Yes, we're tourists!

I don't know how we've had such luck in the weather on this trip.  As a confirmed Northern climate girl, I felt real trepidation about the South in April.  For any lesser reward than seeing Mrs. B again, I might have declined to venture down here.

We set out for our carriage tour, stopping for lunch at Henry's House Restaurant where, besides the yummy pulled pork sandwich and Greek burger we enjoyed, they also have side by side paintings of Washington crossing the Delaware and Jimi Hendrix!

We moseyed over to Palmetto Carriage Tours to await our scheduled tour and visited the barn.  There are any number of carriage tour companies in town and they all have their stables within about two blocks of each other.  It's huge business here.

They use mostly mules, it appears, along with some horses.  Mules are stronger and more sure-footed than horses, have smaller hooves and are more adaptive to sever weather conditions, says Mrs. B, who should know.  Her grandfather in northeast Texas never drove a car in his life - only a wagon (by choice) and preferred mules to horses for plowing.  She says, "The definition of a horse show is a bunch of horses showing their asses to a bunch of horses' asses showing their horses."

Our tour guide/driver was Edward, an Ohio transplant to Charleston was amusing and informative and we saw so many beautiful houses and buildings.  We clambered "uphill" to 14 feet above sea level, the highest point in the city where a fort was built to guard against the Spanish, who also claimed the area in the 1690s.  Here are a few of the sights:

After the ride we  had some mango/strawberry/pina colada Italian ices and visited the market full of a weird mix of local artists' work and stuff from China.  Fun and nice and cool inside the long brick buildings with open side windows.  Next stop was Waterfront Park on the harbor.  It was late afternoon and after strolling down the pier and admiring the view, we stretched out on benches for a relaxing siesta - not asleep, but basking in the late sun and cool breeze.

This low country is so different from most of the seaside places I have visited as it is generally calm and marshy.  We plan to visit some beach areas on Monday and a tea plantation later in the week.

We went up to a rooftop bar for a cocktail (no pictures, alas, my battery was dead so I charged it while we were there) and then met Erin, Barbara's niece on her husband's side, who went to school here and works at Jazz Artists of Charleston, a non-profit organization incorporated to foster a solid and professional environment for jazz musicians, artists, students and enthusiasts in the Charleston area.

It was lovely to have dinner and connect with her - I hadn't seen her, except in pictures since Barbara and Peter's wedding in 1989 when she was two!  We ate at Amen Street and all ended up ordering the same thing:  berry salad and enormous Calamari with cream cheese, tomatoes, peppers and what-not.

Mrs. B and I plan to roll back home - the food is so good here.