We’re Baaack…In Charleston, SC

Charleston was a 9 hour drive from Destin, Fl. so we did it in two days. Overnight we stayed in a Cracker Barrel. Brad took out the Louisville Slugger for only the second time. We loved Charleston the first time we visited so we were looking forward to an extended stay the second time back.

We stayed at the Campground at James Island State Park. It was kind of cool going from beachside camping to the woods. We were there for two weeks. The park had a lot of great amenities. The bike trails throughout the facility were well groomed, intertwined, and vast and there were 5 or 6 different routes available. They provided loaner fishing rods, kayak rentals, and a 18 hole disc golf course which Brad played twice.

We included some in-home dinner shots because everybody thinks we eat out everyday. Nope! We do usually go out 3-4 times a week which leaves us plenty of time to make our own meals and cocktails. Yeah, Brad lost an egg in the middle pic above. Oh well! The other is a flank steak (with Kathy's stuffed poblanos) that we had for dinner and then for breakfast the next day too.

We took advantage of the campgrounds 4.25 miles of bike trails on a couple different occasions. The highlight of the bike trails was a splendid salt water fishing dock. We went there for a sunset one time and a day-trip bike ride another. The trails wind in between a handful of ponds, a huge playground, and a lake among other amenities. The lake, which was pretty big, adjoined a busy dog park so they were enjoying the swim there. One afternoon, a bunch of old fat guys were working their remote boats on the lake. There must have been 30 of them.

Brad had fun fishing in one of those ponds but didn't catch a thing except a good time. Checkout the hook and bobber in the tree pic. You'll understand how the fishing expedition ended and don't be distracted by Brad's flexing.

One of the highlights of our stay was hanging with one of Brad's Bloomsburg Buddies and his wonderful wife. Rick and Jan Minetti have lived in Charleston for a handful of years. Their daughter attended The College of Charleston. The last time we were here they were out of town so it was great to catch up with them and we did so on four or five separate occasions. All were great hangs. On the first night there we went to the Minetti's beautiful house in downtown Charleston for a cocktail and a house tour. This was just prior to going out to a lovely dinner at a Spanish restaurant called Malagon. We had such a great time we forgot to take pictures.

Rick and Jan are world travelers (literally) and have provided us with wonderful insight and many-many recommendations of things to do, places to go, and restaurants to eat throughout our journey. They've lived in London, Houston and New Orleans to mention a few and provided a wealth of information about the United States including our visits to those cities. Along with valuable insight on our travels to Arkansas and others.

We went with Rick and Jan on an e-bike ride that started at Hampton Park and included the Citadel which is a military public college adjacent to the park. It was as if we had two private tour guides providing us with interesting insight and history in every neighborhood we went to. Truly, they were a wealth of valuable information. We stopped at Cooper River Brewing Company for a flight of beers for the boys and a cold one for the ladies. That electric bike peddling is tiring... Before heading back to the park we stopped at Rick and Jan's daughter's house to say hello to her and their two beautiful grandchildren Maddie and Palmer.

After, Kathy and I went to our favorite BBQ restaurant in all the world. We've been to a couple handful of great BBQ restaurants the last 18 months but this place is our #1. Lewis' BBQ often has a line two hours long. We were lucky to go early and they only had about 45 people in line in front of us, and, by the way the tray below was just Brad's. Kathy had her own.

For those that don't know, Charleston has a handful of surrounding Islands attached to it. We didn't know it either until we got here. Actually, we researched it before our stay. We went to Folly Beach which is off of James Island (where we were staying), Sullivan Island and Isle of the Palms while there. Beautiful beachside homes all along the coastline. On our Folly Beach visit it was around 90 degrees. We only got one of those hot-hot days.

We went to Sullivan Island which is in the Mt Pleasant part of Charleston, without exaggeration...a half dozen times. We hit the beach on the second hottest day there when it got up to 82 degrees. Then that was kind of it for Beach days.

The reason we went to Mt Pleasant as often as we did was because it had a bunch of awesome restaurants, bars, and adjoining cool neighborhoods. We went to a sunset at Shem Creek which was on Sullivan Island too. We crossed this bridge so often we had to take pictures.

After the sunset at Shem Creek we saw all these hopping bars and restaurants on the other side of the harbor. We went back to Red's which is a three story bar/restaurant that was everything we thought it was going to be. They had a band playing on a barge on the water contiguous to the bar that was jamming. The Dockboy was moving boats in and out like a maestro. Almost as entertaining watching him as listening to the band. They had a guy playing the bagpipes. The place was popping. Good times...check it out!

Thanks to recommendations from John Marble and Jeff Philbin we also went to Page's Okra Grill for an awesome brunch...over the bridge again. It was recommended we have "The Best Bloody Mary" in town and boy was that on point and so we're their tasty and original food stylings. Its was wonderful. Thanks guys!

Some of the other neat visits we had in Charleston. were to Pier Plaza at Memorial Waterfront Park, A Farmers Market (where we picked up some homemade pasta), The Cathedral of St John's the Baptist Church, Rainbow Row, Angel Oak and McLeod Plantation. All good visits!

We had some memorable meals that shouldn't go with out mention. We returned the house tour to the Minettis and they came by the RV for dinner. We had a rock'n, awesome, laugh-filled, fun and outstanding eat-a-thon.

Jeff Philbin also recommended we go to Leon's for Grilled Oysters and boy was that recommendation on point. The oysters were tasty and the place was cool too. An old-old building with lots of character and personality. We sat at the bar to a perky, attentive, and congenial bartender. Brad ordered a Michelada which was a beer with a local hot sauce in it along with Old Bay seasoning in it and on the rim. With a Miller High Life Pony back.

The Tattooed Moose is the dive part of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives but boy-oh-boy their food is awesome. We went here the first time in Charleston and happily went back for seconds. Brad had a duck confit club and a local krolsch. We shared a street corn that was through the roof great! Kathy had a Mo-meat gyro with duck-fat fries and that was tasty too. The place is a dump. It has graffiti written all over it. So much graffiti they recommend it by leaving a sharpie on the table for you to scribble. You can write something on any place in the restaurant you choose. Brad chose the table we were sitting at.

On our last night there we went out to dinner with Rick and Jan to Lewis' Rancho. The same owner of our favorite BBQ restaurant. The Margarita's were flying and we had a wonderful time once again. We'll miss them both.

We're off to Myrtle Beach for two weeks then we start touring again. In order, our travel is going to take us to Columbia, SC, Asheville, SC, Smokey MT.NP, Lexington & Louisville, KY, Cincinnati and Columbus OH, Indianapolis, St.Louis, Omaha, Des Moines and blah-blah-blah-blah-blah...as we head towards Minnesota and the Great Lakes. If you have any recommendations at any of our future stops we would love to hear from you.

Thanks for following our journey. We're looking forward to picking up the pace again shortly. Good luck to the Lady Huskies and UCONN Men in the NCAA's.

Peace, Love and Soul Train. Kathy and Brad.

Oh yeh, if you haven't read our top 5 national park blog yet here's the link. It's chock-full of awesome pics. https://kathyandbradaxelrod.wixsite.com/axelrodtravels/post/the-axelrod-s-top-5-national-parks-in-america

If you have already read it thank you! You'll dig it if you haven't or we'll refund your money. It features Yellowstone NP, Yosemite, Big Bend, Redwood and Glacier National Parks. Bye-Bye!