The Battery; Charleston, S.C.

Can you believe that in all our visits to Charleston, we had never walked around the Battery? We couldn't, either, so we made sure to do it this time. It was nice to see where the notorious pirate Stede Bonnett was hanged, but I still like Waterfront Park better. Even so, you just can't beat a morning constitutional in Charleston. Yes, its a beautful city, but really it's the people that make it interesting. There are a lot of dog walkers in Charleston, and none of them walk dogs that look anything like our Norman. They walk fancy dogs, and it's fun to try to guess the ridiculously obscure breeds. There are also crazy-healthy joggers all over Charleston, and it's fun to watch them dodge the fancy dog poop. There are also lots of tourists in Charleston, and tourists are always fun to watch because you never know what they'll do. Unless they're boring tourists. They're not worth watching, because all they do is:

pose on the sea wall

or by a cannon

and translate the Latin on memorials. It makes them feel smart.

Well, they try to translate the Latin on memorials.

We also went to the Old Exchange andProvost Dungeon. That was fun, but I don't have any pictures. (Photography was allowed, but I didn't have my camera with me.) If you click on the link, you can take a virtual tour of the place. The only thing I didn't like about it was that you could only see the dungeon on a guided tour, and you had to sit through long speeches made by Disney-esque automatons. It didn't do anything for the atmosphere.

Then it was on to lunch. Everybody says, "Oh, you've got to go to Hyman's Seafood. You'll love it." The guide books say, "Oh, you've got to go to Hyman's. You'll love it." We try to stay away from the "everybody loves it" restaurants, because, well, people are stupid when it comes to food. But this time, we went ahead and tried it because we were walking by and it looked like rain, and now I can tell you NOT to go to Hyman's. All of our seafood was tough and overcooked, except for the scallops, which were an interesting combination of overcooked and raw. How hard is it to choose scallops that are all roughly the same size so they cook properly? I'll tell you how hard it is - it isn't!!! The crabcakes were okay. A little too much bread, but not nearly as much as you get in some restaurants. The cheesecake was decent, too, but even the okay crabcake, the decent cheesecake and the dubious honor of sitting at the AC/DC table was not enough to make up for those scallops. Or the shoeleather flounder. I do have one good thing to say about Hyman's, though. They put boiled peanuts on the table. I hate peanuts. I don't like peanut butter and I don't like peanuts in my chocolate, and I really can't imagine why anyone would want to eat peanut brittle. But boiled peanuts are awesome! Seriously. Seek thee out some boiled peanuts.

The Man got us into the restaurant in time to beat the rain, but none of us banked on the storm lasting as long as it did. We lingered over our drinks as long as we could, but eventually we had to make a mad dash for the car, which was parked about a half mile away. We didn't have umbrellas, and every time we crossed the street we had to wade through ankle deep rivers, and by the time we got to the car we looked like drowned rats. But the rain made a pretty picture and our vehicle is upholstered with Manly and Rugged vinyl. No harm done.

We also visited Fort Sumter, and I'll blog about that tomorrow. Unless I decide to blog about cows instead. That happens sometimes.

Comments

[Elaine]

I'll take your advice and if ever I'm in Charleston I'll pass on by Hyman's and find a McD's instead :roll: hard to believe that McD's would be better than a sit down restaurant.

I do enjoy reading about the trip you all take. I'm living through your trips since I don't see my family going to these places. :(

[Tipper]

Sorry your seafood was bad-but I love boiled peanuts too!

[Melanie]

Um, Elaine, I will personally flog you with an overcooked flounder if you eat at McDonald's during a trip to Charleston. As lame as Hyman's was, it was still a hundred times better than McDonald's!

There are lots of great places to visit in Alaska - you should start blogging about them! We saw so many wonderful things when we lived there. I'd like to blog about it, but most of the pictures were taken during my pre-digital days, so I'd have to scan them and that's just too much trouble.

[tressays]

Great post, Melanie! Apparently cooking scallops is difficult. At least on Hell's Kitchen, anyway. :)

I am really enjoying your post too. It is making me really want a weekend get-a-way. I need to plan one.