Depending how you looked at things, I started my retirement this past Fall. Part of the plan was for Devorah and I to travel a bit more - something we rarely got to do when we were younger. I did have a great trip with Batya to Holland and Belgium but Devorah and I, other than a couple of weekend getaways, weren't able to go anywhere. We planned to finally have a trip in January but I broke a toe. Then there were a few other niggling things that prevented getting away.

Finally, this week, we made it - our first retirement trip, and spanning our anniversary no less!!!

We decided on Charleston South Carolina. Why? Well, why not. We wanted to hit it in January since it would be somewhat warmer than NYC. We figured that it wouldn't be too hot visiting now in early March - it would be alike an early Spring for us. Besides, at least on paper, Charleston checks a lot of our travel buttons - history, food, culture.

Our first stop after flying in and lunch was Charles Towne Landing - Charleston's birthplace. Beautiful day, beautiful ground to walk around and our first taste of Charleston history.

From there to our hotel. Dinner was at a local place - The Glass Onion. Really exceptional. We started with boudin balls then I had the shrimp and grits and bread pudding for dessert.

Devorah had the gumbo dinner. Super highly recommend. We might go back tomorrow.

We started today at Fort Sumter. Obviously a lot of American Civil War history but also earlier stuff and later.

In the afternoon we went to the Charleson Museum for lots of local history. They also have a natural history exhibit with a giant sloth that I'm pretty sure is bigger than ours in Natural History:

and also a quilting and abstract art exhibit.

Then on the way to the City Market, we stopped at Peace Pie for a snack.

Nice place - custom ice cream / cookie sandwiches. Like Glass Onion, also highly recommended.

The City Market was pretty cool - lots of crafts

Finally, before heading home, we checked out their U.S. Customs House. Nice to contrast it to our Customs House on Bowling Green and it's predecessor - Federal Hall.

Overall a great day.

The only two downers were when we passed a store with lots of anti Biden T-shirts and also when we found out that the Civil War museum on top of the City Market is run the Daughters of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, fortunately, we decided to pass.

For dinner, we got our South Carolina Barbecue at Swig and Swine:

Tomorrow, a walking tour and Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim