Back to the mid-country

YJDKIY headed southeast to the low country of Charleston. 239 photos later...none of which involved food...here are some of the sights (click on the pictures to enlarge, especially for the critters!).

Middleton Place and the Inn (AIA Honor Award 1985) Quite an odd place, but in a good way.

rice mill

rice field

"butterfly" lakes from The Patriot

Historic Things

Critters included alligator, blue heron, egret, shore birds, fish, turtles, a fox, a copperhead, sheep, goats, a peacock, horses, and some big beef guys. And a lot of bugs.

see him?

incoming!

dive!

fresh fish breakfast!

We did in fact have some low-country eats! Lunch on Friday was crab cakes from the Sunflower Cafe, followed by dinner at the Middleton Place restaurant. Normally, I wouldn't think twice about such a place, but it carried sustainable seafood initiative, slow foods, and fresh on the menu labels. True to that, I had a garden beet salad and local wreckfish with homemade pesto. I'd never heard of wreckfish, but it was quite tasty (but prepared extremely salty - this is why I don't like eating out!). Next up was a stroll through the farmer's market and lunch at Tabbuli Grill, where I noshed on some hummus and falafel pita, an excellent break from heavy seafood. One froyo (pink lemonade and tart blueberry) later, dinner was none other than Charleston Crab House in Mt. Pleasant (every beach trip needs one!) where we sampled a low country boil with shrimp, crab, and grits and collards, plus plenty of hush puppies and a mai tai! Our final meal of the trip, despite all the fanciness of Charleston and Middleton, was maybe my most exciting: Zoe's Kitchen in Columbia. How did I not know about this place?

On this trip, we also learned YJDKIY is possibly a 65 year old trapped in a 32 year old body. We ate breakfast at 7, lunch at 1145, and dinner at 545. We went to bed early. We liked the peace and quiet and lounged on benches. We stayed at a historic estate. We complained about the temperature and inflation (the year I graduated from high school, I drove to a SC beach and gas was only $.97 gallon...hello $3.85). We wore comfortable shoes. We listened to talk radio and fished life savers out of the bottom of a purse. We came "home" in the middle of the day to take naps and avoided the traffic. We waded in the pool and read the newspaper at breakfast. We gawked at cruise ships and drunk people. 

See, it's official. I'm ok with that.