Kudos to WalMart!

We needed a few things from the store this morning so I drove into town and shopped at WalMart on Sixth St. Keep in mind that on our travels we stop to shop, and occasionally sleep, at many WalMarts; I'd venture to say we've probably visited 100 stores. The exteriors of the newer stores are quite varied. This is absolutely the most amazing WalMart exterior I have ever seen.

This is the front center of the store. It is a tribute to the fact that Springfield was Lincoln's home, he was laid to rest here, it is the home of the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, and that Illinois is the Land of Lincoln.

The panel on the left is inscribed with the Lincoln quote, "I DO NOT THINK MUCH OF A MAN WHO IS NO WISER TODAY THAN HE WAS YESTERDAY."

The panel on the right is inscribed with the Lincoln quote, "PEOPLE ARE JUST AS HAPPY AS THEY MAKE THEIR MINDS UP TO BE."

My mom was a WalMart Associate for just over twenty years. Like most of her era, she was so proud to be a part of that great enterprise. When they built the new store in Carlinville, just a few years ago, she was so disappointed because it was so plain, inside and out. I know that Wayne & Mary have taken her to this Springfield store but I don't know that she was still able to appreciate what WalMart did here by then.

Lovin' Life ~~ WalMart Equals Memories of Mom

Downtown San Antonio

A quick post about a short day. We drove downtown late this morning to get our bearings and to check out the newly opened north section of the Riverwalk which ends at the up and coming area centered with the former Pearl Brewery.

Some shots of downtown...

Glory be! Driving through a decrepit neighborhood on our way to the north Riverwalk we stumbled upon this railyard. And not just any railyard. This is the Southwest Research Institute Locomotive Technology Center!

The entrance to the Pearl and renovations in process on the original 1883 San Antonio Brewing Association building, later known as the Pearl Brewing Company. The modern building to the right of it is the new Culinary Institute of America campus.

From there our Meanderings took us to this lovely neighborhood not far from downtown...love these streets and homes!

After lunch at a Bill Miller BBQ restaurant, a chain with many locations here, we shopped at WalMart for our Thanksgiving dinner contributions. More about all of this in the days to come. We are staying in San Antonio for seven sleeps and have some exciting activities planned!

Lovin' Life ~~ In San Antonio

Tea Plantation and Goodbyes

After seeing a brochure for this, we couldn't leave without visiting the Charleston Tea Plantation since this is the only grower of tea in North America. When something is one-of-a-kind and we are close, we rarely pass up the opportunity to check it out.

The drive to Wadmalaw Island was lovely. It is a rural agricultural community so little traffic and very peaceful as we drove under heavy tree canopy most of the way.

If you go, know that the sign at the entrance is hard to see. We nearly missed it. This sign is on the grounds after you park.

We arrived about twenty minutes before they opened. I know! It is very rare for us to be somewhere before opening...okay...yeah...they opened at noon today. Still, we were on the first trolley tour of the day. Isn't this a cool trolley? It was used in Philadelphia's trolley system for many years before it was retired and the plantation's owner purchased it on E-Bay.

As the trolley left the Visitor Center, it passed under these Live Oak trees. These large, long branches curved into an arch high enough to allow passage of a tall vehicle...these trees are mystical, magical, magnificent!

This is a field of tea plants. They look like hedges because they are "trimmed" when harvesting the leaves. Note the narrow rows between each "hedge".

This is the best shot I could get of a tea blossom since the plants are resting for the winter and will bloom again in spring. Note the straight cut across the tips of two leaves near the top of the photo.

This my friends is a tea leaf harvester and it works like a giant lawnmower, cutting off the leaves that rise more than 40 inches above the ground. There is no other machine like this one; it was built especially for this purpose. Driving down the narrow rows between sections, the leaves are cut, blown into a catcher and then dumped into the bed of a pickup truck when full.

We also toured the facility that turns those leaves into the three kinds of tea: green, black, and Oolong. Take time to visit if you are in the area!

By then we were hungry so we drove back into the city for dinner. We decided on TBonz which is directly across the street from Historic City Market.

A replica of the Statue of Liberty covered in small mosaic tiles greets you  as you enter. It is quite a work of art; I would love to have it in my house.

