Swing through the Southeast

Kate and I stayed in Charleston last week, as we drove down to Edisto Island so I could attend the annual budget meeting for the little timeshare resort down there where I'm on the board of directors. The meetings there aren't too long, but they are important because Wyndham (the resort's management company) is required by South Carolina state law to have owners involved in the resort's management. We own a large interest in one of the small sub-resort associations, so I sit on the board. It's kind of a drag, but it's necessary. There were a couple of high points to our stay in Charleston: One was that we got to have lunch at Hyman's Sea Food (see Yelp), always a treat, and the other was that we got a nice upgrade in our motel room: We were "upgraded" to a very nice apartment on top of the seven-floor motel. It must have been built as the manager's apartment. It had a fireplace and a kitchen and a balcony and a separate bedroom. Pretty sweet suite, says I.

We left Edisto after the meeting and drove to Savannah, We stayed in the Oglethorpe Suite there, a real suite, with a kitchen and an armchair and a desk and a separate bedroom. Pretty sweet suite, says I. Both of those upgrades came about because we are high on the Choice Privileges food chain. It's sorta fun.




We had dinner in the Pirate House in Savannah. The place has been there a couple of hundred years and is rich in folklore and fable. Robert Lewis Stevenson set some of the action in Treasure Island there, for example. The food is pretty good too. See House.

Also in Savannah, we saw a dealer for Great Dane trailers, something we see dozens of on the road. I thought that was kinda cool.


Our next stop was in Montgomery, where we checked up on a couple of rent houses, stayed overnight and pushed on to New Orleans. On the way, down around Mobile, we had lunch at Wintzell's Oyster House. It wasn't much like the original, worn-out old shack in Mobile, but the food was pretty good.



In NOLA, we met our friend Markie, and his friend Dan. We're leaving tomorrow, so it's been a short visit. Kate cancelled a couple of cooking classes she wanted to take, and we skipped the visit to Mardi Gras World, but we hope to return sometime soon.  On Friday, we had lunch at Purloo, a smallish restaurant inside the Southern Food and Beverage Museum (housed in a former rum warehouse). The food was very good, and the museum tour afterward was a lot of fun, too. It was rather unusual in that you could handle most of the items on display. I haven't found that in many museums.

The museum was one giant room, filled with stuff.

Dan and Mark

Here we are with my old friend, Jack Daniels.

On Saturday, we made a side trip to the big town of LaPlace, just a bit west of New Orleans. The purpose of that run was to restock our supply of andouille sausage, a vital ingredient in many fine Cajun dishes. Check out Bailey's here: Recipes. As we drove to LaPlace, we passed a three-vehicle group expressing their rights. Donald Trump would have been proud--they probably don't believe in climate change, either.

Roadside Swamp outside LaPlace

We had lunch here. Cajun-Vietnamese fusion.

Here are Dan and Mark, and that thing behind them is the sausage vendors display.

Not downtown NOLA

Also not downtown

We're headed home tomorrow.

Sunday Afternoon
We got up and got out very early, and arrived at our destination about 3:30. We're staying in Gadsden, Alabama, the garden spot of Alabama, almost home to

Noccalula Falls, the area's only claim to fame. No, we didn't see it, but I wanted a nice picture for the blog.

We made it home on Monday afternoon, despite monstrous traffic snarls in both Chattanooga and Knoxville. We're not traveling again for a few weeks, and that's a good thing.

Cheers