Charming Charleston

Like Savannah, we'd always heard that the place is "charming." Charleston's more than that. It's unique. It's one of those rare places in our beautiful, yet increasingly homogenized country, that has managed to hold it's qualities in a way that shows it's a one of a kind place. Why is that? Well, we think there are a couple of reasons. The first is the people. Even though Charleston has grown a lot (the traffic here is horrible!), there are families dating back to before the Revolutionary War who still live in their homes built then. That's pretty unique in this country. It's more like Europe or other older societies. Then, there's the amazing architecture. The mostly colonial-era "single and double houses" for which Charleston is so well known. The single houses are always multi-story construction, one room wide, usually with a gabled roof, sideways to the street. Along the southwest face of the house is a full-length columned porch, which is entered by a door on the street, and from the porch a center door leads into the house. This construction was intended to keep the house cool, as prevailing southwest winds would sweep the house end-to-end, while the porch roof would shade windows from the sun. No other city has a collection of homes that quite look like this. They are unique. The "double houses" are more traditional looking. They're built on a double lot and turned so that the front of the house faces the street. The old part of Charleston has another thing going for it...it's clean! We spent an entire evening, just sitting on the pier with locals and visitors, watching the harbor and the ships coming and going. In the distance, you can see historic Fort Sumpter, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired.
We spent over a week here and really got around a lot. We covered the old town area (even took a carriage ride tour), most of the "islands" (James, John, Sullivan, Folly Beach, and Kiawah Island). Kiawah is a major upscale vacation beach, with a new, small village that reminded us of Celebration or Watercolors in Florida. The night we visited, the whole town turned out for an outdoor movie in the square. Very retro feeling.
We looked really hard for eating places in the more touristy parts of town, mostly the old town area, and didn't find much that satisfied one of our new rules: "We have gourmet food just waiting to be prepared in the kitchen in Harvey. If it isn't real unusual or amazing looking, have fun exploring, maybe have a drink...then GO HOME to eat!" We did go to Jestines, arguably one of the most famous places in town. It's just a little dive on the edge of downtown, famous for their fried chicken. I quote now from Mary Ann, "I think it was an off night because I could have mistaken the chicken for shoe leather. They did have really good sweet tea though." I don't drink much tea but I got addicted to it also. Enough said? (And a reminder of why we came up with eating out rule number 1). The foody highlight had to be The Fat Hen on James Island. This is the place we're searching for and find very elusive. It has all the qualities that make it a double nod YES and a double thumbs up, to go the step beyond entering the doors and looking at the menu. We sat down in the busy bar area and and had a total view of the whole place from our high seats. It was a weeknight, but the place was packed. Familys, couples on dates, young people, older, a total swipe of the local demographics of the area. Affluent, casual but nicely dressed guys with shorts or khakis and shirts actually tucked in. Women in sundresses, made up like they are out for the evening. Now this is a very casual place. Not high end or stuffy. The more upscale restaurants are filled with men in sport jackets and women more elegantly dressed, just like we found in Savannah. The food? Casual French bistro. Steak Frites, clams, a few other meat dishes, salads, and the meanest burger this side of the Mercury in Dallas (my standard for serious and BIG burgers!). We split the burger and perfect fries ( Mary Ann ranked them up there with Easy Street in Park City..our benchmark for fries!), and a glass of and old vine Zinfandel. Does not get any better. This place was another find for us.
We also took a day trip up to Hilton Head Island. This posh resort has always been on the list of cool places to visit. First impression is that it's larger than we expected. You almost need an overnighter to really get the feel for the place. We packed as much in as possible and saw pretty much the whole area, albeit a little more quickly than we'd have liked. Beautiful homes, good zoning again, with no high signs and lots of little nooks and crannys. After a couple of failed attempts at eating places from a list I made that looked like possibilities, we agreed on Roast Fish and Cornbread. Yep, that's it's name. Owned and chefed by a 5th generation Black Hilton Head resident, this place features healthy preparations of Southern specialties like Shrimp and Grits. Wonderful spices add an unusual flair to each bite you take. All dishes are served with their signature pumpkin cornbread. It tastes more like pumkinbread with a sweet cinnamonny finish.Yummy again! A winner again! We ate it for dessert. We returned to our RV park in Charleston that evening with the impression that Hilton Head would make a great one week, total getaway for almost anyone. The beaches are white powder and very wide. There are golf courses all over the place (and tennis courts). Even though the heat was turned way up, the breezes off the Atlantic kept it bearable.

