So we went to Charleston last weekend. I was tempted to say "home to Charleston" but since it’s only me who considers Charleston "home" I resisted the urge. I wonder if there will come a time when I don’t feel the urge to say "home to Charleston"? I haven’t actually lived there for a gazillion years, (I hate the word gazillion and am only saying it because of RJ, which is another post so remind me to talk about that another day), and everytime I go "home" it looks less and less like "home".
I did successfully avoid the "bridges" for the most part. The new bridge jumped into my line of vision at the Meeting St off ramp that looks so incredibly not like "home" that I almost drove off of the ramp because the traffic pattern was so wrong but other than that I avoided seeing any potentially heart breaking changes over there. My mom found the book I had to have and I bought it in the Millenium Music Store – which is another building so not like "home" thatthe only reason I can go in is because all of King Street looks so bloody different I can sort of pretend it didn’t exist at all when I was a kid and was just dropped into place after I moved away. The book is a tiny flippy photo book of a "white car" driving across the Grace. I love it. I love that my mom saw it and chased me down across the store to tell me I needed it. You can see the flippy book in action – go look! (click the books!)
Another incredibly not like home experience was driving through the Charleston Naval Shipyard. OMG. I have not been on the Navy Base since before I got married. How run down. How different. How amazing. I can’t begin to describe the differences or the sameness. Unless you’ve experienced the Charleston Naval Shipyard in all it’s glory, unless driving through it in the 70’s felt normal and routine, there is just no way to explain the feeling of driving through it now for the first time. My mom had not been back since then either so she is probably the only one I know who understands just what that was like.
Since I’m talking about this trip "home" I might as well talk about the &%$# airshow. It was air show weekend and Jenn lives on the airbase. What horrible timing I have. There is not a worse weekend to be on an air force base than air show weekend and I can say that last weekend was the worse air show experience I have had in my entire life of air shows – and there have been dozens and dozens, at a half dozen air force bases around the world. What idiots create a traffic plan to get civillians, military members and military family members TO the airshow but never stop to think that SOME military members and military family members might want to NOT attend the airshow? Or more importantly, that someone might actually want to LEAVE the base at 9am and NOT attend the airshow? There is nothing more ridiculous than routing people from military family housing TO the airshow parking in order to get them OFF of the base – and then discovering that once you get them to the airshow there isn’t actually a plan to get them OFF of the base. There’s nothing worse than talking to nice airmen at checkpoints at each corner of the base only to be told something totally different and usually completely opposite from what you were told at the previous checkpoint. Whoever planned the airshow at Charleston Air Force Base this year should be given an Article 15. Someone take care of that, please.
On the otherhand, the reservists manning the Pass and ID desk in BLDG 51 on Friday were awesome people. Thanks for covering for the active duty pukes who blew off their Friday and left you holding the bag. I appreciate it.
Another positive experience, though other members of my family may disagree, was the discovery of a new restaurant in North Charleston – Sesame (corner of Montague and Spruill – same side of the street as NCHS but right before the railroad tracks, off to the right – for those of you who may attempt to find it). When I say new I really mean new – it was in its first week of business, I believe. A rundown looking little concrete block building with a ton of vegetarian options on the menu – and when I say a ton, I mean a ton. TW and I split a total of 6 different types of "mini" black bean burgers. We tried three different appetizers (the onion rings, the bruschetta and the wings – the wings weren’t vegetarian) and all three were very good. The sweet potato fries were possibly the best I’ve ever had. These folks make their own mustard, ketchup and mayo and TW was in love with the ketchup – which is weird because she hates ketchup. My girls were making strange moaning noises over their brownie sundae and the lemon iced blondie was reported to be ok but not as good as the brownie. (Desserts are made by the folks at Five Loaves) There was some not so good stuff that happened during our dinner – a ticket mix up caused the bulk of our party (everyone except me and TW) to have to wait a good 30 minutes extra for their meal. Then the medium to medium well burgers were not actually cooked to medium/medium well. My sil ordered the "mini burger sampler" and got 2 of the burgers she ordered but the 3rd one was not the type she ordered. The manager did remove her meal from the bill and gave her a free dessert, without prompting to do so. If you visit this restaurant – order your burgers well done or order the black bean burgers instead. Try the South Carolina burger, it has homemade pimento cheese on top!
One other Charleston thought – don’t go to the Crap Crab Shack on Dorchester (heading toward Summerville it’s on the right, just past Ashley Phosphate). We’ve been there twice and nobody except my sister in law and my son in law like it. (If you do go, order the red potatoes and ask for some of the dipping sauce for the fried green tomatoes to go with – it’s the only thing I’ve found worth ordering).
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