ChErYlEEsKi Visits Charleston

"Marn" is my cousin Cheryl’s made up word for "dork", so when we picked Cheryl up at the airport last week for her 6 day Charleston adventure, Currier enthusiastically greeted her!

After a few beers at the apartment we hit the Sullivan's Island oyster roast. We’re now experienced enough to know that you don’t show up to these sort of things sober! Although Cheryl doesn’t like seafood, she does like firemen and since this was a fire department fundraiser it was the first stop on our week long adventure. Cheryl was forced to try at least one oyster by a friendly local. Thankfully she had two beers handy to wash it down. We had such a good time; we stayed until the kegs went dry and the last oyster was shucked.

The following morning we drove to the Isle of Palms to check out the incredible waterfront mansions on Ocean Boulevard. It was fun to collect the property information on the ones for sale—all of them priced over 5 million. I’m sure we looked like serious investors driving around in our Chevy Malibu rental drinking Dunkin Donuts Iced Coffees. I bet if we had that fancy Starbucks coffee, we would have been more believable. After choosing which houses we would buy if we ever won the lottery, we took advantage of the gorgeous weather and walked along the beach, dipped our toes in the freezing ocean and played in the sand.

On Monday, Cheryl, Currier and I went to John’s Island to see the Angel Oak tree. Over 1500 years old, the Angel Oak tree is the oldest living thing east of the Mississippi River. We determined that the second oldest is our Papa. He turns 90 on March 2nd.

On Tuesday, we went to one of America's oldest working, living plantations—Boone Hall Plantation. Unfortunately Currier wasn’t up to sitting still or being quiet so Cheryl took the house tour on her own while Currier and I walked around and took a nap in the car.

After touring the plantation, we headed across the street to Boone Hall Market because we misunderstood and thought this is where we could buy some of that delicious, fancy flavored wine—Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hill. It turned out to be a farmer’s market filled with fresh produce and other products produced on the plantation so we bought sandwiches for lunch instead.

Oprah made us do it... Later that evening, we went to Jestine’s Kitchen for some good ole Southern cooking—fried chicken, fried green tomatoes, meatloaf, fried okra, shrimp Creole, fried oyster po' boys, country cream corn, black-eyed peas, and blueberry cobbler. Many of the dishes on the menu are recipes of Jestine Mathews. Jestine, who lived for 112 years, was the housekeeper for the owner of the restaurant. Celebrities such as Oprah and Rachel Ray rave about the place and so do we!

After dinner, we went on the Charleston Ghost and Graveyard Walking Tour. The tour guide was thrilled to have Currier on the tour. He said that children and animals see the things that our brainwashed adult minds can’t. He told our group to keep an eye on the baby for his reactions to the ghosts. Unfortunately, I think Currier was a let down to our group because the graveyard night watchman was there with his two dogs and Currier kept chasing the dogs around and couldn’t be bothered by the ghosts. However, even with my brainwashed mind, I see a man on a horse on the walkway in the photo above. Do you see it?

The next day, we decided to work off some of the Southern cooking and walk across the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, also known as the Cooper River Bridge. It is the bridge that connects Charleston to Mount Pleasant. The length of the bridge is 2.5 miles. We made it half way and then turned around because we are lazy it was so windy.

For Cheryl's final day, we went to The Spa at Charleston for a little pampering. I got a massage and a facial and Cheryl got a facial and a mani/pedi. We sipped tea, we relaxed and we giggled. It was the perfect way to end her visit. We miss you already Cheryl!