All Who Wander Are Not Lost....

How true. I don't know who said that but I'd like to know. Today was wonderful. I found the Wilmington I left, virtually unchanged at the foot of Market Street. The historic downtown area was built on the banks of the Cape Fear River. Not much has changed in spite of the passing of almost 29 years. It's had a face lift here and there...haven't we all...but the biggest change is now they are touting free range chicken and Kona coffee. Oh, and there's a water taxi both downtown and in Wrightsville Beach. Live jazz, attractive boutiques and The Cotton Exchange is still there...see the 2nd floor courtyard in photo. When I left on 17 South I was gifted with a great view of the city and across from it the battleship USS North Carolina, permanently docked for the tourists' pleasure. But not this tourist...my eyes were on Charleston, one of the South's great cities. Boaters needn't have anyone explain the sign above, but then again the warning isn't for the boaters, it's ABOUT them. What it says, in plain English, is that no one has been able to stop boaters from emptying their black water tanks at the docks. Fish and other edible critters, notably shrimp, love to feed on it. If you then catch and eat those shrimp, Hep C is about the BEST you can hope to contract. Which reminds of a warning I once received from a friend....don't eat those gargantuan shrimp served on the Caribbean cruises...use your imagination....yikes! As I left North Carolina behind, I saw a sign outside Georgetown, SC that read: "Jake braking is Prohibited". What the heck is "jake braking"? Google knew. It means using the engine's compression to slow the vehicle. This has been banned because it results in a very loud chattering, or machine gun, sound. This delights the child in me...seeing things I haven't seen, learning things I never knew....very cool. Soon names and words you only see in South Carolina began appearing. "Francis Marion" aka "The Swamp Fox". He was a Brig General in the Revolutionary War who knew the marshlands like the back of his hand and used them to confound and defeat British soldiers on his turf. The Brits gave him the nickname as he usually struck at night and then disappeared into the misty swamps. "Gullah" traditions, culture, history, and cuisine. The Gullah language is a mixture of Elizabethan English and African languages. It was developed on the slave coasts in South Carolina and Georgia and is still spoken today. Want to know more? Go to www.knowitall.org/gullahnet. "Lowcountry". No, I didn't forget to separate the words. The people who inhabit the Lowcountry run the two words together. Lowcountry encompasses South Carolina's coastal counties and includes Charleston, Beaufort (BEW-fort), Hilton Head Island and the other Sea Islands. Shortly I spotted the twin sails of the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge which spans the Cooper River between Mt. Pleasant and Charleston. Opened in 2005, it is the longest cable-stayed bridge in the country. At the peak I glanced tenuously to my left at the city. Low lying except for the many church spires, it was covered in a gray haze and looked totally uninviting. Had I never seen Charleston before, I might have kept driving. Luckily I know it as one of the most carefully preserved of all Southern cities. Nicknamed "The Holy City" due to those spires, it was appropriately honored as the best mannered city in the US. I'll second that. People greet you on the streets, strike up conversations, offer assistance and look you in the eye. I exited on Meeting Street at the same time the students from the College of Charleston spilled out noisily on the narrow streets. Though the day was fairly cool, they skated, jogged and engaged in lively horseplay dressed in shorts. I crawled carefully toward the historic "Battery". This is a park and walk city. Ditch the car and get ready to savor a town not in decay, but kept vibrant and exciting by it's residents...most of whom view it with reverance. Can you say Rhett Butler? Charleston is not to be missed even if you have no interest in the Civil War. In Battery Park is a statue looking out over Charleston Harbor which reads: "Count them happy who for their faith and their courage endured a great fight". On April 12, 1861 the Civil War began with Charleston's Confederate artillery firing on Union-garrisoned Ft. Sumter which surrendered 34 hours later. You don't need much imagination to relive the glory days of the city. Many of the mansions built facing the harbor still remain in almost perfect condition. The style of architecture is peculiar to Charleston. Raised entry doors, broad and long porches angled to capture cooler breezes off the water. I noticed that many of the doorways are lit by gas lanterns, burning day and night. The photos don't begin to capture the spirit, energy and pride found in "The Holy City".