As we were having morning coffee today we heard a low rumbling and looked out to see what it was.  It was a wall of steel slowing moving by.   This shot doesn’t begin to give a feel for how the ship blocked out the sky, or how close it was to us as it slid into the dock.  I am perplexed as to why they can’t build attractive cruise ships these days.  I guess that if “form follows function” then these floating feeding stations should look at least as bloated as their passengers.   By that measure the designs are just perfect.  Yesterday, Sunday, we went for another walk through downtown Charleston and although we had visited some of the same neighborhoods the prior day, we found ourselves noticing things that we had not yet seen.  Being here for a full week is very nice as it takes some of the pressure off and makes us feel less like “ohmyGod,ineedtoseeeverythinginasingleday”.

While I may not be, or may never be, in full cruisers mode, (I’ll get to that manana dude) I am trying REALLY, REALLY HARD not to overachieve.  Wish me luck as it will be tough to unlearn a lifetime of time management in the extreme.  I am not optimistic that “laid back” will ever be a phrase that others will use to describe me.  Perhaps if I get a pierced ear with an anchor earring and a tatoo and let my hair grow out it will be a start.  Hmm…

Not sure where that was going so I’ll just drop it.  In any event, I thought that it would be fun yesterday to take photos of some of the nicer, as if that’s even possible to decide, doorways that we saw.

We also visited another mansion, one of several that are open to the public.  This particular one, the Calhoun Mansion, is still in private hands and we were told that the owners, when they are in town, live there.   Not sure that I buy that but it’s what we were told.  They didn’t allow photos inside, but the website has an impressive slideshow that gives a feel for how much stuff is in the home.  It’s PACKED in the extreme, the fashion of the day we were told, where the rich collected massive amounts of stuff to prove how rich they were.  It seems that the current owner is making the same statement and I am convinced that he has firm footing as a member of the 1% club.

I like doorways as it tells you a lot about how the owner wants you to think about their home.  Some are very spare and shabby chic.  Old money perhaps?Some make it clear that a 15 year old SAAB doesn’t live there. Some seem to say “I am above it all”.Some, like this door onto a porch, seem to say “enter, but you aren’t there yet”.Some seem to say “my life is very orderly and if you saw my sock drawer, which you never will, you’d agree”.This seems to say “if you think my patio is nice, you wouldn’t believe how nice it is inside my home”.    Me, I believe!!!

Ok, this isn’t a door, but it’s certainly a window into another world.  No, it doesn’t really fit in this post but I like the shot.
This seems to say, “If you like this door, you can only imagine what’s behind it”.  And, indeed it is an OMG moment when you enter this one, the front door of the Calhoun Mansion. This one?  Not sure what it says.  Me?  I say it’s very nice.I can only guess what is behind all the wonderful doors in Charleston.   However, it’s fun wandering around and imagining.  If there is a common theme here it’s probably “I have money and am not afraid to show it!”   And, I expect that you won’t run into many of them at the buffet table on the cruise ship docked near by.  “Go away you bloated thing, you.  You are blocking my view!”

Perhaps to say that this post is in some way a documentation of the gardens of Charleston overstates it a bit. However, when Brenda and I went for a walk yesterday I thought that it would be fun to find some nice gardens to include in a post.  The weather continues to be wonderful if a bit chilly but it’s perfect for walking around town.

Into every life a bit of rain must fall and our day will likely be Tuesday.  I guess that will have to be our chore day.  Besides, the engine oil needs to be changed and wash needs to be done.  At some point I also have to change the zincs on the prop but will have to wait until we are in a place with less current.  I’d hate to be swept under the dock with the current, pretty creepy thought.

It’s amazing to see just how scenic Charleston is.  The level of detail that goes into everything is inspiring.  In lusting after the gardens I do have to remind myself about the cost of all this.   However, taking pictures is cheap so here goes.   We were told that when a gate is let open to the street it means that the owner is welcoming you to explore their gardens.  Alas, on a Saturday with loads of tourists, no gates open.  These photos were taken through a hole in the gate or bars.   Most of the best gardens we saw were very compact and some, like this one, surround a driveway.

