Charleston, SC

Lindsey here live from US-17S. Can’t really tell you much about where exactly we are, but this road resembles a less crowded Rockville Pike and we are here for another 60 miles. We just passed a street sign for “Blitchridge” - kudos to anyone who read that correctly the first time around and didn’t chuckle because you thought it said bitch ridge. We are due into Savannah in approximately 2 hours and 11 minutes, but if we keep hitting red lights for the next 60 miles we might not see Georgia until sundown.

On the way to Charleston we passed about 200 signs for something called “South of the Border” and because this is a road trip with no real agenda we had more than enough time to stop and explore. The only thing you really need to know about this place is that we tried on a lot of hats and used their bathroom, but you can check out their website for more information if you’re curious about what it’s like to visit Mexico without leaving the country.

Here’s a recap of all the fun things we did in Charleston. After arriving in the afternoon we headed out to explore the town. We only made it about two blocks before spotting a wine and cheese restaurant and obviously had to pop in. After a two-cheese plate consisting of gouda, brie, walnuts, craisins, apricot jam, and bread, and some delicious reisling we decided we were hungry enough for dinner. Unfortunately we weren’t scheduled to meet our friend Caroline (hey Caroline hope you finally got around to reading our blog) for dinner for an hour, so we decided to check out the place Charleston is most famous for(?) – Fort Sumter. Nikki and I are huge history buffs so this was especially exciting. If you read that last sentence and didn’t laugh out loud due to the ridiculousness of the thought you need to reevaluate our friendship.

We swear the Fort Sumter memorial is there somewhere.

Once we got our history fill in for the trip / year / life we headed to dinner at Jestine’s Kitchen. As soon as we were seated the waitress asked if we wanted sweet tea, and it was at this very moment that I decided Charleston and I would know each other for a long time. It didn’t take long to decide what we wanted to eat –the fried chicken basket with coleslaw and mac and cheese. However, in a moment of impulse Nikki decided to substitute her mac and cheese for fried okra. And I quote, “the chicken grease made it pretty soggy so like it wasn’t as crispy as it could have been, but the okra was pretty bangin’ on the inside. Would have been better crispier.” Overall, Nikki gives her dinner an 8.5, citing the pre-dinner FREE cucumber salad as a big factor in the high score. Also, shout out to Caroline for finishing both mine and Nikki’s chicken baskets. We just can’t eat like we used to, but I suspect that the cheese-plate had something to do with this. We ended the evening with banana pudding that was brought out to us approximately 37 seconds after we ordered it. Caroline also finished this and although she’s not in the car to give us a quote right now I have a feeling she’d say something along the lines of “that was really effing good banana pudding”.

Not much to say about after dinner. We stayed at the restaurant until they closed and then took a stroll down King Street but most of the stores were closed. On the walk home we cut through a cute park and got a taste of Charleston’s Christmas decorations. See below for a picture of a tree.

This morning we headed to breakfast at Hominy Grill. They have an outdoor waiting area with a window where you can order drinks, making the bar accessible and Nikki and Lindsey happy. Mimosas in hand, we sat down and ordered breakfast sandwiches. Nikki got an egg, cheddar, and bacon biscuit and I had the “Big Nasty” which is a fried chicken and sausage gravy biscuit sandwich. We rate Hominy Grill 10/10.

After breakfast we wandered to the historic area of Charleston and looked at a lot of handmade art in this cool indoor market. On the walk back to the car we stopped at a store that sold SAUCES!! It was literally an entire store dedicated to sauces and I imagine that’s what heaven looks like. After sampling a bunch of sauces, jams, dips, and salsas, Nikki bought pickled okra in a jar. Thanks Charleston!

Savannah, Georgia is our next destination, where we hope to find more good food and more good…..food.

*drops mic*

Ps. We just passed a sign for Coosawhatchie. Ten points to anyone who can tell us what that means. We are in a car without wifi and don’t care nearly enough to google it on our phones.

PPS: We have a new vlog ready to show to the world but our wifi at the motel is slower than a snail strapped to a turtle's back. Stay tuned loyal followers!

UPDATE: vlog: