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WARNING: The following article has NOTHING to do
with the Great Northern Railway. It's just a fun trip
Baolu and your intrepid webmaster Lindsay took to the
Palmetto State.
The Great Northern in Charleston (South Carolina)
Sunday, March 19, 2017
Today's topic: Trying out Alaska Airlines' First Class
As a master chef and foodie, my wife Baolu has always had a hankering for Real
Southern Cooking. A couple
trips to New Orleans introduced us to Creole and Cajun cooking. Now it was
time to sample the culinary delights of the heart of the Confederacy in
Charleston.
But first there's the small matter of getting there (2,412 air miles). Recently,
Alaska Airlines began non-stop service between Seattle and Charleston. Baolu's
birthday is coming up. Let's go!
An early morning taxi ride gets us out to Sea-Tac. With lots of time to kill,
Baolu hits Starbucks whilst yours truly samples a crab breakfast sandwich at
Ivar's.
Next stop is Alaska's First Class lounge...just because. We manage to find a
seat -- the place is jam packed! We refill our empty water bottles and snack on
the munchies provided. Finally it's time to trudge out to gate N7 for our
flight.
Alaska appears to have completely taken over the North satellite as there is one
of their planes at every single gate.
It is a mob scene at N7. We arrive and notice the little indicator board has a
green check mark for First Class boarding. We lumber up to the door, but there
is no one there to check us in. Hmmmm.... We soon learn they are pre-boarding
(it's for the children), but no one else. Hmpf. After cooling our heels for a
good 15 minutes, someone finally comes up the jetway to check in First Class.
The word "discombobulated" comes to mind.
Finally, we make our way to seats 1D, 1F. Very nice wide seats on this 737 with
lots of legroom.
Everyone's onboard 10 minutes before departure, yet we still manage to leave 10
minutes late as they putz around. The takeoff is smooth and we get a beautiful
view of four volcanic peaks to the south -- taken by Baolu!
About an hour into the flight, the stewardesses finally unbuckle and begin meal
and beverage service. We eventually climb to 37,000 feet for the flight east.
Breakfast is OK. I had the cheese/onion omelet with a generous rasher of bacon
and potatoes. B had the oatmeal and fresh fruit.
I had my standard string of Bloody Mary's, but they seemed
watered down. In fact, eventually the stew told me they were out of BM mix, so I
cut myself off. I believe little Baolu was drinking white wine.
We both took the nice DVD players offered. I watched the Peanuts movie and Baolu
watched a chick flick. As we began flying over Lincoln, Nebraska, we both got
sleepy. Nap time.
With a generous tail wind (jet stream), we landed early about 3:45pm local time
- taxied around the entire airport, then stopped for awhile (no gate ready?).
There are LOTS of Air Force cargo planes on the tarmac. CHS shares the facility
with Charleston AFB.
Finally, we trundle up to the gate. We are first off the plane! Always wanted to
do that. There are only 3 baggage carousels in the entire airport. Bags took a
while to come out.
Long line at Hertz, BUT, they are fairly quick about it AND the car is right
outside the door! No shuttle to ride. Nice. We hop into the base model Dodge
Journey crossover station wagon family truckster. GASP...there is no rear backup
camera or nav system!). Pulled out the iPhone and programmed "The Betty" to take us
to our lunch/dinner stop.
It's coming up on 5pm local time when we enter Summerville SC and pull up at the
Coosaw Creek Crab Shack!
Baolu is in a Carolina food frenzy so we go overboard.
We order their famous She Crab soup. Outstanding. Thick and delicious with
flavor out of this world.
Next up are the hush puppies (lightly fried corn meal balls) and
fried green
tomatoes.
Both are light and delicately delicious. Again, outstanding.
We had hoped to finish with some oysters, but they are out.
Foolishly, we both order full entrees which is too much. B has crab cakes and I
have this monster fried shrimp and bacon BBQ sandwich. As I said. Too much.
Moaning and groaning from this culinary onslaught, we roll out the door and down
I-26 to Charleston.