Some are very simple with meticulously sculpted hedges.   Not a lot of oil stains on this driveway.  Very elegant. The architectural details are a visual feast.   This patio/driveway wouldn’t last a single winter in Essex.
Some are perhaps better described as intimate vistas.  It was hard to tear myself away from this one. Imagine an evening pitcher of mint juleps here with friends.  Mmmm…
Container gardens are wonderful and there are plenty to feast your eyes on here in Charleston.
And an endless variety of window boxes, most with automatic watering systems.  You’d surely need them in the heat of summer.
There is an amazing amount of ivy growing everywhere but it’s nearly always very carefully maintained.  I expect that it is trimmed nearly as often as the yards, as small as they are, are mowed.  Labor intensive is the standard here in the nicest neighborhoods.
You can be pretty lavish with your attention to detail when your front yard is only 5′ deep.  I wish my yard was smaller.  How great that would be.
Intimate of not, these gardens are nothing compared to the homes that they surround.  I can’t imagine keeping such a work of art looking fresh for a hundred years.  This would be a good example of the house owning you.
However, in all their grandeur, no house, even here, can rival the beauty of today’s sunrise as viewed from Pandora.  And the cost is only the willingness to be up early enough to enjoy it.
I am blessed to be here with Brenda.  What a wonderful city.   So, what to do today?  So much to do, so little time.

Friday was our first full day to wander around Charleston and wander we did.  We are very pleased to have chosen, and gotten into, the Maritime Center with it’s 21 slips.  It’s a very small place compared with City Marina on the other side of the city with it’s 100s of slips.  While this spot is a bit rolly, it is so convenient to town, shopping and the historic district that the occasional bumping isn’t a real problem.

We walked around the city much of the day and enjoyed seeing all of the wonderful homes, most in nearly perfect condition.   I understand that the “hysterical society” is quite aggressive in making sure that owners don’t allow their homes to be altered or managed badly.  I would find that intrusive but it would be nice to know that everyone has to keep things just so. I do like “just so”.  And just so they are.  Keeping these, mostly white, homes looking perfect takes a massive amount of effort so it’s a rare block that doesn’t have some sort of home repair going on. Masons, carpenters and groundskeepers are everywhere and the loving care and open check books really shows.

I can’t begin to describe the scale and number of beautiful homes but perhaps this random mix of photos will give you an idea of just how amazing it is.   I do love porches, so perhaps that’s a good place to begin this tour.  If one porch is good surely two is better and there are plenty of homes with multiple porches.  There are many curved porches.  I just can’t imagine what it costs to maintain such a home.  No vinyl siding here. One of the grandest homes is now the Two Meeting Street Inn.  We tried to have afternoon tea here but it’s only available to guests.   Everything about this house cries out “wow, I am really expensive to maintain!!!”  It’s a beautiful place and had better be as it’s not an inexpensive place to stay.  One night costs about twice what we are paying for an entire week at this marina.  Somebody has to pay for all that white paint.
The turret is an amazing piece of construction.
Ok, no porch here to speak of but what a home.  Someone told us that many of these homes are only used for a few months a year.  Yikes!!!The home above looks out on this park at the Battery at the southern tip of Charleston.  What a riot of live oaks.  Actually, as they are all lined up,perhaps “riot” isn’t a good word to describe this carefully manicured vista.  I am trying to imagine living in an area with this sort of landscape out in front of my home.  Hmm…  The scale of all of this is a bit overwhelming.While white is the color of choice for homes here, I expect that this one was always painted a color other than white as getting a color change past the local historical society would be nearly impossible.   It also may be the largest porch we saw.  If the outside is this elaborate I can only imagine how the interior must look.
Some of the homes look like they have been heavily updated with new siding and detail work like this one.  Others show generations of paint.   This one is downright modest.  One must have pity or the owner who’s porch is perhaps less than 100′ long.  How demoralizing that must be.
One particularly fun place to visit is the city marketplace.  There are many vendors selling everything from food to baskets.  Brenda’s very focused on one of the sweetgrass baskets and it’s fun comparing the offers from all of the vendors.  You enter the market through this front door and wander for what seems like 100s of yards through packed stalls. We enjoyed a late lunch in this lovely courtyard restaurant.  Perhaps not the most artfully composed photo but the lunch was great.  I can almost hear our son Christopher saying “dad, you can’t get good metering with your camera on auto mode”.   Oh well…

Last evening we had dinner at the Charleston Yacht Club compliments of the local SSCA cruising station hosts Emmett and Mecca, who are now living ashore after eight years of cruising.  They sold their boat last year which must have been tough.  Emmett and Mecca are one more example of how helpful the community of cruisers have been to us on this trip.  The club is informal and very friendly.  We were introduced to many nice folks and had a great evening and were, once again, shown what southern hospitality can be.

