OLD FOLKS IN CHARLESTON

On June 24th we celebrated our 37th Wedding Anniversary. Our children commemorated our Anniversary by visiting together in Dallas/Ft. Worth while we were in Charleston. Don’t exactly know how that worked out. Guess that was the only week they could get together and I am happy they did. They seemed to have a good time, and I know we did. (Well that didn’t come out right) What I meant to say is they enjoyed their time together and we enjoyed Charleston.

So here’s the 411 on our trip. First we left Birmingham and Sandra said she would drive. I said ok, I will read some and then take over in a while. I started reading and 5 minutes later was dead asleep (see my first blog). I slept until were in South Carolina, completely missed Georgia, which is fine with me. Anyway I woke up in time to program the GPS, affectionately called Maggie by Sandra (it’s a Magellan unit). Sometime Sandra carries on a conversation with her. It is truly fascinating to listen to Sandra argue with her. Maggie never raises her voice but guess what? Sandra’s never loses an argument. Doesn’t mean she was right, she just didn’t lose the argument. It’s an age old ability passed down to wives by their mother on the day of their marriage. Guys either are too stupid to understand this ability or God just never told us about the other curse on Adam – you will never from this day forth win an argument with your wife. Come to think about it that what got him into trouble in the first place.

Anyway, back to the saga. As I said, I programmed Maggie to find the Holiday Inn Motel, and sure enough after a few “take the next legal U-turns” we arrived at the Holiday Inn, Historic District. Fairly nice place with a large enough room, refrigerator and microwave and coffee pot. Yes sir this will make a great place for us to set up house for our visit. Think I will park the car. Surprise number 1, no parking spaces which I paid $11 per day for. We got to park across the street in a church parking lot. This will come into play later during the week.

By the time we got through unloading the moving van (actually a Toyota Avalon, but I can pack a lot in it when Sandra says we have to take two 100 pound suitcases, coolers, camera and assorted bags, Picture the Beverly Hillbillies in a Toyota. All we lacked was the rocking chair tied to the top of the car)

It was time for our first delicious meal in Charleston. (Oh by the way, I was actually visiting Charlotte. Every time I asked someone something about Charleston, I always said Charlotte. There must be something Freudian about that). Again I digress. Not knowing where the heck we were in relation to the eating establishments, we asked the young desk attendant where would be a good place to eat. He told us about Coast’s Seafood Restaurant that was within walking distance and that we should not have to wait long to be seated– refer to the description of the attendant as young. Well being old and naive, we set out on our trek for Coast’s restaurant. Surprise number 2 – the space time continuum is different for young attendants that for us mature, sane people that are used to riding everywhere. Coast’s was about 4 blocks away – which I estimate is about 10 miles. We finally arrived there and asked if there was a table available. Surprise number 3. There was a short one and a half hour wait. Now I have never waited over 20 minutes for food when there is perfectly good Kentucky Fried Chicken or Burger King just waiting for me to drop in. Unfortunately recall – we walked and there was not a fast food joint within site.

Based upon this information, we decided surely we could find another place we could eat. Nope, all booked up at every place we tried. Finally, on the verge of starvation, we found Juanita Greenburgs. We both looked at each other. What in the world would they serve at a Mexican-Jewish establishment? I could picture Taco-Motzah Ball Soup or maybe Gefilte Fish enchiladas. They advertised Nachos so we ordered one of their deluxe nachos. Well we weren’t surprised to find out their nachos were a bit different. More like a nacho pizza, but it was not bad at all. This was just not what we anticipated for our first night in Charleston however. Surprise 4 – remember the 10 miles we walked to get to this place. Guess what. It was15 miles back to the room.

Finally we arrived back at the motel. I was thirsty and decided to go to the vending machine. Surprise 5 – the vending machines on our floor were empty. As always, the next floor I went to was empty too. I searched several floors before I found one with something to drink in it. So when you now go to the Holiday Inn Historic District in Charleston, you will probably hear of sighting of the ghost in the building that wanders aimlessly in search of his spirit. In reality it was a fat, pale, dehydrated old white guy just looking for a diet coke.

Well I know most of you don’t have time for the rest of the novel today. I will post the next chapter later. That is where the pictures kick in.

Keep the Son in your eyes