I have to say that I didn’t enjoy the trip to Charleston as much as I’d hoped.
On Wednesday we spent a few hours in the morning packing up the camper, and then about two and a half hours driving to Charleston. We got there, resolved the reservation issue, parked, and spent awhile unpacking. Then we watched Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith, and Sean and I got online, and Cheryl made pork chops (I tried to help but that kitchen is tiny), and that was pretty much the extent of our first day.
On Thanksgiving we got up reasonably early, had some cereal, and headed to downtown Charleston. Once Reid decided where he wanted to park (quite a feat), we walked around looking at buildings and shops. The first real sight was the church of which Cheryl and Reid have a painting in their dining room.
After that, we had lunch at a cool Irish pub/grill called Tommy Condon’s (and you know what I originally thought it said).
We saw some neat stuff in an open-air market, reminiscent of the one in Savannah. I tried some pralines at a candy shop. We walked down a long pier that extended into the bay.
And I got some decent architectural shots. This one’s my favorite:
As evening approached, we headed back to the truck. I got a neat picture of a brick building; Sean said, “Why are you taking a picture of the garbage?” Because it looked neat I tell you! (I also got a shot of the other side of the building.)
Back at the camper, we set about fixing and eating Thanksgiving dinner, after which we watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Sean and I stayed up a little too late on the Internet after that.
Yesterday was pretty much a waste of a day. Cheryl and Reid let Sean and me sleep in for far too long. We finally got up at 11:45. Sluggishly, we took our showers, only to discover that Cheryl and Reid hadn’t taken their showers yet either…so with all the preparation and waiting for the hot water tank to refill, we didn’t actually leave the camper until 4:30 pm.
Absolutely ridiculous.
I’ll admit to some fault for not setting an alarm, but they could have, you know, at least gone ahead and showered. And why didn’t they ask us “Do you really want to sleep in this long?” instead of just assuming?
Bah.
Anyway, we left at 4:30, and this time we headed to Folly Beach.
It was really beautiful with the sunset and all, and I didn’t mind the freezing cold (though Cheryl certainly did!). We walked out across the sand and looked around and took pictures. Sufficiently chilled, we piled back in the truck and drove around the island a little, looking at the houses. Then we headed back to the camper, where we ate hotdogs and watched Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones (and I noticed some story tie-ins with the third movie that I hadn’t before).
And that was our whole day.
Only two days of exploring, one of which almost totally wasted.
Today we got up around 8 am, did not take showers (much to my chagrin; my hair always looks terrible when I don’t wash it in the morning), packed everything up, and left. On the way home in the car (thank goodness we took our own vehicle), I ended up bitching quite a bit to Sean, and finally I just burst into tears. He told me it wasn’t worth crying over, and I suppose it really wasn’t, but I think I needed an emotional release after everything I’ve been through recently. It had been a long time since I’d felt comfortable enough to cry.
Yes, I was frustrated about going to a beautiful city and hardly seeing any of it, about not having enough time to do the things I wanted to do, about none of my suggestions being even considered, about sleeping in a very small and uncomfortable bed in an extraordinarily chilly camper, and about being guilt-tripped into quasi-agreeing to go on the same trip again in two years (Thanksgiving being with my family next year). But I think it was a “last straw” scenario. (I also think that living with the in-laws is starting to wear pretty thin.)
But I have the best husband in the world, and he listened to me complain and rubbed my leg and neck and held my hand while I cried in the car, and then got me a nice meatball sub for lunch. When we got home we took a shower together and napped together and made love and I started to feel human again.
I’m not sure what we’ll do when Thanksgiving 2007 rolls around. Cheryl is pretty set on going to Charleston every year (perhaps for the rest of her life!). So if we end up going, we may get ourselves a hotel room to avoid some of the problems of this trip.
Regardless, I hope someday I get to take some real time and see more of Charleston.
