Charleston, South Carolina

Hi all, Dianne here.   On Sunday, We decided to push on and drive all the way from Chattanooga to Charleston.   It was just too cold to stay anywhere else!   We found a campground close to Charleston, Lake Aire Campground, to spend three nights until we can get into our spot at Edisto Island.  Since this campground was much closer to downtown Charleston, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather on Monday to go on into town and look around.

We ate lunch at Poogan's Porch, a Low Country cuisine restaurant in the old section.   We had seen a segment on "Most Haunted Places" about Poogan's Porch and its ghost, an elderly spinster schoolteacher who used to live in the house.   We didn't see any ghosts, but enjoyed a really great lunch in front of the fireplace in the front parlor.  I had a local specialty, shrimp + grits, and Roger had mussels.   For you Northerners turning up your noses, shrimp + grits was absolutely delicious!   It had a "kick" to it, and reminded me of New Orleans food.   We knew Poogan's Porch was well-known locally, but as we were leaving we saw a display of autographed menus by people such as Barbra Streisand, Giada De Laurentiis, and other famous customers!  

 The photo of Poogan's Porch is the yellow house.  It is named for a scruffy neighborhood dog who, in the 1970s, would visit all the porches in the neighborhood looking for handouts.  The owners of the restaurant loved the dog to the point they named the restaurant after him and buried him in the front yard!   We saw Poogan's gravestone.

On Monday, for our walk around Charleston, the weather was warm and sunny.  The best part for me was actually seeing BLUE SKY.   Our friends in Central Indiana know that blue sky is a seldom-seen commodity in winter!   We walked around the old section of town, down near The Battery (waterfront), and I took some shots of some of the interesting sights we saw.  I still am not sure how to lay these out properly on the blog, so I apologize if they are not in order.