Tours by horse drawn carriage is a popular pastime for tourists.  As we are in fact, tourists, we will be taking a ride in one of these before we leave town on Thursday.   It’s fun to walk by the stables and see all of the carriages.

Oh yea, speaking of “a horses ass”, this shot of me making our bed yesterday morning seems to evoke something equine.  Getting under the mattress is the only way that I can get the sheets secure and tight.   And, anyone who knows me realizes that I like things just so.  Tight is good.   Who says that I don’t put photos of myself on the blog. So, that does it for today.  Off to do some more sightseeing.

Well, it’s hard to believe but we are finally here in Charleston another important milestone for us as we have not been in this town together since before we became parents.  With all the fun of Sandy, our arrival was delayed by about a week but we have finally arrived.  In fact, the last time we were here was “less” than a year since we had Rob, our oldest.  You do the math.

We arrived yesterday, Thursday, now over 1,000 miles into our trip on the log, and have splurged on a slip for an entire week. Last night we kicked off our visit with a dinner at a very nice restaurant Sermet’s Downtown.  The food was just terrific and the wait staff was very attentive.  The staff was even wearing bow ties, supplied by a high end men’s store right next door.  Bummer, I should have brought a few of my bow ties aboard Pandora.  Who’d have guessed I’d need them.  Interestingly, there was a 21st birthday girl with 17 of her best girlfriends at a table near us.  I’ll bet that daddy will choke on the check when he sees it.   He wasn’t there to defend himself and it was clear that the management had been told to take care of the girls, which they did.  More champagne girls?   Oh yea, ID first.   As an interesting observation, of the 18 girls there were only two that were not “blond” or some derivative of same.  Must be the gene pool here in Charleston.  Perhaps not.   Only their hairdresser knows for sure.   Unfortunately, I don’t have a photo of the happy group but this one of some pelicans that we took yesterday morning is more similar than different.  And, they were just about as noisy.  I wonder if the sign says “happy birdday Sally Mae”?

Today we head out to do some sightseeing and I know that Brenda has her heart set on getting one of the local sweet grass baskets that are synonymous with this area.  I expect that she will be posting a photo of one in the next day or two.   Me,  I want to get a haircut and have already scoped out a place to get it done.  Interestingly, the barber is directly across the street from a very fancy hotel that I stayed in a few years ago when I presented at a medical society board meeting.

It’s good to be back in town without worrying about projectors and presentations.   No, a haircut, the first one since early September, is what I care about.  That and restocking the fridge which has run low after nearly two weeks without a proper market to visit.

For now I will close with a few shots of Pandora and environs.  Lot’s more to photograph here but this will have to suffice for now.   How’s this for a backdrop?My dad loves bridges and I expect that this one will really get him excited.  Here Dad, a closeup.Now, I am off to get a haircut.   So, how short?  Hmm…

It’s Tuesday morning and the winds have finally died down enough for us to continue south.  After a few days anchored in an oxbow just off of the Waccamaw river we decided to venture further south but after a few hours of enjoying the continued strong winds buffeting us (not!) we decided to pull into another protected area.  So, for the last few days we have been holed up in a little creek deep into an old rice plantation.  Even though there wasn’t much breaking the wind, that was taller than high grass, there wasn’t much wind and even fewer signs of civilization.  It was very pretty and cozy and given the still brisk NW winds, there was not a sign of mosquitoes.  Having said that, there were massive flocks of swallows which certainly suggest that mosquitoes are abundant when they are not being blown away.

Today we decided to move, picked up the anchor and were back on the river shortly after 07:30.  It was really cold, the most frigged yet with the thermometer in the cabin registering a frosty 52 degrees.  It was still breezy with about 15kts on the nose most of the day.  As is usually the case with NW winds, it was also plenty gusty.

Our destination was to be Charleston for tonight but we couldn’t make enough distance in time to make the last opening of the swing bridge a few miles short of our destination.   The bridge doesn’t open between 4-6pm on account of rush hour.  With the short days this time of year that’s a problem for us as going into Charleston in the dark is a non starter for the crew of Pandora.