So go ahead and call us TOURISTS! Mary Ann decided we needed to visit a real plantation, so on Saturday we headed a few miles from our base camp in Johns Island to the River Road, where several of the larger intact ones still remain. She picked The Magnolia, which does have a very rich history and huge and beautiful gardens. The most interesting thing to note about most all of the plantations is their location, up the river from the city, by about 15 miles or so. In the old days, if you took the road to town, almost a full day by horse. If you waited for the tide to be in your favor either way, about three hours! What a deal! Like being on a jet airplane!
Charleston is an incredible town, for the kind people (especially the polite children!), the history, the architecture, and the beautiful South Carolina panoramas.
Where could we possibly be off to next, on this our 6th week out? Why North Carolina, of course. Asheville, the home of The Biltmore Estate, the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and from what we hear, some good foody possibilities!!

A Bow to Harvey and Smarty!

We're here in Charleston,South Carolina, soaking up the Southern Charm. There is almost too much to write about, but we are working on the next chapter now. By early next week, we will have departed for Asheville, North Carolina, Biltmore, and Great Smokey Mountains National Park. Right now though, we'd like to take a moment to bow to our home away from home...Harvey the RV, and his little dinghy, Smarty the Smart Car! Wow, where would we be without them? It's truly amazing to us to go to sleep in our own bed every night, yet be in so many different places. We can cook-in some days, in our own wonderful kitchen, and be eating our own fresh locally bought food, yet we're in a different place every few days. What an experience! To be able to unhook Smarty and go sightseeing or to the store or wherever, gives one a deep sense of freedom. These two "machines" (they're really much more than that to us, hence the personifying names), are due a tremendous accolade to enable us to do what we're doing...on the road!! A big smile backatcha, Smarty!

Savannah and Hilton Head Island

Where to begin!! We rolled in on Thursday and hit the ground running. First, a word about the unbelievably beautiful place we're staying in. Skidaway Island is really it's own destination spot in the Savannah area. People come from near and far to visit. It's an island, separated from the rest of the mainland by a drawbridge. Once over the bridge, you come to an area filled with multi-million dollar gated estates and homes. There is a small town center with a few shops, offices, and a grocery. There are lots of new churches. It's an idealic place really...then there is Skidaway Park. Our travels are not over so we're not making any final judgement, but so far we both agree that this is the most gorgeous yet. It's a large park, filled with tall trees and endless fields of saltgrass. Mary Ann's mesmerized by the raising and lowering of the tides in these fields. So once we leave the park to go exploring, we're in another world- a world of wonderful historic homes and buildings that go back in time farther back than this country has existed. The downtown of Savannah isn't very large. It's easy to walk, and walk we have. The entire main part of the Old Town is dotted with dozens of little parks. About every three or four blocks... and there's a park! They are all distinct, and each has a sign telling of it's significance. It's easy to take yourself on a guided tour by just walking from one park to the next. The most major historic name that pops up here is British General James Ogelthorpe. You can Google him, but in a few words, it was he who pretty much founded this city (and the original colony of Georgia) and even designed it. He did a magnificent job! Highlights? Several operating downtown movie theaters (we saw The Good,The Bad, and The Ugly with a bunch of locals Saturday night in a beautifully restored one). We visited Leopolds Ice Cream Parlor.......TWICE! This place is a one of a kind. A replica of the original 1919 parlor, operated by one of the grandsons of one of the founders, and the Johnny Mercer song "Tutti Frutti" is named after their invention of that flavor. By the way, that name, Johnny Mercer is all over the place here. He grew up here, and made many nearby spots famous from the lyrics of his songs. Possibly the most famous spot is a real river, pictured here, and just a few blocks down from our home away from home, Skidaway Island. Observation: The Old South still exists here. We've noticed people saying things like "thank you," or "pardon me," and they even drive a bit friendlier and will let you into traffic without a fight. The men still wear sport jackets and look more formal. Women seem to dress up a bit more too. Children have manners. It's really astounding that such a place still survives.
Hilton Head Island is just up the road, about a 45 minute drive, and shares the airport with Savannah. It's much bigger than we expected, and the zoning is wonderful...very high-end feeling. There are no large or high signs anywhere. Stores are sort of camouflaged behind foliage. It all has a neat and clean look, unlike most other beach areas we've seen. We stopped at a local restaurant called "Roast Fish and Cornbread." It caught our eyes in a listing that said the food was local and fresh. The chef is a black man, whose family can trace back in the area almost 180 years! The sweet South Carolina shrimp and brown rice were superb, as were the local crabcakes and cheese grits. They were served with sweet potato cornbread that tasted like a sweet poundcake with cinnamon. All in all, these are wonderful places and highly recommended. Next stop is a just 100 mile jog up the road....to Charleston.

