As I mentioned in my CS-Ed Podcast post, yesterday was a washout. Seriously scary storms. We ended up spending the entire day in the hotel but was able to get to Middleton Place for dinner. The original plan was to do the entire plantation during the afternoon but that was a no go. Instead we got there a little before our reservation time which did let us wander the grounds a little before heading in to the restaurant.

We did this based on advise of friends and I highly recommend it. We weren't able to explore everything they have to offer but we got the flavor of the gardens and landscaping and didn't have to pay any entrance fee. The meal was also extraordinary.

Today was much better. We headed off to the Magnolia Plantation. It's on most of the "must see" in Charleston lists kown for beautiful gardens. It was nice and there was some history thrown in, particularly when taking their included tour of the slave cabins but, maybe since the flowers aren't in full bloom yet, I wasn't overwhelmed.

The limited parts of Middleton Place that we saw made a stronger visual impact probably due to the greater amount of terracing and landscaping.

That said, Magnolia boasts a host of gardens incuding a bamboo garden and a swamp garden.

Speaking of which, we did end up seeing a plethora of gators. So many that I started to feel like Mick Dundee (gotta stay with older generation references rather than the slightly more contemporary Steve Irwin).

Next up was a late lunch at the Mason Jar by Fatboys, Finally got our fried chicken fix.

One of the big reasons we chose Charleston was for the food. Food, history, and culture are our big three for vacations. Walk-ability also comes into play. We ended up at least trying pretty much all the local food that we wanted to:

• Hush puppies
• She crab soup
• Shrimp and grits
• Cheese grits
• Fried chicken
• Perloo
• Biscuits
• BBQ
• Fried green tomatos
• Shrimp
• Benne wafers
• Pimiento cheese
• Pickled okra

Going to get dinner at a seafood place shortly and then home tomorrow.

Overall a solid first post-retirement trip.