Speaking of art. We like fun art; absurd art; unique, even irreverent art. Our taste is unpredictable but oddly enough we are both usually drawn to the same things, except for contemporary installation art which I love and Rich loves to deride! Anyway, TBonz displays the following paintings. They are replicas of very famous paintings with a twist in line with the restaurant's name...the bovine twist. Can you name the original paintings and/or the artist? Check back on Wednesday or Thursday if you are interested and I will update this post with that information.

Rich says that when you see a beer with a name like this on the menu, you must order it. Can you read the tag line under the name? It says "YOU'RE NOT WORTHY" and the back label continues the theme...too funny!

And now the lasts...this was my last meal in Charleston...the best chopped Cobb Salad I've ever eaten. Rich had a steak that he said was perfect. I am so glad that we picked such a fun place with delicious food for our last evening. Really, you must go to Magnolias and TBonz to eat if you're in Charleston.

Our last drive down to the Battery and back up on East Bay Street

 Our last drive down Market Street

Our last drive into our RV Park. This is a home inside the park and this RV park is loaded with huge Live Oak trees similar to this one.

This was my seventh visit to this fabulous city. There is so much in this area to see and do and EAT...giggle! I hope we come back. We stayed days longer than originally planned and agree that there are many more things we would like to do here. So...next time!

Lovin' Life ~~ Leavin' Charleston

Historic Homes & Holiday Lights

Do you think you could ever get tired of seeing photos of this bridge? I didn't think so...giggle! We drove over it this morning just because I love it, then we turned around on the Mt Pleasant side and drove back over to the city. Obviously I messed with the color a bit on these...just to keep it interesting for you!

Our first stop today was to tour this house which was built in 1808. I perhaps should mention a bit more often that not every experience is over-the-moon fabulous and this day...well, you'll see. The tour of this house was led by a woman from New Jersey who happened to be very loud; paused and laughed long at her own bad jokes; was uninformed about the house; talked about things totally unrelated to the house or Charleston; and made up lots of historical information. Then there was the house...the tour was limited to very few rooms on only two floors, much of the renovation involved faux painting of what used to be intricately carved moldings, none of the furniture or artwork was authentic to the house. The worst historical house tour ever.

When we bought those tour tickets we also bought tickets to tour another house across town. We drove down cobblestone streets while discussing whether or not to even bother going to the other house. Man, is that some bumpy riding!

There was no parking near the pier I wanted to visit again so we decided to go ahead and see about the other historic home...the Aiken-Rhett home which was built in 1820. We are so glad that we went there. This was quite an experience, in a very good way. This home has not been restored and is in quite a state of disrepair which was wonderful because you could see layers of wallpaper and paint; outlines where art or furniture had been placed; furniture that had stuffing spilling out; additions and renovations of several periods, slave quarters as they were left; outdoor privys; and on and on in a home that was formerly so grand and is now shyly embarrassed about her current condition. Now this is history.

Walking out the back servants' door to the back yard, the two identical small structures with green doors and shutters in opposite corners at the rear of the property were both privys. They were much fancier than the ones at the homes of various family and friends when I was a child.

Looking toward the house, which is the larger yellow structure in the center, from the backyard you see the stable on the right and the laundry and kitchens on the left. The second floor of both structures was slave quarters. We were allowed to go upstairs in the laundry/kitchen building. It was fascinating to me to see exactly how buildings like these disintegrate. I certainly have a new-found respect for those folks who renovate a home that has sat idle for years. Interior photos are not allowed; I do wish I could share this home with you.

Next we drove back to the center of the city and started walking to the restaurant for a very late lunch. On the way, I remembered this hotel from an earlier visit and took Rich in to see this. What a contrast to what we had seen over the past few hours. This is the grand staircase and chandelier in the Charleston Place Hotel...jaw-dropping gorgeous!

Continuing on we went to the city location of Sticky Fingers. It's in a cool old building with lots of exposed brick, wood floors, and stamped tin ceilings.

