Sticky Fingers

I wasn't sure what to expect but the place did receive favorable reviews on trip advisor. The place was typical of most rib joints and we did have the ribs. The ribs were dry rub ribs with a slow smoked flavor, fall off the bone consistency.

Gullah Tours

This was an impromptu choice for us. At 10:30 in the morning sitting in our Savannah hotel room we decided to book the 1:00 pm Charleston tour.

We pack up and race across the Carolina country side to make our tour time.

Lady and Sons

Paula Deans restaraunt is tonight's dinner selection. We had reservations and I'm glad we did, otherwise the wait would have 1 1/2 hours. The menu consisted of traditional style selection or one could select the buffet; we chose the buffet. The fried chicken on the buffet was delicious as was all the food I put on my plate from the buffet.

Strolling River Street

Our main objective was to hit the sweet spots and I don't mean shopping, I mean candy shops. We got pralines and gophers at the Savannah candy kitchen and peanut brittle and glazed pecans at River Street Sweets.

Lunch at Cotton Exchange Tavern

No particular reason for eating here except it was near by and had a good rating on trip advisor. Brenda and I both had the BLT with the green fried tomato; very delicious.

Owens-Thomas House

Another house tour of the 1812 period. The tour was guided by a very knowledgeable staff. Since the house was owned and occupied by 3 generations it was well preserved and updated with the times up until 1950s.

Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owens-Thomas_House, has a brief history of the Owens-Thomas House.

Davenport House

This guided tour took us through the 1820 period house built by Isiah Davenport. The historical society did a good job on restoring the house and I felt the docent did a fair job on the historical aspect of the owners but a good job on the history of the restoration.

A brief history of the Davenport House can be found on wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaiah_Davenport_House.

Old Pink House

Originally planned to have Brenda's birthday dinner here then cancelled before the trip, we actually booked this the day of via open table. Glad we were able to book this and not miss out on this wonderful meal. Brenda had the sweet potato and oreidella onion pasta and I had the Pork Shank, both delicious, and for desert we shared the praline basket filled with ice cream and fresh fruit.

Travel to Savannah

We leave Charleston after touring the Magnolia Plantation and travel down to Savannah, the trip takes us about two hours. After arriving in Savannah, we hop on the Old Savannah Tour:; a hop on hop off tour of Savannah. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and gave us a great overview of he city, preparing us for tomorrow's adventures.

Slave Homes

The Freedom from Slavery tour was a narration and tour of the slave homes that exist on the Magnolia plantation. A total of 12 slave homes existed on the plantation during its peak of production of rice. After the civil war and abolishment of slavery, these homes continued to be occupied by the plantation workers. Some a late as 1969

House Tour

Tour of the Magnolia Plantation home was a guided tour, explaining the history of the plantation and the house. The house that was being toured was actually the third house built on this plantation. The previous two houses were destroyed by fire; the first one struck by lightning, the second was burned by General Sherman during the civil war.

Magnolia Gardens and Plantations

Today began with a drive out to Magnolia Gardens and Plantation, the oldest plantation in north america, operating since 1680. Basic admission allows access to the grounds of the plantation and the gardens. The gardens consists of pathways throughout the estate lined with various plants and flowers meant to blossom through out the year.

Charleston Water Taxi

After our planned activitiesnu for the day, we still have time to left in the day to explore Charleston. We drove down to battery park to catch a glimpse of the bay. Brenda came up with the idea of taking a tour of the harbor by boat via the Charleston Water Taxi. We located Charleston Maritime Harbor and the water taxi. After a 30 minute wait, we boarded the taxi and were off on our harbor tour.
The water taxi was not exactly what we were hoping for as far as a tour, but it was a nice break from all the walking and it gave us a chance to see the Charleston skyline from a different view. The round trip water taxi lasted about an hour.
Returning to dry land, we made our way back to our hotel area of  town (north Charleston) and were in search for food. Our plan was to eat at Sticky Fingers but quickly found it to not be in business. We settled for Carraba's, nice familiar food, then back to the hotel to relax and end our day.

Sweet Treat Break

After a morning of touring Charleston it is time for a break, Paolo's Gelato and Italiano and Deserts, for some Italian gelato, delicious! Oh extra double treat, a macaroon store next door, so we can pickup some after dinner treats.

Aiken-Rhett House

The Aiken-Rhett House tour is a 90 minute self-pace audio tour. The house is owned and maintained by the Historic Charleston Foundation, more information on the Aiken-Rhett House can be found on their website.

The house is preserved just as it was when the foundation received it in 1975 as a donationt. The house is an example of urban plantation homes typical of Charleston during the period (1820s).

Culinary Tour

The culinary tour started at the visitors center. We found our guide, Guilds, and began the tour walking the streets of Charleston learning about its early history as a colony and its development into a trading capital in the south, while learning about the different sections of historic downtown.

This particular tour would take us to the Farmers market where we would select foods from the market that would be prepared in a meal at the end of the tour. Half way through the tour we visitedt the farmers market where food is selected and purchased.

We continued the walking tour through the grounds of university of Charleston, walking ever deeper into historic Charleston. Our final destination on the tour is the Leaf cafe and bar. The chef here has prepared a tasty appetizer lunch from the food selected from the farmers market (note 1). The list below is what I remember about the lunch:

Blueberry Vodka Cocktail
Strawberry and Blue Cheese
Spring Roll with Boiled Peanut Humus
Skirt Steak
Ice Cream with Apples



NOTES:
1. I had taken pictures via blogger of the menu the chef had prepared and other pictures along the tour, but they didn't come through via blogger picture function.

Airport check-in

Breezed through hobby airport this morning. The wait time for security was the shortest I have ever remembered since 9-11.

Brenda and I were both hungry and since we will. Be traveling east losing an hour, lunch will be late if we even get one.

A beautiful day fly (really just want to test the picture abilities of blogger app from my phone)

Charlesto/Savannah Trip

I usually keep travel journals of myc trips as part of my vacation memory to record events, thoughts, etc. Pictures are great but I feel they only capture half the story or memories of a trip. With today's technology its easy to capture the trips memories, atleast I think, by blogging about it, capturing thoughts,  photos and locations all in one nice blog.

This trip will be my first experiment in blogging my travels. Join me in the adventure!

When I usually journaly trips my writing style is more like I'm writing notes to myself of documenting the trip. Now that I will be blogging I suspect my style will be more like writing a story for others to read. It will be interesting to see what style develops.