Jekyll and St Simon Islands

We really didn't know what we were in for as we approached the area from Jacksonville. Sure, we'd heard of these places, but that was about it, since neither one of us had ever been here. What a total surprise! First, we're actually staying in Blythe Island, near Brunswick,Ga. Just about every place near here is an Island. The park we're in is surrounded by beautiful marshland. There are fishing piers, which are well used by the locals, and they tell us of their catches of shark, rays, and normal fish like trout. They also have a large population of giant bunny rabbits of all colors, roaming the place and looking for a handout! We can't stress enough how gorgeous this place is. St Simon is about 15 minutes away, and is the real center of beach activities. As you drive onto the island, the amazing homes line the road in, and the tree covered streets become more dense with foliage. Some of the older houses are basically covered up with it. The village is very quaint, filled with shops and restaurants, mostly the tourist type of places of course, so we've chosen to eat the local cuisine..at home. We spent an entire morning under a beach umbrella, soaking up the local (with some tourists) color. The accents are so thick from the friendly folks who approach us to say "good mornin'", we can hardly understand them. Jekyll Island is much less populated. There are a few newer hotels, but mostly there are the 100 year old plus houses of the ultra rich who built this place as their private enclave for their winter activities. Names like Goodyear and Crane (plumbing) appear on the house markers. There is the Jekyll Island Club too, where we did stop in to have lunch, with it's croquet lawn, in the front, and big stately front porch. It was the center of activities and still thrives today as a high end resort. The entire place is stunning and the first great surprise on our way up the coast towards Savannah and Charleston. Starting here, we are on uncharted territory.