Betty takes us right to our hotel ...via some very sketchy neighborhoods in North
Charleston.
We are staying at the Marriott Renaissance on Wentworth which is just off King
-- the main shopping street. Baolu is
a bird in a guilded cage! (these things
hang in the lobby).
We decided to just valet the van until Tuesday when we'll take it out again.
Check in is fast and we're soon in the room. We discover the cleaning lady left
her squirt bottle of cleaner (marked DO NOT DRINK) in the bathroom. In addition,
the sink doesn't drain properly and the Kleenex box is empty. B calls downstairs
and the staff quickly rectifies the situation, so no harm done.
Despite it being only 6:30pm we are both exhausted and just watch an American
Pickers marathon until we both hit the hay.
Monday, March 20, 2017
Today's topic: Touring Charleston on foot.
The hotel has a small (and free) continental breakfast, so we partake. Their hot
buttered biscuits with jam are to DIE for. Piping hot, flaky and buttery. Mmmmm...MMMM.
Appetites sated for the moment, we trudge down King Street to Walgreens to pick
up some drinking water, some Day-Quil and Kleenex (we are both fighting off the
remainder of colds).
Back at the room, we "freshen up", then head out to tour the city. I am "towing"
Baolu around today. We head over to the famous six block long Charleston City
Market. Baolu recognizes Cory Alston - master basket maker - from Instagram! He
and his lady are selling baskets and we vow to come back on the way home to buy
a couple.
Actually, the baskets are for sale EVERYWHERE along with the other tourist
trinkets and baubles.
Once clear of the market, we continue east to the shore where the Cooper River
meets the Atlantic Ocean. There is a huge cruise ship at the pier which has
disgorged its passengers.
It is a beautiful sunny day, mid-60's, as we walk along the shore through
Waterfront Park. We come upon "Baolu's Pineapple Fountain".
We saunter along, down to Oyster Point and White Point Garden. Beautiful views
and architecture along the way.
Charleston is located on a peninsula between two rivers, the Ashley and the
Cooper. The two rivers were named for one guy --
Anthony Ashley Cooper.
Charleston is also called "The Holy City" due to the large number of churchs.
Baolu poses with a stubby little cannon at Oyster Point.
Baolu takes a moment to smell the flowers.
White Point Garden is a shady oasis with an overhead canopy of Live Oak trees.
It is getting on towards lunch time, so we head up Meeting Street (with its
stupendous assortment of old mansions) to the
Charleston Crab House.
At the Crab House, we begin with a dozen raw oysters (the waiter was really talking them up). Meh.
As we discovered in New Orleans, oysters down south are much better fried,
broiled or cooked in some way. Hopefully, lesson learned this time. Pacific
Northwest oysters are still the absolute best, served raw. That's that. Case
closed.
For main course, Baolu has Blue Crab (fried, of course) and I have a "Lowcountry
Shrimp Boil" with sausages potatoes and corn on the cob. Both are very good,
making up for the uninspiring oysters.
After lunch, we head back to Cory to buy some baskets! Baolu poses with Corey
and picks out a nice assortment to bring home.
Time for a nap! Back to the room we go for a little siesta.
Ah...we feel
refreshed!
OK, time for dinner. Soooo many restaurants on our list. How do you choose?
Baolu still has a major seafood hankering, so off we go to
Pearlz.
B is still a bit full from lunch, so just has the pork rinds and boiled shrimp
with white wine. L has some excellent clam chowder (what, no she crab soup
available???). My entree is the Carolina fresh-caught Monk Fish which tastes a
bit like lobster! They even give you a little melted butter to complete the
deception. It is excellent.
Back to the room for a House Hunter TV marathon and so to bed. We'll be getting
Up early tomorrow!
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Today's topic: Aircraft Carrier, Islands and Martha Lou's.
We are up at the crack of dawn -- lots to see today. We fetch the car from valet
and head across the enormous US 17 bridge to Mount Pleasant, SC. Breakfast this
morning is at Page's Okra Grill.
