USS Yorktown and Ravenel bridge, Charleston

We arrived to the Oak Plantation Campground after a wet drive up from Hilton Head, only about a 3-hour trip. The place was nice, and we got set up and spent the rest of the day inside, bit wet and cold out.

The next day we decided to head into downtown Charleston and scheduled a pub-crawl with one of the local tour companies. It took us about 45 minutes to find a place to park, as there are very few centrally located lots that will accommodate our car with the kayaks on top, mostly only low clearance garages here. The weather was still bad; a cold rain that felt like home, we both had trouble finding adequate clothing to keep us warm and dry. We visited 5 bars, and got some great history on the town, but the tour was just a nice guy walking us from place to place, so it seemed a bit lacking on excitement. We headed back to the MoHo, and crashed early.

Mad River Bar, an old church – only in the “Holy City” of Charleston!

Typical architecture in downtown area, Charleston

We returned to Charleston a couple days later and the weather had finally turned decent. What a difference a few days can make! This city has such a great walkable downtown area, we were glad we had the chance to see it when it wasn’t raining. We scheduled a tour of the harbor on a 90-minute boat cruise. The tour guide gave great insight as to the role this area played in the Civil War, especially the major forts in the area. We got close up to Fort Sumter, right at the entrance to the harbor, and it seemed so small, yet was very significant in its roll in the 1860’s. We cruised the area and saw lots of dolphins under and around the boat. We passed right by Patriots Point, the resting place for the USS Yorktown. A mighty WWII aircraft carrier that was built during the war, and renamed the Yorktown after the original ship sank in 1942 at the battle of Midway. We continued on and stopped under the largest cable-stay bridge in the country, a mighty sight and great marvel of engineering. When we returned to town, we wandered around and took in the architectural sites of this old town, originally founded in 1670. The buildings here are really beautiful, each one with its own charms and character, before ending up at dinner. We walked in and got a seat in the bar at Poogan’s Porch. We had heard from many that this was a great place to eat (not to mention it is haunted as are many of the old buildings here), so we felt lucky to get in and find a table without any reservations. For the foodies out there, Charleston has a great reputation for awesome restaurants, and this place was perfect. Traci had the buttermilk-fried chicken, and I had the Quail appy and Shrimp dinner, everything was perfect. All topped off with a nice bottle of vino, and this was one of our favorite dinners of the trip so far.

Ft. Sumter, first shots fired of the Civil War

On our boat tour, Ft. Sumter in background

USS Yorktown, a WWII era aircraft carrier

Arthur Ravenel bridge, largest cable-stay bridge in the country

Traci loved the houses with the big front porches

Battery Street in downtown Charleston, a promenade of mansions

The next day we headed to the beach on Folly Beach, about 40 minutes south of the campground. This was a little beach town, that was not too busy yet, but it could be crazy in the summer season I am sure. We grabbed some sandwiches, and took our beach chairs out to the coast and took in some cool sunshine, only about 63 degrees and a bit breezy. We returned to the MoHo and ate dinner, sitting outside and watching golf around a fire and getting ready to head to our next destination tomorrow, Myrtle Beach.