On Day 4, Sunday, we decided to ditch our Savannah itinerary. We each packed a small travel bag, hopped in our rental car, and headed 2 hours to Charleston, SC.
But first, I waited while the girls stopped at Starbucks to throw back some caffeine,
and I stopped at the drug store to throw back some pepto...
Also, as a matter of note, Savannah, GA is where many scenes were filmed in the movie Forrest Gump. On one of the tours we took, we were shown the bench that Tom Hanks sat at, and uttered the words, "Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates..."...and on this morning in Savannah, we walked by the restaurant where "Jenni" was acting as a waitress in the film...
After my sister Jenni literally got hit by a car (she's obviously fine) as we were walking to Starbucks, our car almost got backed into by another car while we were attempting to parallel park, and my mom was inches from taking the door off of another car when this lady (without paying attention) opened her car door right as we were passing her by...we were FINALLY on our way to Charleston!
We ate Charleston Chews in Charleston...
We passed by this sign (anyone from the mid-west (my hunny) and the South will appreciate this)...
We also noticed that a lot of the street names were named after many characters in the movie "Gone with the Wind"...
On our way into Charleston, we saw this pie shop set up in the middle of nowhere...
They had beautiful pies inside, and I understand that their flavored ciders were delicious...
I mostly sat outside...
We only had looked into doing 2 things in Charleston...we wanted to visit a plantation...and we had reservations for dinner at a very nice restaurant. Everything else we were going to play-by-ear.
So, first stop: Magnolia Plantation...
This plantation was home to a HUGE rice plantation, a gorgeous home...
and an even better multi-acre garden...
We took a tour of the main house (which no photography was allowed), and then we also paid to take the "slave tour". The slave tour gave us a political background of slavery in general (EXTREMELY fascinating!), and a detailed description of the work that went on at this particular plantation. On this property were 5 cabins that the slaves/families occupied. They have restored the interior of the cabins to show what they looked like throughout the decades of use. You wouldn't believe it (at least WE couldn't believe it, but African American plantation workers were STILL living in these homes as of the late 1990's!)
The first cabin was from the late 1800's/early 1900's...there was no glass on the windows, the flooring was sketchy, and, well, it just wasn't too pretty...
The next cabin was from 1910-1920...still no glass in the windows, but the slaves had "decorated" their living space by adding newspaper in the form of wall paper, and they also had a "stove" at this point...
The next cabin was from the era of the 1940's-1950's...there were layers on top of layers of legit wallpaper, there was glass in the windows, and there were even linoleum floors...
The final cabin was from the 1970's-1990's...the workers had rigged up some shotty electricity, some plumbing, and had acquired some furniture...
This experience was eye-opening, and mind boggling. It's too much to go into on my blog, but I continue to have more questions than answers since visiting this site.
We spent a good chunk of our day at the plantation. At some point while we were there, I began to physically feel like my old self again. While browsing in the plantation gift shop, Jenni had come across the following book for her children...
Apparently when Jenni and her family visit a city, if they find this book for the visiting city, they buy it. Inside the book they say "Good night" to all of the cool sights to see in that particular city. The book immediately became our tour guide for the rest of the day. We hopped in the rental car, and first on our list was "saying good night" to Fort Sumter Park by the Atlantic...
Next we said good night to the actual Fort Sumter. You can't see it in this picture, but to the right of Fort Sumter, we also said good night to some particular lighthouse that I can't remember the name of...
We then said good night to "Rainbow Row" (a row of different colored houses)...
...the city market (not blog worthy), and finally, the Pineapple Fountain...
In our quest to find the Pineapple Fountain, we came across a spray ground, and Jenni dared me $5 to stand in the center for an extended period of time...
There were other sites mentioned in the book, but we had already seen them in journey...The Magnolia Plantation, and the large bridge that we drove across that connects Savannah, GA to Charleston, SC.
The Charleston trip was actually my FAVORITE DAY on vacation! It felt so freeing to go out and explore the world without an agenda or an itinerary. We saw beautiful things, historical things, and contemplative things...all things we were not planning to see in these 6 days of vacation.
We ended the day by dining at Peninsula Grill...
We started with the Lobster and Corn Chowder...
For our entrees, Anna & I both chose to have the Super Chilled Wedge of Iceberg with Smoked Bacon Jerky and Buttermilk Dressing...
My mom chose the Pan Roasted Jumbo Sea Scallops with Braised Butter Lettuce, Diced Lobster, Garlic-Chive Potatoes (that is the strip that the scallops are sitting on), and Truffled Lobster Broth...
Finally, my sister Jenni had Lobster "3 Ways"...Ravioli, Tempura, and Sauteed with Warm Tomato-Basil Vinaigrette...
For dessert, we shared:
Banana "Panna Cotta" Pudding- Silky banana pudding with milk chocolate ganache, homemade vanilla wafer, and caramel sauce...
Peach upside down corn cake...
Their Ultimate Coconut Cake with Coconut Anglaise and Strawberries. Our waitress let us know that you could purchase an entire cake for $100, and have it shipped to you for the same price. While we were eating the single slice, we all concluded that the cake is TOTALLY worth the $200!!! (However, in googling the website to report the details for my blog, I see that someone has published the recipe for this cake on the internet...I wonder if it's REALLY "the" recipe????)...
It was fairly late when we left the restaurant, and we had packed our overnight bags should our mom have been too tired to drive back to Savannah, but would you believe, after being together for 4 straight days, us girls still had MORE things to chat and laugh about for the next 2 hours back to GA??? There wasn't a heavy eye in the car! :0)
Hey, I bought my kids the Good Night Los Angeles book. They love seeing their city in a book. I didn't know for sure but assumed there was a book for every major city. How cool that it became your travel guide. I would have done the same!
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