Baolu has one of the daily specials, Shrimp and Grits (with sausage and bits of
crawfish added). Lindsay partakes of the aptly-named, "Redneck Benedict". Both
meals are excellent.
We are both stuffed. Roll me out the door. We have GOT to walk this off.
Fortunately, Patriots Point is just a short drive away. We are going to tour the
Essex class aircraft carrier Yorktown (CV-10).
Parking is five bucks and tours are self-guided. We walk the long pier out to
Yorktown and find ourselves below decks (where they worked on the planes).
The carrier is huge. It's quite a long walk as we toured below decks, on the
flight deck and up onto the bridge.
I think people were shorter back then. Yours truly kept bumping his head on the
overhead whereas Baolu had no trouble at all.
Absolutely wonderful tour. It makes you proud to be an American. Definitely glad
we spent the time to visit.
Afterwards, we stopped to pick up some more water at
Harris-Teeter (yes, that's
really the name of the local grocery store chain). Baolu had hoped to pick up
some Carolina Gold Rice and other Southern Food products, but all they had was
just plain Quaker Oats grits. Bah!
OK, time to tour Sullivan Island and
Fort Moultrie. The Fort guarded the Cooper
River where it enters the Atlantic Ocean. Fort Moultrie is also directly across
from the tiny island which contains Fort Sumter, flashpoint of the Civil War.
According to the interpretive center a Confederate Captain James fired the first
shot from Fort Johnson over Fort Sumter beginning the Civil War. So the South
fired first.
From Moultrie, we drove the length of Sullivan Island. The beach houses (mostly
on stilts) were getting posher and fancier. We crossed a bridge onto Isle of
Palms. Here the houses were simply breathtaking. Our favorites were three
vacation properties by Wyndham. All had nice, golf course putting green lawns.
We saw Casa Margarita (house painted lime green);
Casa Flamingo (painted pink);
and Casa Banana (yellow) which was Baolu's favorite.
From Isle of Palms, we headed back to Charleston for a quick car trip along
Tradd Street. I'm a big fan of the John Jakes trilogy
North and South and one of
the characters (Cooper Main) has a house on Tradd Street, near the intersection
with Meeting Street. Baolu humored me. ;p
Haole
Tourist Hype!
With still lots of time in the afternoon, we then motor over to Folly Island. No
fancy-schmacy houses here! This is definitely the blue collar / middle class
beach we'd feel more comfortable at (or could even afford).
What to do about dinner? Baolu wants to visit a
Gullah/Soul Food dive called
Martha Lou's. It's been written up on Food Network and Martha Stewart as the
best fried chicken EVAH.
It's really a tiny, dive restaurant - which usually turn out the best eatings. I
was stoked, because I was getting hungry and soul food chicken sounded pretty
good about now.
We sat down and ordered some sweet tea and chicken, Lima beans, mac & cheese,
okra soup, BBQ white rice, etc.
(that's B tucking into some real chitterlings. Chitlins
forever! Y'all....)
45 minutes later the food came out. We each got ONE piece of chicken which was,
charitably, OK. It was certainly not all it was cracked up to be. The side
dishes were good but tiny TINY portions. Even Baolu was a little disappointed. I
hate to say it, but Popeyes is better. Maybe it was just an off night.
Back to the hotel and self park. Time for a healthy dose of
Moonshiners TV binge
watching and then to bed!
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Today's topic: We're headed down the Savannah Highway.
Road trip! We're in the South, so the journey MUST commence with a visit to
WAFFLE HOUSE, Yeah! Excepting that....oh crap, it's CLOSED! Yep, our intended W.H. is coned off with paper on the windows. Noooooo!!! Fortunately, Waffle
House's are common as dirt down here and there's another one just a few miles
down the road in Rantowles, SC...Whew!
Oh, so good. Pecan waffles, grits, eggs and sausage. Now the voyage can begin.
Traveling along U.S. 17, about every 5 to 10 miles are permanently installed
signs for a construction zone. Where there is no construction zone. Not even an
orange barrel. Just 4 signs. But you'll get 30 days in jail if you speed!
