It was a beautiful…but cold day here. I spent a little time doing laundry this morning while Stan did a few small projects on the boat. I spent the afternoon playing…this is a wonderful city to ride bikes in and there is so much to see. There are wonderful shops on King Street with almost anything thing you might want, so I spent a few hours wandering through them and walking through the historic City Market, that is full of vendors selling paintings, pottery, and Charleston’s famous sweetgrass baskets.

A little Charleston history for the day: The intersection of Broad and Meeting Street is known as the Four Corners of Law. The Charleston City Hall, built in 1801, (local law)is on the north-east corner; the Charleston County Courthouse, built in 1753 (state law) is located on the northwest corner; the United States Courthouse and Post Office, built in 1886, (federal law) is located on the southwest corner; andSt. Michael’s Church, built in 1761 (God’s law), is located on the southwest corner.

Looking down King Street – this picture was taken last fall when we were here. It definitely wasn’t short weather today!

Ashley Marina (Charleston)

Since the weather has been a little too chilly or wet to work on outside boat projects or take road trips to the beach, we spend a lot of our time checking out the great restaurants in Charleston (what else can we do?)…and there are a lot of great places. This morning we went to Hall’s Chophouse for brunch. Hall’s have live music everyday, but on Sundays it’s gospel music and we enjoyed it very much. All our meals were wonderful and the service was very attentive. The owners greet you at the door and visit with guests at their tables, making sure every need is taken care of. One day this blog will get back to being a cruising blog, but for now it’s just a way to let our family know what we’re up to here in Charleston.

Looking downstairs at Crystal…our wonderful entertainment

Ashley Marina (Charleston)

I have a friend that lives in the “real world” that asks me every time we talk if I know what day it is. My response has always been…I didn’t go to church today, so it must be Saturday! Now that we’re in Charleston and our boat friends like to go to Pearlz on Friday…every day is Saturday except Friday, which is now Pearlzday. Just one of the difficulties of living on a boat! When there’s work to be done you do it, when its time to play you play…it really doesn’t matter what day the calendar says it is.

Before going to Pearlz, Pam and I went to The Citadel to watch the retreat parade, held every Friday afternoon. The Citadel is The Military College of South Carolina, a state-supported, comprehensive college located in Charleston, founded in 1842. We then rode our bikes 3 ½ miles to Pearlz, where we met the guys. We are definitely getting our exercise.

Parade of cadets

Ashley Marina

We thought some of driving straight from our home in Texas to the boat, which is 19 hours, but decided we’d be useless today if we did. There’s always so much to do when we get back, so we stopped in Tallahassee last night, had a nice dinner and got a good nights rest. We got to Charleston at 12:30 today…after greeting our friends and checking the boat out, we got busy unloading the car. It’s amazing we actually have room for so much stuff on this boat. While I put everything away in the cabin, Stan took care of putting up the bimini, opening sea cocks, and stowing things on the flybridge. By 4:30 we were feeling and looking more like home.

Since there was no time to go to the grocery store today…we HAD to eat out! Our friends, Pam and Donny, have spent the last three winters in Charleston and know all the great places and good deals, so we joined them at the Oak Steakhouse for happy hour and some of the best hamburgers in town. We had a great time catching up on what each of us has been doing for the last four months. It feels nice to be onboard.

Our first look at The Pearl