St Augustine and Jacksonville...and Amelia Island too

St. Augustine has lots of similarities to Santa Fe! Sounds weird, but trust us, it's true! First, they're both tourist towns. Then, there's the whole Spanish thing with lots of walking venues and little nooks and crannies. Art galleries, all sorts of shops and boutiques, little plazas with more shops and restaurants, and historical sights are there to see everywhere. They are both ancient cities, especially by our standards, and can trace their roots to the early Spanish explorers. The big difference though is St. Augustine was "discovered" by Henry Flagler, a partner with John D. Rockefeller in Standard oil, and Santa Fe had no such pedigree. It just grew from it's roots in the Southwest and the natural beauty people saw there in the land and the sky. Flagler saw his own beauty in St. Augustine, and on his honeymoon back in the late 1800's to his second wife, he decided that if you build it....they will come. And come they did, from all over the Northeast especially, the wealthy class flocked to St. Augustine after Flagler built lavish hotels to accommodate them. The most famous, and still very much standing, is now the Flagler College. You can walk in to what was the lobby and totally imagine what the scene there was like all those years ago. It's very impressive. We were given all sorts of S.A. eating tips from friends, but true to our M.O. we stumbled on a place that appealed to our senses, and our instincts didn't steer us wrong. Opus 39 has three different establishments. A very serious restaurant which has won lots of awards, a casual bakery/cafe which took up most of our attention, and a casual tapas place down the street from the first two. The sweet concoctions from pastry chef Kelly Mears had us from the first few minutes we walked in. I ordered a coconut white chocolate canoli. Mary Ann had a chocolate chip cookie. No ordinary cookie mind you. A great restaurant to us is one where you order something like chicken noodle soup at the Trading Post in Taos, NM (one of our all time top 3 places...anywhere!!) and it becomes the soup of any ilk that you measure ALL soups by. Likewise the chocolate chip cookie is now the new standard of ALL cookies. We went back again the next day for lunch and the Santa Fe connection chimed in again. We both thought the place reminded us a lot of Sage Bakehouse in Santa Fe, near The Plaza. Sage was started by ex Dallasite Andree Falls, who begat Parigi on Oak Lawn Ave. Amazing, not normal soups, sandwiches, and salads are on the little menu which looks like it changes at whim. The breads are artisan all the way, the ingredients are very fresh, and those sweets! We ended that visit with a little not normal (at all) apple tart which had a slight ginger flavor. The place is a total winner.
We drove all around Jacksonville on Saturday, after landing at the Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park which is right on the beach! Jacksonville looks a bit like the recession has hit hard. Downtown shows signs of life but it's not what we'd call vibrant. The old San Marco area is our favorite in town. Lots of older homes, some very well preserved from early in the last century. A nice little old shopping center too...with a still operating movie theater...one screen! Very cool and nostalgic indeed. We must have missed most of the areas with good eating places because almost all we've seen is one chain after the other.
On Sunday we drove from home base in the park up to Amelia Island, which sits almost on the Florida/Georgia border. Our first stop after taking the ferry boat to cross highway A1A was the Amelia Island Plantation, a planned community made up of a famous golf course surrounded by high end shops and restaurants and the resort. Simply beautiful. Adirondack chairs everywhere, just inviting you to sit awhile..and we did. We finally got up and drove further to what we thought was the town of Amelia Island,, but there is no such place. The town we were looking for is actually Fernandina. Never heard of it, but that is the old village near Amelia where everything's happening. We found a place called 29 South. It's a Slow Food restaurant. A what? You never heard of Slow Food? Slow Food is a movement to simply provide diners with the very freshest food possible. Without going into all the details (you can Google it later), most Slow Food restaurants will serve only items they can source locally, much of it organic if possible. The first one we ever encountered is in Brownwood, Tx of all places, called The Turtle. The food at 29 South was excellent. It was Sunday brunch and things like stuffed French Toast and shrimp and cheese grits with a giant biscuit were on the menu. Didn't taste or look like health food, but it was! The town is pretty large and a good walking venue too, with dozens of eateries and shops of all kinds. We did a few of the streets and the heat got the best of us so we headed back to the park to relax. On the way to the ferry, earlier in the day, we passed a little town called Mayport. It was founded in 1562, is a fishing village, home to the Coast Guard and Navy bases, and also a couple of awesome seafood places. The large one is actually just a retail outlet for the large fishing and shrimping fleet, and the other, called Singletons, is smaller and has it's own boats too. We ate dinner at Singletons, and it is not to be missed if you ever pass this way. The place is a total hole-in-the-wall. The food is some of the freshest we've ever tasted...right off the boat! Mary Ann had fresh boiled shrimp, and I tried a catch of the day, something called Sheepshead. It tasted like really good quality Cod. Prepared simply... grilled and served with some great sides like mustard greens, slaw, and amazing cornbread hush puppies. It turns out that both places are locally legendary, and people come from miles and even other states to eat there. After dinner we headed back to base camp and headed over to the beach to watch the sun go down. What a day! On to Georgia next....

