to the research library and asked if they had any records from Norman Lieske. They did! Sgt Norman Lieske, Tail Gunner, 466th BG(bomber group) / 786th BS (bomber squadron), Base Attlebridge, England AAF number 120. He also found a picture of Norm and his crew in a book that I took a picture of. He also found additional information on him in the archives and made me a copy. He spent time with us talking about where we can find any additional information. I then found various plaques and images for the 466th/786th in various places throughout the musuem I took pictures of. We also went outside where there was a memorial with granite plaques of all the bomber crews that were shot down and did not come back. This was an emotional walk.

After, we had drinks at a nearby restaurant and just did Fire House subs for dinner.

Another day driving with the top down!

Nov 04 (Sat) Savannah to Charleston to Chicago

Weather perfect. Drove again with the top down from Savannah back to the Charleston airport (about 100 miles).

Flew to Charlloteville and then to Ohare.

Limo back to Home Sweet Home.

Summary

The time of year we went turned out perfect. Blue skies, fair weather and low humidity.

Charleston is a great city to visit. Very accessible with easy low cost parking and the city is very walkable. People are friendly, tons of history, great restaurants. Rating: *****

The Low Country Cuisine was OK but there are tons of other food venues to choose in the city.

The Walking Tour the USS Yorktown, Fort Sumter and the, Culinary Walking Tour where all rating: *****.

The Harbor Tour, Akins Rhett Urban Plantation, Battery Park, the Ghoust Tour and the Drayton Plantation where all rating: *** to ****.

Hilton Head was an ok destination on the way to Savannah but, only worth an afternoon in my opinion. Rating: ***.

Savannah is another great Southern City but, not quite on par with Charleston. The parks throughout the city break up the Urban campus nicely and all the trees with the Spanish Moss hanging on them is iconic. Parking was a little more of a hassle and the city is walkable but not like Charleston. Rating: *** to ****.

The Culinary Walking Tour the Fifth Army AirForce Museum rating: ****. The Bonaventure Cemetary rating: ***** (oddly enough).

Finally, cruising around in a Mustang Convertible was lots of fun. Rating: ****

All in all a fantastic vacation. Overall Rating: *****.

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