Road Trip 2022 Day 02

By travelerdon on September 13, 2022

The road to Charleston, SC

Woke up today jetlagged, but ready to go. The hotel had a complimentary breakfast, our favorite kind. Refreshed a bit, we head out on the road. The GPS tells us it is a simple 2 hour drive from Savannah to Charleston and it is a simple drive. We stop at the Tourist Info Center and the clerk there is very helpful with a map and shows us where to park and what to look for.

We follow his instructions and we are soon walking around downtown Charleston in the sweltering heat and we locate the “Circular Church” for some fun photos before finding the horse and buggy rides for a guided tour of downtown Charleston. We pay for and arrange a front seat ride and are not disappointed as our guide, Will, educates us about the downtown area and the buildings and streets that we see with his mighty steed, “Gary”, the horse that pulls us around the streets without hardly breaking a sweat.

After thanking Will, we depart to find our way on our own the the “Rainbow” section of Old Town where the colorful houses don’t disappoint and the old architecture amazes us with centuries old style. We make our way down to the waterfront and catch many photos along the way as we go. The heat and humidity are breaking us into the South in the fastest way possible. So we make our way back to the car and revel in the air conditioning in the best way.

We had heard about an old tree, the “Angel Tree” along our way. We asked Will on our Horse and Buggy ride. Will identified it as the “Angel Oak Tree” and said it was on “John’s Island”. We thanked him and looked it up. It was a 30 minute ride and we set our GPS and head out to find it. It turns out it is in a protected park that is open until 5PM. We arrived at 4:35PM and had just enough time to get some shots so we were lucky. The tree is estimated to be 400 years old, however there is controversy about its age. Suffice it to say it is old, very, very old. I would guesstimate the trunk to be in excess of 15 feet in diameter. The branches spread more than 200 feet and its height is in excess of 100 feet. The branches are gnarled and twist in a beautiful dance.

We chat with the lady in charge, Maria, and would you know that she is from the city next door to ours in Southern California? Wow, it IS a small world! Well, before we know it, the area is closing and we need to leave so we reluctantly walk out. But we are tired and still jetlagged and we find our way to our hotel, the ‘Tru’ Hotel in North Charleston. We check in and then locate a ‘Low Country’ restaurant for dinner, for when you find yourself in ‘low country’, you eat ‘low country’ food! We find “Nigel’s Good Food” restaurant and sit down for some good Soul Food. The food was good, however they were out of a lot of their BBQ and their Greens so there was some disappointment there. I will say after eating in the South that I understand the expression now, “A moment on the lips, A lifetime on the hips!”