Gettin' the Feel

When we first got to Charleston we were just so excited to try everything! We wanted this summer to be like our summer in Seattle; constantly exploring, playing, and gettin' the feel of the city. Although we haven't been here long, Charleston definitely has a different feel from Seattle or other cities that we have visited. We soon found out though, that there is no way that we will be able to try everything that we want. Everywhere we go people say, "Oh you will love Charleston. There is so much to do!" At first I didn't believe them and thought that they simply underestimated Rusty and me, but it is true. There is so much to do; it's kind of overwhelming.

We have barely started putting a dent in the list that we have made, but we are enjoying every second of it. To get a sense of what Charleston is really about we have mostly been going to free activities in the town square, where we figured most locals would be hanging out too. We have seen some cool crafts, concerts, and dancing. We've also spent a lot of time at the beaches and downtown.

The Beach

So far, we have visited two beaches in the area: Folly Beach and Isle of Palms. Folly is about 30 minutes south and Isle of Palms is 30 minutes north. Right outside of Charleston is Charleston Harbor, so there is no swimming or beach there. 

The water at these beaches is really warm, so it's always a lot of fun to swim. We like to body surf and play around in the water and then take a break and go back up on the beach to read, lay out, and watch the pelicans dive into the water. We hear that if you look closely you'll see dolphins swimming around Folly. We've only been there twice and we didn't know that so we weren't looking, but I hope that we see them sometime!

Something really cool happened at Isle of Palms last week. As part of the Piccolo Spoleto Festival (a HUGE arts festival in Charleston) there was a sand sculpting competition. We went and walked around and saw some really cool things. I can't believe people can do that!

Piccolo Spoleto

So Charleston has this giant arts festival (Piccolo Spoleto) going on for two weeks, and it means ANY kind of art. Theatre, pottery, painting, photography, bluegrass, symphony, a cappella concerts, and yes it even included the sand sculpting. We have spent a lot of time just going around and seeing what we could find that was free and that people thought was the best. We have seen quite a bit, and it really has been awesome! For Memorial Day we listened to the Charleston Symphony play a lot of different songs (Disney ensemble, Harry Potter, and a lot of patriotic songs) and then walked around and saw paintings.

One weekend we went down to a concert in a neighborhood and listened to some really awesome music there. It felt just like a small town block party, and was a big part of why I fell in love with Charleston. I loved every minute of it. Kids were playing football in the street, running around dancing to the music. Parents were walking around the park dancing with spouses and talking with neighbors. It was perfect.

Downtown

Charleston is a very old place. I knew that, but actually being here and walking around and seeing these things is blowing my mind. There are buildings here that are older than Idaho- as a state. Like way older. Rusty took me around on a little tour to show me some things that he learned from his Boeing tour. We've seen some cool churches, really old cemeteries, and cool parks.

 Really old church. Old Bethel, built in 1807.

  I LOVE Magnolia trees.

 Piggly Wiggly owner's house. See the statue of the pig? haha

 Battery park. You can see Fort Sumter from here.

 Cool trees in Battery Park.

 This was George Washington's brother's house. Super old!

 Cobblestone streets downtown.

 Old cemetery.

 Cool old church, St. Philip's was originally built in 1680 but redone in 1836.

The city has all of these lamps all over. It really burns oil like it would have back in the day.

Shem Creek

Finally, Shem Creek. We really wanted to see some dolphins, okay I really wanted to see them, so we did some research and found out that dolphins are commonly seen at this creek off the harbor. They go up the creek to do the coolest thing. They scare the fish up on the shore of the creek and then actually beach themselves to eat the fish, wiggle back down into the water, and then do it all again. There is a cool boardwalk that goes out over some swampy land where we saw a TON of fiddler crabs. Like thousands. It was nuts. Rusty and I are going to catch one and make it our pet. If we ever get brave enough to catch it. Anyway, we saw all kinds of cool birds and were having a great time when Rusty saw a dolphin! I missed it, and just saw its splash. So we waited some more and then I finally saw one! And then some more behind it. All in all, there were seven there that day that we saw. It was so cool to see them!

It's hard to get a good picture, but Rusty did a pretty good job here! You can see two of them.

Well, we didn't seem them go up on the shore, but we have done some more research and think we found where we can go. So far it has been a BLAST being here; I can't believe it's already been three weeks. We only have 10 left! It's going fast, but we still have a lot to do and we will make the most of our time here!