Having tasted Rich's ribs at the other location a couple of days ago, I decided to order ribs which is not something I ever choose. I also selected deep-fried corn-on-the-cob since I had never heard of that and rarely meet anything fried that I don't love. Rich had ordered the rib combo again and had four styles of thick, meaty, rounded, tender ribs. I got these overcooked, thin-boned, dry, meatless ribs and mushy corn. The ribs were so bad that I decided to complain and another four ribs were promptly brought out...just like the ones I had the first time. When I complained again the manager came, agreed after seeing those ribs that they were unacceptable and asked if I would let him personally make ribs for me. Those ribs were somewhat better even though I had long before finished my fries so had no sides. But even they were a weird cut with one end knobby with fat and gristle. Rich sat there completely flummoxed because he always gets these perfectly prepared, meaty, delicious ribs at both of these locations. Certainly not the end of the world, millions of people would love to have my problems, but still that was really weird since we had both ordered essentially the same thing!

We came back to the RV until about 6:30 then drove to James Island for the opening night of the Charleston Country Parks and Recreation fabulous 23rd Annual Holiday Festival of Lights. Timing is everything I tell ya!

There will be more about this later because it is much too early for photos of Christmas light displays but look at this...it's a light display of  "my" bridge!

This one is for my friend, Amy, whose husband is a real rocket scientist.

This is the crescent moon and palmetto which symbolize South Carolina.

This light display honors the famous Rainbow Row of homes on Charleston's East Bay Street.

Lovin' Life ~~ In Charleston

"My" Bridge

Mid-morning we drove over the Ashley River into Charleston, then crossed the Cooper River on my favorite bridge (more about that later) to this island. Are you puzzled over the fact that it's named Isle of Palms?

We drove past many ocean front homes in that distinct style where the house sits high on pilings to allow storm surges to 'hopefully' not rise up into the house itself. There are many unique elevations so each of these gorgeous home has its own personality.

After refreshing our memories of the Isle of Palms we crossed to Sullivan's Island at Breach Inlet. There are large signs forbidding swimming or even wading because the strong rip tides here have taken many lives. They don't have to threaten me with fines; I stayed clear of the water. Can you see the round house at the end of the far spit? Doesn't it look like a wedding cake...white, with three round tiers!

The pelicans had no fear of the surf here though and we watched them for some time. My favorite pelican sightings...Galveston Island, TX; LaJolla, CA; Garrison, ND; and now Sullivan's Island, SC! I love pelicans!

We circled back around to have lunch at Sticky Fingers on Isle of Palms which is Rich's favorite restaurant here. He got to come to Charleston two of the six times I attended that conference.

You know I prefer a BBQ place where you pick your own sauces.

This was Rich's Ribs Combo with four different styles of ribs. Thankfully, he shared bites of two of them because they were meaty, very tender, and so flavorful! My lunch was not what I had hoped.

Returning to Charleston we again drove over the Cooper River on my favorite bridge, the Arthur Ravenel Jr Bridge. Construction on this 2 1/2 mile cable-stayed suspension bridge began in 2001; my first conference visit to Charleston was in October 2001; and the bridge opened in June 2005. Since I had the privilege and joy of watching its progress on an annual basis, I kinda consider it to be "my" bridge! Isn't she magnificent? **sigh**

We parked downtown and began walking through Charleston's Historic City market. It only took a couple of minutes to realize that it had been completely renovated since I was here last...and it was in desperate need of renovation. This evening I learned that the eighteen month project was completed near the end of June in 2011. This is the main entrance on Meeting Street but you can also enter the market in several other locations along its four block length. Notice the sweetgrass basket vendors on either side of the entrance. Some of those baskets are intricately designed and require many hours of painstaking weaving to make; all of those baskets are works of art.

This is a long, side view of a section of the Historic City Market. The first buildings in the market date back to 1804!

And another section showing how each one is somewhat unique in design.

At our RV Park I had picked up a brochure for this store, which has only been here for about three years.

How cool is this? Did you know that Moon Pies come in Banana and Orange flavors in addition to Chocolate and Vanilla? They also carry lots of nostalgic games and candy and collectibles; a fun-to-browse store.

There are many beautiful churches in Charleston but these two caught my camera's eye today. Both are Anglican churches and are situated only a couple of blocks apart.

St Michael's Church was built between 1752 and 1761 on the site where the small, original 1680s St Philip's Church stood before the population outgrew it.

Since by 1727 the town had grown too large for the original small church, St Philip's Church was built to accommodate the increased population. I think it was the similarities in the design of the steeples that brought these particular churches to my attention as we drove through several blocks of the city center.

There will be more to share about our return to this historic and beautiful city over the next few days!

Lovin' Life ~~ Exploring Charleston Anew