Charleston

Hello All,

I'm in Charleston, SC for a conference. I didn't really look into Charleston before getting here so I didn't really know that much about it besides the mansions and various books I have read that are based here.

First off, Charleston in known for many things... 1) Fiery Ice Tea 2) She Crab Soup 3) Old Houses 4) Culinary Creations 5) Wrought Iron... I'm sure there are other things, I have only been here since 11 am

The above is an example of the beautiful wrought iron work that encompasses the city. I saw this by the ocean or river or whatever they call the water here.

I am excited to be able to try out different functions on my new camera. I haven't had a non-point and shoot since 35mm. It is different learning how to maneuver the aperture and shutter speed for me.

This is the Calhune (?) mansion. I took a tour of it today, reluctantly since it was $15. I thought that was a little high, but I was there and as a REALTOR I love to see houses and the way people live. This 25,000 (that's right) square foot home is still occupied. I single man lives here (hold up lady's, the look of his incredible taste in art and single life style imply he is giegh if not gay). The house was incredible. I learned that the Victorian style was too furnish a home with items bought when traveling. Wow! How knew Luke and I were Victorian? Incredible. :)

This home is something historic, but I can't remember. Everything in Charleston is something historic. You can move a house here but not demolish it.

This is the gardens for the mansion that is two pictures above. As previous blogs have illustrated, I am recently having trouble with picture placement and odd fonts with my blogging??

OH!! Another famous thing about Charleston is there baskets. This lady is demonstrating how to make them I want to buy one before I leave to be placed amongst my baskets from my previous travels. I don't have a purpose for these baskets, but I like to buy things...

Here, I am showing the boardwalk and the surrounding mansions, also playing with aperture. I chose this picture because it reminds me a old timey photos of Miami? I like that it is washed out.

This one is washed out too, but I can still see the water drops. Super cool to me. I love the palmetto fountain. It was called a water park. hehe. People were swimming in this sucker. If you are thinking it's not big enough to swim in you are right.

So, when I arrive in a new city I alway ask what I should do while I'm there. Everyone-EVERYONE suggested I take a carriage ride. I'm normally not into such things because they take too long and are full of unreliable advice. This was no different. I did get to see a lot of the City ,but I fill that if I had that hour back I could have seen more by walking. The tour guide was entertaining and full of information.

I also ask local where I should go eat and then ask the servers what I should eat when I get there. I had NO idea of the uniqueness of the food here. Seriously! I can't even tell you what I ate because I am pretty sure it was in a different language. I had never heard of most of these dishes and have loved everything I have had so far. I just wish that Luke was with me so that I could try more things.

Tomorrow I start my institute and then am running some "famous" bridge with this lady I met while at dinner. I am concerned about this run because I have not ran my normal 4 miles for over a month since I started the P90X challenge (which I may or may not have been blogging about-mainly facebook with that subject). Also, it is a bridge which assumes that it has a substantial hill in the middle. We in OKC do not have hills. I do not want to get out ran by anyone much less be a 50 year old woman. Although she looks to be in better shape, however I look to be better fed...