Another one of the 4 signs that I didn't photograph was the quaint
"Let 'em work
/ Let 'em live". Ummm....why would anyone not want them to do either?
Another curiosity is we are seeing all these cars, pickups, SUVs and vans with
Property Carrying license plates. Apparently these "P" plates allow bearers to
have more liberal usage of loading zones. The plates were intended for business
owners who haul cargo of some type, but practically everyone has one, especially
in Charleston. Maybe just because they can.
On our way south, we veer off U.S. 17 to visit the nice little city of Beaufort,
SC. We found out later, this was one of the first Union-captured Southern cities
(in November, 1861) which was used as a Yankee stronghold until the war's end.
Of course, The United States Marine Corps has their Air Station and Parris
Island Recruit Depot nearby.
Next spot to visit is Hilton Head, SC. I had heard so much about this place --
where the wealthy have their vacation homes - golf courses - posh estates -
Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous with the aptly named Robin Leach - I've GOT to
check it out.
BIG disappointment. Hilton Head is nothing but a large suburb with
ordinary-looking houses and lots and LOTS of traffic. Hardly any beach access
and strip mall after strip mall. Borrrring.
Thankfully leaving Hilton Head in the rearview, we push on to Savannah. U.S. 17
crosses the Little Back River into Georgia, then the Savannah River into town.
We had hoped to get Baolu's picture taken at the Welcome To insert-state-here
sign, but all they had was a teeny little SC/GA border sign clamped onto a post. Pikers.
We concentrated our Savannah visit to the downtown area. There are these nice
little tree-lined squares every few blocks which is a restful oasis from the
hustle and bustle. Unfortunately, the main drag - Bay Street, appears to be a
MAJOR truck route and it is unnerving to be standing in front of City Hall as
semi after semi nosily trundles by. The ground shakes.
We stashed the Dodge at a parking garage and hoofed it over to the
much-heard-about Paula Deen restaurant,
The Lady and Sons.
They have a buffet and regular menu for meals, but we didn't eat here! Neither
of us were hungry after the massive caloric intake at Waffle House. Paula
herself was there, however, so Baolu posed with her!
Present company excepted, everyone in that joint looked like Paula Deen -- at
least age/gender-wise.
After nosing around the gift shop, we headed out to Chippewa Square where they
supposedly filmed the bench scene for
Forrest Gump. Although the bench was
removed from the square (to the Savannah History Museum), we didn't see any
mention of the movie in the square itself. The feature attraction in the square
is this guy, Oglethorpe. Try saying THAT three times quickly. Apparently, he
founded the colony of Georgia way back when.
After crossing the Bay Street juggernaught (with a dandy view of the gold domed
City Hall building), we got down to the Savannah River. The old warehouses have
been restored into chic restaurants and yuppie lofts. At least this part of the
city is touristy and walk-able.
It was just early afternoon, but we both had had enough of Savannah, so it was
time to punch home for Charleston.
Approaching the outskirts of Charleston, we spotted and pulled into a
Food Lion
grocery store. These guys had a much better selection of southern foods to bring
home. We stocked up, also picking up a couple bottles of wine to drink in our
hotel room. Food Lion had a surprisingly good selection of Washington wines as
well as Sonoma and Napa Valley vintages.
Finally, dinner. Right on U.S. 17/Savannah Highway is a simply marvelous BBQ
joint called Swig and Swine.
OUTSTANDING. Absolutely the best BBQ I've ever had, bar none.
Once of their mottos is, "Horrifying Vegetarians since 2013". I had to get the T shirt.
Well, let's see. Baolu had the pork bellies and sausages with sides of potato
salad and mac & cheese.
Lindsay had beef brisket, pork bellies and sausages with sides of mac & cheese
and beans.
Huge portions. They give you TWO sausages. Four sauces to choose from - my
favorites being the Carolina Red and the Mustard. Hmmmm...my mouth is watering.
Quite possibly the best meal of the trip. Might have to come here again...