A few days ago, prior to moving into our latest anchorage, we were treated to a visit by a friend’s aunt, the amazing 88 year old June that I mentioned in an earlier post for a day of sightseeing at a local botanical/sculpture garden.   If you are following Brenda’s blog you have already heard about our day with June so I won’t belabor it here.  Having said that, I will include some photos as the place was just stunning.  I understand that this place, Brookgreen Gardens, has the largest collection of american sculpture anywhere in the world.  Who’d have guessed, here in South Carolina?

This is a nice picture of June and Brenda.  June said that we wore her out and that she was pooped after our time together.  If she was tired while we were touring the garden she didn’t let on.  The number of sculptures was overwhelming.  I expect that there were thousands of them.  Some large and some small.  One theme that carried across the collection was the human form and there were plenty to choose from.  Yes, good form from my perspective. The sculptures were set into the landscape and what a great landscape it was.  Live oaks everywhere. Some views were grand and some more intimate.  Plenty of water features.  I was told that there were some resident alligators but all we saw was a big snake, perhaps 4-5′ long coiled up above us at one point in an arbor just over our head.  Brenda loved it.  Not!!!There were even some late season magnolias still in bloom.  These fragrant flowers are amazing.  This one was at least 6″ across.
After our visit to the gardens our hostess, who I should also add bought us lunch, took us for a visit to a beach that was just teeming with wildlife.  There were hundreds of birds, some quite large.  These birds, wood storks, have a wingspan of some 5′.   They seemed completely unperturbed by our presence.   When they fly their wings are black and it’s an impressive sight.   They are the largest shorebirds that live in South Carolina and are listed as endangered.  Well, there are plenty of them here.  However, we didn’t see any elsewhere on our trip so far.
They look a lot different, and more graceful, when they are flying.    After driving us around town June took us back to her home.  We would have loved to stay a while for a drink on the back deck but I was concerned about Pandora on the ho0k in so much wind so we headed back.  What a lovely view.  There is a massive live oak growing out of the middle of her back deck.  It’s so scenic.  June told us that she had gotten rid of her outboard powered John Boat that she used to go out in, but she still used her kayaks regularly.  She boasted that when her son takes away her driving license that she will just have to get around by kayak.   What a hoot.

As I mentioned, for the last few nights we were anchored in a really remote area, although it did have great cell reception.    It was so narrow that we would surely have run aground when the wind shifted if it weren’t for the current keeping us in the center of the channel.  The view of the grasses and cypress was primeval.  I did look around for alligators but didn’t find any.  Hmm…   Not a bad looking  boat, that Pandora in the evening glow. It’s amazing how different things look depending on the time of the day.  The three next shots were taken within about 30 minutes.  They are not exactly the same place but pretty close.    They are the same general view of Pandora above.  Of course, the sunset is in the opposite direction.  It’s all about the lighting  it would seem. A bit later as the sun set lower in the sky.  And, finally, the setting sun.   Today shortly after we got on our way we passed what I understand is the only ferry on the entire ICW.  And, it’s not much of a ferry at that.  This is such a remote area that you can go for miles without seeing a house or a bridge.  I guess that there aren’t enough folks living here to warrant a bridge of their own. I am not sure what this is.  It’s clearly a lookout of some sort.  However to look at what as it’s just flat marsh in every direction?  Judging by the look of this they have been on the lookout for something for some time.   Too busy looking and not enough time spent painting, it would seem.  I SEE YOU!!!  of should I say THEY SEE YOU!!!  Me?  I see that they need to spend some time on cosmetics.  Perhaps I will close with this picture of a bouquet of water hyacinth that I picked  for Brenda yesterday.  They are pretty small as Brenda has arranged them in a shot glass.  “Hey Buster, that’s a pretty puny excuse for a bouquet!”  Yes, perhaps, but what girl isn’t impressed when a boy/guy brings her flowers?   Small or not…  Besides, as I reached into the swamp grass to pick these I imagined an alligator rising up out of the black water to snatch my hand. Well, that’s what I told Brenda.  She was impressed.  And, that’s my story and I am sticking to it.
Well, it’s opening time so I am going to soon reach for an adult beverage so we can enjoy the sunset.  Tomorrow, on to Charleston for a week.  I am excited.