It’s been a nice relaxing few days in Charles Towne (original spelling). Lake Aire is a nice quiet RV park in the woods with a meandering lake. Yesterday a black lab mix was having the time of his life running and jumping into the lake then swimming to the other side. I watched him do this probably 50 times! You could just about hear the dog giggling the whole time. Really fun to watch.
Saturday I visited Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Enjoyed the 30-minute ferry ride and an hourish to tour the fort. The fort marks where the Civil War began and, like I’ve said before, it’s a pleasure walking through these historic grounds.
After leaving the fort I set out to see what old Charles Towne was all about. Since I already had a good curbside parking spot (many garages are too short for my truck) I decided to re-feed the meter and walk the mile or so through the French Quarter to the historic district—until I saw one of those bike rental racks right by the truck, and $12 later I was wheeling down the road on a powder blue bike. (Nope, no pictures!) Goofy color aside, being on a bike was a great way to see the town through the congested, narrow streets. My rented wheels allowed me to see what I wanted to in less time which was great because it was already after noon and I also wanted to check out a couple of Charleston’s craft breweries.
The Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon and Old Slave Mart Museum each gave good insights to what the town was like back in the Civil War era. Interesting how the town settled on the Ashley river side of the peninsula then moved to the opposite side along the Cooper. The docent also explained about the evolution of the exchange building. The slave mart museum was also interesting with its displays about the disgusting human abuse practices which contributed to the Civil War. Visiting these museums was definitely worth the $14 combo ticket.
Once I got the culture checks in the boxes I headed up to Edmund’s Oast Brewing Company, a sleek & popular place where I tasted through a flight of their beers and had the best Cubano sandwich I’ve had outside Tampa’s Ybor City. The four 4-ounce beers I had rated in the mid 3-s on the Untappd scale. From there I swung by the smaller and more-to-my-liking Palmetto Brewing Company. Palmetto’s Lowcountry Pilsner & Lindy Hop’d IPA were fine beers—worthy of buying a t-shirt that was on sale. I topped off my brewery tour at Charles Towne Fermentory on the road back to the campground. This brewery sites on the Savannah Highway and is a local joint with good beers on tap. Nice way to round out a tour in a city with upwards of 30 breweries.
Sunday I went to church at 121cc.com and then headed over to Low Tide Brewing. Fell in love with Low Tide; it’s my newest favorite brewery. Their Ocean Course Pale Ale is the best pale ale I’ve had in a loooong time. Followed up by the Purdy Good IPA, which is a 4.25 point Really good IPA. Gonna revisit them Monday afternoon. Afterward I headed back to the site to settle in for the oncoming storm, which passed by here with less bluster than the weather geeks expected.
Monday (as I write) is a chore day: laundry, cleaning up B, organizing some stuff and route planning for this week. Looking forward to North Carolina’s Outer Banks, Kitty Hawk and then heading into Virginia. Stay tuned!