Gluttony thus sated, we waddled back to our room, uncorked a cabernet and
toasted the night away.
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Today's topic: Forts and Plantations, Queens and Porkers
I am up early as we are taking the first tour of
Fort Sumter today. We have a
light breakfast at the hotel once more, then it is a 20 minute walk to the
Charleston aquarium and the boat dock.
Our boat shoves off at 9:30am and takes about 30 minutes to cross Charleston
harbor over to Fort Sumter. It is sunny, but cool as there is a strong 20mph
wind battering us all morning. We are both wearing warm jackets.
We are given one hour at the Fort (more than enough time to see everything) and
the first 30 minutes are a very interesting talk from Ranger Gary (it's a
National Monument run by the Park Service). We learn that Sumter was one of a
chain of forts built for coastal defense after the War of 1812. Work started in
1829 but was STILL incomplete by 1860. It was originally 50 feet / 3 stories
tall. Union bombardment during the war reduced it to one story - what you see
now. At this point in his talk, Mister Ranger pointed behind him -- to a mortar
shell STILL embedded in the brick. Hopefully it has since been un-armed....
Very interesting visit. Even Baolu, who is not much of a history buff, was
impressed. They had us back to the dock about 11:30am. Time to go for a nice,
long walk and build up an appetite for the HUSK restaurant on Queen Street! Lots
of online praise. Lots of mention in national food magazines. Lots of people
ahead of us on the waiting list. 90 minutes of people ahead of us.
Not gonna work. The gal at reception took sympathy with our plight and recommended the restaurant next
door! This turned out to be 82 Queen (yes, the name is the address). This is
ALSO on our list of must-eats. We checked it out.
They have tables! We can get right in! We march down a long corridor and into
this beautiful courtyard and are seated right next to a rustic iron gate (lots
of rustic iron gates, fences, lamp posts in this city). Very nice spot!
We both order the same thing. A glass of Joel Gott Cabernet, a cup of she crab
soup and catfish.
Another excellent seafood dinner. Surprisingly filling -- no room for dessert.
OK, back to the hotel to fetch the car.
Once in the Dodge, we head our way up the
Ashley River Road to see
Middleton
Place (Baolu's pick). Actually, there are two other plantations on this route,
Drayton Hall and Magnolia Plantation, but we aren't visiting either one today.
It is another beautiful sunny day for a walk. We pay for the self-guided tour of
the grounds and after studying the provided, confusing map (and the even more
unclear verbal instructions from the cashier), we are quickly doing it
backwards! Finally got it straightened out after a few false turns and dead
ends.
Middleton Place's specialty appears to be azaleas with thousands of plants
lining the paths. It appears we just missed the full glory of the season, but
there are still a few blossoms left to photograph.
There are many huge live oaks on the property - some with wires and posts
attached to keep them up!
In addition to all the hidden gardens and hedges, there are vast lawns behind
the house which slope down on terraces to the river. It is a a very restful and
peaceful spot. In fact, we both sit down on the grass for about an hour and B
even takes a little cat nap!
Middleton Place's "mansion" is actually the south wing of the original house.
The main building and north wing were looted and burned down by Union soldiers.
In fact a sign (please excuse the bird poop) NAMES who burned/looted and WHEN
(56th New York Volunteers/February 22, 1865). Damn Yankees. What was left of the
main building and north wing tumbled down during the earthquake of 1886.
They
have earthquakes in South Carolina?
Past the south wing, we walked through the farm area and down to the Mill pond
and along the Ashley River. Finally, we took the tour backwards again, picking
up the places we missed in the first place.
 
Selfie along the Ashley
It was now 5:30pm and time for supper. Yep, Swig & Swine again!
This time B just had pork bellies 2 sides of potato salad and cole slaw.
L had beef brisket and ribs with 2 sides of beans and potato salad.
Again, just as outstanding as before.
Back to the hotel. After stashing the car, we walked to Walgreens once more to
get some
Carolina Gold rice. No grocery store seemed to carry it!