The O in Orlando

The O in Orlando
It's been a few days since our last entry so let's play a little catch-up. We had a great time with Ed and Pat in Miami. One more restaurant to enter into the log...California Bistro, on the edge of downtown Miami, is a little of a dichotomy. It's a little bit Italian and a little bit Mexican, and some other Latin flavors and spices thrown in too. The sauces are the thing here. On arrival, a really good bruscetta is served with some good Cuban bread. The Chicken Marsala was delicious, the tacos were good too. Lots of mixed up tastes, all with success. We'll be back! The day we left Miami, Ed and Pat took us down, almost to Homestead, to the every Saturday fresh market. We bought little finger bananas, fresh limes, pineapple, a real wierd looking fruit called Indian Bitter Melon (which Mary Ann's not sure what to do with yet!)...and some fresh Grouper which we had for two fabulous meals in Orlando.......
So we rolled up to Orlando by way of Lake Okeedokee (That's what I call it!). Real name? Okeechobee. Seminole for..really big lake. Those Indians were pretty literal, weren't they? Anyway, the drive took us through lots of small central Florida towns, most notable of which is Sebering. The famous race track is still there of course, and from the short time we spent there, much of the local townfolk must think they're actually on the track. They seem to all have some kind of muscle car or something. Loud mufflers. Peeling in and out of the gas station. Maybe they're just watching too much Nascar on the telly. We finally got up to the Orlando area late Saturday afternoon. We drove to our new home away from home, The Bill Frederick Park, in the posh Northwest side of town. We're guessing this is close to where Tiger Woods and other notable figures live, and on a rating scale for RV places to stay, it's way up on the notches. Aside from the fact fact that we have a beautiful lake spot to park Harvey, the proximity to all things Orlando can't be beat! We have not done much eating out since arriving because A: We've been here a million times and seem to struggle to find cool places to eat (too many tourist choices) and B: We've been living in the Disney and Universal parks for the past two days. Comment on park food: Disney/Yeccch. Like bad cafeteria food at a very high prices. Almost no healthy choices. The only revelation was that if you have to eat at one of the Disney parks, choose Epcot because they at least do have some edible choices and more variety. Universal is a different story. We don't feel as had inside. Why? Easy, there are more good choices, the prices are (slightly) more reasonable, and C: if you can't find anything good, you can walk out the gates, eat at Emerils, Margaritaville Cafe, or a dozen other independent restaurants in City Walk, then return to the park for one more round on the Simpsons ride (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJGHCQXFlnM). Fun!! We used to have a favorite in Disneys planned community that looks perfect like the rest of Disneyworld... Celebration. It's actually an old fashion style diner called The Celebration Cafe. Well, the last time we visited several years ago, the server waited until everyone's food was served, then informed me they were "out of turkey." This time, they literally burned Mary Ann's eggs and did the favor of taking twenty percent off the bill when we showed them the charred wreckage they'd served us. The server apologized, we left her a tip, and left, this time for good. It's rough out there in the eating out world folks. I'm writing this on Wednesday at one of the local Whole Foods Cafes. We're trying hard to keep on the organic road while we travel, play, and right now, work! (They have free wifi here). We may brave it up and try one more eat out experience before we leave Orlando and head up to St. Augustine. Stay tuned....

Miami!

We rolled into to town late on Sunday afternoon, and after being greeted by Pat and Ed at our next home away from home, the Thompson Park, which is adjacent to the Miami Zoo, we almost immediately took off for Versailles. No, we're not crossing the big pond with Harvey and Smarty to end up at the French palace. This time, it's the iconic restaurant on Miami's Calle Ocho (8th St in Little Havana), which typifies Cuban cuisine for us (and a lot of other people!). It's become a tradition for our first meal when visiting to be here. Kinda sets the tone, if you know what we mean. My favorite Cuban dish is the traditional Arroz con Pollo, Chicken and Yellow Rice, and Mary Ann alternates between that and Ropa Vieja, which is like a Cuban pot roast. We always savor one item that comes on most plates...the fried plantains...total YUM, and no meal is complete there without a Cafe con Leche, strong Cuban coffee with steamed milk...Double YUM!! Are you asking yet when we're getting back to the healthy eating? Answer, not sure. Versailles is a great way to break yourself into the pace of Miami. It's like going back in time to the 60's. The pace is fast, the place is always busy and buzzing, but the food! That's the best reason to head there. It's all fun.

We also visited an eatery in Miami's Mary Brickell Village, next to downtown, that's worth a mention too. It's a Japanese Pan Latin Sushi restaurant called Abokado. A smart looking space, with thumping ambient or discoey music and really interesting food. Mary Ann ordered a Temptation, shrimp/avocado/cucumber roll, topped with spicy tuna and tempura flakes. I had Udon noodles with a teriyaki sauce.Many Latin flavors and spices are combined with Japanese food, and interesting combination indeed. More to come as experienced in Mi-am-i!