Charleston. One of our favorite get aways...

    It's almost the new year and we haven't been to Charleston in a while.  Don and I love, and I mean LOVE Charleston.  His mom and her husband live over on John's Island and have been asking that we come down for a visit, so we did.

    Our trip had to be short, however, because we couldn't get off work early on Friday and couldn't call in on Monday.  So early Saturday we piled into the Blue Kahuna and off we went.  Some 6 restroom stops and 4 hours later, we arrived.  Our first jaunt was to the Charleston Tea Plantation (http://www.charlestonteaplantation.com/).  This is one of my favorite places to visit, and we even did the tour this time.  With our wallets a bit lighter, and our tea glasses full, we headed into Charleston proper for some low country seafood.

    Now if you have never been to Hyman's, (http://www.hymanseafood.com/) I highly recommend it!  We had never been there, and the wait was long, but SO worth it! All kinds of celebrities have eaten there, and I can see why!  The hush-puppies were exquisite, the boiled peanuts they bring out to the table were fantastic, and Wadmalaw delight, well it was an experience all it's own!   I had the choice of three platter with broiled cod, mussels in scampi sauce and a lump crab cake.  All of it was so good, but the mussels were unreal.  They were so good, I've decided I must go back and all I plan to get is the mussels. Generally I like to try new things, but with how good those were, there is really no sense in it... I can't believe I've been to Charleston 4 times without having ever been to Hyman's! Seriously, you HAVE to try it.

   We bid our wonderful family farewell early Sunday morning and braved a little storm as we headed back up I-26 to home.  I think our next trip we might stay over in Charleston and make a romantic getaway out of the venture.  I'd like to wander about the city and maybe see a plantation or two in the spring.

Hollywild, the Holidays and No Escape

        There is no escape during the holidays.  Families pull in this direction and friends pull in that, and work pulls us another way.  It's kind of like being on the rack, you are pulled in different directions until something, like your body or mind, gives.  It's not that I don't want to be with family and friends, its that we have SO many places to be and so many people to see and SO many things to do that we can't make everyone happy.

    We did, however pulled we may be, sneak off to Hollywild (http://www.hollywild.com)  to see the famous Christmas lights. It was the first time I had ever been there, and I was pretty impressed.  We even did the "enchanted deer forest" that included a bag of bread and about 50 cars herding tame cows and deer in the hopes that one of the giant (and I mean giant) cows would lick your hand whilst eating bread.  It was a lot of fun, and worth the money we paid to drive through and see the animals.  I do recommend going by if you are in the Spartanburg/Greer area.

    So, no more escapes until after Christmas.

Bacon Brothers Public House... Excellent Food!

    Don and I decided last week to have dinner at Bacon Brothers Public House (http://baconbrospublichouse.com/) over off Pelham Road in Greenville, SC.  We had been by on a Saturday night once before, but the 1 1/2 hour wait was too much, so we tried again on a week night.  This time there was no wait, and the food was fantastic.  It is a little pricey for our middle of the week dining out choices, but once in a while, I don't mind, especially with food as good as this.

    According to their menu, they use all natural products from local farms. (http://baconbrospublichouse.com/menus/Bacon_Bros_Menu_11-2013.pdf)   And the all natural, local difference is seen in the quality of the food. I ordered the beef brisket and Don ordered the hamburger.  My brisket came with some great collards and cornbread.  Don's burger was great too (or so he told me between bites).

    We were impressed with the service, the presentation and the quality of the food.  I highly recommend visiting this establishment, even if it is during the week.

Thanksgiving in Savannah.

  Once again Don and I decided to scamper off to Savannah for Thanksgiving.  Our plans were to stay at the River Street Inn right on the water, have Thanksgiving dinner on a riverboat, and have our "Friday after Thanksgiving anniversary seafood dinner" at The Crab Shack.

    We scrimped and saved for months for this trip.  I booked our rooms and bought our tickets for the Savannah Riverboat Cruise ( http://www.savannahriverboat.com) and we were ready.  We were able to check in early at the River Street Inn (http://www.riverstreetinn.com) and the room was small, but lovely upon first inspection. We paid 140.00 a night, plus taxes, for a river view room.  You could see the river and all of the comings and goings along it right from the window.  That view was really amazing.

A Tall Ship, like the olden days

The old, and the new. 

The "Who Cares"

  But, the stay at the River Street Inn wasn't worth the 140 a night.  Beyond the room being tiny and dusty, there was literally no place for our suitcase. No stand, no bench, nothing. We improvised and used the ottoman in the room, so that worked out in the end.  The place was dusty, and I mean DUSTY!  They didn't bother to plug in the lamps, so we had to plug them into the dirtiest power strip I've ever seen under the bed.  It was gross. The maid staff made the bed and left fresh towels, but didn't empty the trash.  The beds slept horribly, even after we received extra pillows (the three on the bed were flat). There was only one partial roll of toilet paper in the bathroom too.  For what we paid, I guess I expected it to be more like the Hilton. The elevators required the use of a key card. So when the car hung up on the 4th floor the second day, I stood patiently behind a man at the check in counter and listened as the staff rudely told him he was not using his card right (though I watched him and he had).  As he walked off, I told them the car was hung up, and got nothing more than a shrug.  The following morning, as we got ready to leave, Don went to get the car and I discovered our key cards had been deactivated more than two hours before check-out.  They wouldn't work on the elevator, or the room door and there wasn't a bellman in sight.  So I had to lug my suitcases up the stairs to the check-in desk.  The girl behind the counter was quite short with me and could have cared less that my key card was non-functional.  I was NOT pleased.  The rooms were pretty, and they were right where we wanted to be for the stay, but that's all I can say about the place.

   The riverboat dinner was, as expected, fantastic.  The food was good, the entertainment was pleasant, and we had a fine time.  The two and a half hour ride at night up the river was just delightful.  Last year we went outside after we ate, but it was too cold this year, so we stayed in and watched people dance and act a fool at the request of the DJ.  It was great and I do hope we can go back!

    We spent the next day wondering in and out of shops along River Street.  Our favorite is the Savannah Bee Company (http://www.savannahbee.com).  You can sample different honey and products made with honey.  It's a sweet place!  After dropping off our packages in the room, we booked a carriage tour.  Because no one else booked with us, the tour wound up being a private tour and we just loved it!!  We wondered through the Paula Deen shop, for kicks and giggles, and then off to our car for a trip down to Tybee for a look at the sea.  

    Dinner was super fantastic!  The Crab Shack (http://www.thecrabshack.com) over on Tybee is our favorite!  The gators were too sleepy in the cold weather to be much to see, but the birds in the bird house were excitable. The service is good, the food is great, and its a lot of fun!  We started out with a crab chowder that was the best crap soup I have ever had.  It was rich and creamy and perfect.  We ordered the  Shack Specialty for two.  It is much like a low country boil with all kinds of extra shellfish on it.  We followed up the yummy meal with come key lime pie.  YUM!!  I highly recommend The Crab Shack. 

   We left out early to try to avoid the Clemson-Carolina game traffic in Columbia on our way to Sylva, NC to see some dear friends.  We stayed in a old, OLD road side place next to a creek in Downtown Sylva.  Although the place was super old, it was clean, the beds slept better than the 140 a night place, and the owner was exceptionally friendly and kind.  50 bucks was all it cost.  We visited a cool little bookstore and we had a greek dinner with our friends.  It was a lovely end to a lovely trip.  

  We didn't take as many photos this time as we normally do, but I'll leave you with some none the less...

Savannah, gotta love it!