(Update: since coming home we've sampled some -- it is very good!)
Bottle of wine to wash down the BBQ and off to bed. The end to a perfect day!
(Baolu's favorite day of the trip.)
Friday, March 24, 2017
Today's topic: Lions and Tigers and Bears.
Poor Baolu. Lindsay has her up at the crack of dawn AGAIN. Our mission today is
Tiger Spotting at the Riverbank Zoo in Columbia, SC.
We check out early -- the staff looks bleary-eyed, like they just woke up. Baolu
gets them to adjust the bill as we had only used valet parking for two nights
(higher rate). When we got home, discovered they had completely removed the
self-parking charges for 3 nights! They really were sleepyheads.
Soon, we are zooming up I-26 with the first stop at (drum roll, please)
WAFFLE
HOUSE!! Although they forgot the pecans in my waffle, breakfast was still
excellent. On to Columbia.
LONG LONG 105 minute drive to the state capitol. Baolu managed a couple cat naps
as we zoomed along at 75 per. Riverbanks Zoo is located right next to some
CSX
tracks and to torment me further, I kept hearing five chime Amtrak horns (which
I think CSX uses) for about the first 45 minutes of our visit. Never actually
saw a train though. Damn.
Once in the zoo, Baolu poses with a tiger!
Riverbank has 3 of the big ones -
Siberian Tigers - only one of which is in the
main enclosure at a time. We headed right over there and WOW, there's a BIG one
marching back and forth out in the open! Baolu LOVES her some tigers and we got
a tremendous performance from the big cat.
As we were watching the show, we overheard from a passing zookeeper that the
tiger had just been fed, which is why he was so active. Baolu was saying,
"Hello, Baby" and other sweet things to the big predator and I swear the tiger
was looking her way.
All good things must come to an end and finally Mister Tiger settled down and
headed for his little cave. All we could see now was the end of his tail, which
would flick now and then. Tiger wasn't done -- he did a few, "Owwww - oooooo's"
which, I believe, is their mating call. Baolu was very impressed.
Show's over. I'm glad we got here early! We made the rounds, saw the grizzly
bears, lions, flamingos, you-name-it. It is a very nice little zoo, actually.
Very well done. The place was PACKED with Oakhill Elementary School students --
all wearing colored T-shirts (red, blue, orange, etc.).
Time to head home (11:45am). We stopped by the Tiger pit one last time, but just
saw the tail flicking. Baolu hit the gift shop and picked up a throw pillow with
a tiger on both sides. The cashier asked if she actually saw their tiger. Baolu
described the morning display and the cashier was VERY impressed saying the
tiger NEVER comes out in the open! That, my friends, is a lucky encounter.
We turned around and headed back to Charleston for the flight home. I had
selected three alternatives for lunch - but Baolu picked a fourth....HARDEES!
(Carl's Jr. on the left coast). She had spied a 2 for $5 fish sandwich ad on
the window.
I wound up with some enormous bacon cheeseburger thing which was good. That
should hold us for a while.
Good thing too. We turned in our rental car, headed to check our bag and...there
was no one at the counter! Rumor had it they don't open until two hours before
flight time. Finally they showed up and....discombobulation again. Couldn't
print baggage tags from any of the kiosks. Woman in front of us was trying to
check EIGHT large items. Chaos. Finally we did the old stand-in-both-lines trick
and got up to the counter. As we walked to TSA, eight-bag-lady was still futzing
around at the counter.
We headed out to the B concourse which was packed with humanity and stuffy.
Don't they have air conditioning in this place? Apparently not. We stood in a
line three deep to get us a couple drinks for the long wait. The flight from
Seattle was half an hour late. FINALLY we were on board and winging our way
home. Back to the rain, back to the clouds, but still nice to sleep in our own
bed.
Thanks for coming along on our trip to Charleston. In summary - VERY friendly
people. Everywhere you go, people say hello -- even in elevators. For the most
part, wonderful food (cook your oysters) and definitely kick ass BBQ. We had a
great time. Thank you South Carolina!!!
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