Vacation Update
So...I have been in South Carolina for a week now. Today is our last day in Greenville. We leave tomorrow. We got into town around 7 p.m. last Sunday, with my brother-in-law Thomas in tow. My father-in-law took us to Guadalajara's, a local Mexican place, for dinner. On Sunday, we slept late and hung around the house. On Sunday evening, we went downtown. We stopped for ice-cream, and of course I had to swing by Coffee Underground. Downtown Greenville does plays at Falls Park on the weekend, and we saw Shakespeare's "Love's Labours Lost". It was actually a pretty decent production.
On Monday, we drove to Columbia (en route to Charleston) with my sister-in-law and two neices. We stopped at the children's museum there to placate the girls, and then drove the other two hours to Summerville, which is about twenty minutes outside of Charleston. We went to go check in to the hotel where my father-in-law was meeting us later on, a Days Inn. We attempted to check in, and they had no record of our reservations. The front desk clerk called every hotel in the the area that had "Inn" in the name, thinking he might have given us the wrong hotel name.
My husband called my father-in-law on his cell phone trying to figure out what the heck was going on. My father-in-law swore the reservations were at that hotel. A few minutes later, he called the front desk and realized he had made the reservations at a Days Inn in Sumter, not Summerville. Luckily the hotel in Summerville had rooms available, so we just transferred our reservations from one hotel to the other. That was an adventure. The morale of the story? Always make sure you have the correct hotel name and the correct city when staying at a hotel. Once we checked in, we took a nap for a little while, and joined my sister-in-law and neices at the pool. Later that night, we grabbed dinner at an IHOP nearby (or HIOP, as my four-year-old neice Alice, calls it).
On Tuesday morning, we drove out to the beach at Edisto Island. We mostly went there because this is where my mother-in-law wanted her ashes scattered. It ended up not being a major production, but it was still emotional, nonetheless. As my husband pointed out to me later, too big of a production might have resulted in getting questioned by the coast guard or homeland security as to what we were scattering in the ocean. After that, we went swimming. I mostly spent our time their taking pictures of the ocean and sand. Thomas and my father-in-law left after the beach, since my father-in-law had to work the rest of the week.
We went to the aquarium in downtown Charleston that afternoon, and spent the evening walking around downtown Charleston and shopping. We had dinner at A.W. Schucks, and stayed downtown until 10 p.m. or so. Then we drove back to the hotel.
Our initial plan for Wednesday had been to go to Cypress Gardens on the way back home, but we decided to stay in Charleston for the day and go to Patriot's Point. That day (as I was reminded on other days), I was very much reminded of why I don't like the heat in the south this time of year. It's been in the mid-to-upper 90's every day we've been here so far, and humid. My father-in-law's home doesn't have air either. But it isn't too bad here as long as fans are going and the windows are open. After Patriot's Point, we went back to downtown Charleston, since my neice Mary saw something in a gift shop she decided she wanted to buy after we left the night before, and my sister-in-law said we'd go back later on so she could buy it.
We walked around downtown for a bit, and then we drove out to the battery, which is hands-down my favorite part of Charleston. I'd only been to Charleston once before, when I was two years old. I went with my parents and my aunt. I had this visual image in my mind of what I thought Charleston should look like, and downtown didn't look like how I though it should. Apparently I was remembering the battery. It's goreous out there. I've decided that if we ever win the lottery, my husband and I are going to retire, buy one of those huge houses, and move out there. I've decided that Charleston reminds me of Philadelphia, pictures I've seen of downtown Miami, and bits of Ann Arbor thrown in for good measure.
We've spent the last couple of days hanging around the house not doing much. I've been eating at all the sinful restuarants this week, like Pizza Inn, Fatz Cafe, and the Waffle House. For some reason, there are no Waffle Houses in Michigan. I imagine we'll stop for Cincinatti chili on the way home tomorrow.
I don't want to go back home and go back to work. I'm at a much better place mentally while I'm here. I'd better close for now.
~E
On Monday, we drove to Columbia (en route to Charleston) with my sister-in-law and two neices. We stopped at the children's museum there to placate the girls, and then drove the other two hours to Summerville, which is about twenty minutes outside of Charleston. We went to go check in to the hotel where my father-in-law was meeting us later on, a Days Inn. We attempted to check in, and they had no record of our reservations. The front desk clerk called every hotel in the the area that had "Inn" in the name, thinking he might have given us the wrong hotel name.
My husband called my father-in-law on his cell phone trying to figure out what the heck was going on. My father-in-law swore the reservations were at that hotel. A few minutes later, he called the front desk and realized he had made the reservations at a Days Inn in Sumter, not Summerville. Luckily the hotel in Summerville had rooms available, so we just transferred our reservations from one hotel to the other. That was an adventure. The morale of the story? Always make sure you have the correct hotel name and the correct city when staying at a hotel. Once we checked in, we took a nap for a little while, and joined my sister-in-law and neices at the pool. Later that night, we grabbed dinner at an IHOP nearby (or HIOP, as my four-year-old neice Alice, calls it).
On Tuesday morning, we drove out to the beach at Edisto Island. We mostly went there because this is where my mother-in-law wanted her ashes scattered. It ended up not being a major production, but it was still emotional, nonetheless. As my husband pointed out to me later, too big of a production might have resulted in getting questioned by the coast guard or homeland security as to what we were scattering in the ocean. After that, we went swimming. I mostly spent our time their taking pictures of the ocean and sand. Thomas and my father-in-law left after the beach, since my father-in-law had to work the rest of the week.
We went to the aquarium in downtown Charleston that afternoon, and spent the evening walking around downtown Charleston and shopping. We had dinner at A.W. Schucks, and stayed downtown until 10 p.m. or so. Then we drove back to the hotel.
Our initial plan for Wednesday had been to go to Cypress Gardens on the way back home, but we decided to stay in Charleston for the day and go to Patriot's Point. That day (as I was reminded on other days), I was very much reminded of why I don't like the heat in the south this time of year. It's been in the mid-to-upper 90's every day we've been here so far, and humid. My father-in-law's home doesn't have air either. But it isn't too bad here as long as fans are going and the windows are open. After Patriot's Point, we went back to downtown Charleston, since my neice Mary saw something in a gift shop she decided she wanted to buy after we left the night before, and my sister-in-law said we'd go back later on so she could buy it.
We walked around downtown for a bit, and then we drove out to the battery, which is hands-down my favorite part of Charleston. I'd only been to Charleston once before, when I was two years old. I went with my parents and my aunt. I had this visual image in my mind of what I thought Charleston should look like, and downtown didn't look like how I though it should. Apparently I was remembering the battery. It's goreous out there. I've decided that if we ever win the lottery, my husband and I are going to retire, buy one of those huge houses, and move out there. I've decided that Charleston reminds me of Philadelphia, pictures I've seen of downtown Miami, and bits of Ann Arbor thrown in for good measure.
We've spent the last couple of days hanging around the house not doing much. I've been eating at all the sinful restuarants this week, like Pizza Inn, Fatz Cafe, and the Waffle House. For some reason, there are no Waffle Houses in Michigan. I imagine we'll stop for Cincinatti chili on the way home tomorrow.
I don't want to go back home and go back to work. I'm at a much better place mentally while I'm here. I'd better close for now.
~E