Back in December, I bought the Be a Tourist in Your Own Town passes that are sold annually by the Charleston Visitors Bureau. If you're a resident of the Lowcountry and have any interest whatsoever in seeing a lot of the sights, you should invest in this pass next year. For $20 per person or $50 for a family pass (for 4 people), you get a one-time admission to 33 area attractions and discounts at 24 local restaurants. The only catch is that you can only use the pass in January.
Our first outing on the pass was to Middleton Place the first weekend of January when it was about 25 degrees. Not such a pleasant experience, but I figured we'd almost gotten our money's worth with that one little excursion so it didn't really matter if we didn't spend much time there.
And then of course, last weekend we went skiing so we wasted one whole weekend of the pass but it was yet another vote for my Mother of the Year reign.
I was determined that we were making up for lost time this weekend and boy did we ever.
On Friday, Mac had a play date after school with his best friend here and then we went out for pizza at Andolini's with the play date family. (Not on the pass but surely a vote for MOTY).
On Saturday, we went to Mac's first Upward basketball game. After a quick lunch with my mother at Atlanta Bread Company, we were off to the WW2 aircraft carrier Yorktown in the pouring rain. The Yorktown is my least favorite tourist attraction in all of Charleston and perhaps in all of Earth. I hate this place. It smells funny, you have to walk up and down tight little staircases, and it feels claustrophic even if you're not claustrophobic. Naturally it's the place Mac wanted to visit the most. MOTYs don't complain; they just do. So I did, and I kept my mouth shut and did not complain about the awfulness that I think the Yorktown is and guess what? Mac is his moma's boy: he didn't really like the Yorktown either! Which is a very good thing because as we were leaving, all these Boy Scouts were coming on with sleeping bags and suitcases for a night aboard the Yorktown. Can you say "that will never happen with the Story scout while his moma is the only one around to chaperone?"
On Sunday, we went to church and then to the Charleston Tea Plantation. The plantation is way over on Wadmalaw Island, which is one of the most beautiful places in the Lowcountry. Our trip there definitely gave us a walk on the wild side. As we were driving there, enjoying the gorgeous scenery and driving the 55 mph speed limit, a deer ran out of the woods at full speed. Thank God she was a smart deer and/or had good peripheral vision because as I slammed on the brakes she veered to the right and crossed the road ahead of us. Needless to say, Mac thought that was the highlight of the day. We arrived safely at the tea plantation and enjoyed a wonderful, very professionally produced tour of the factory before heading out on the tram ride. Did I mention it rained A LOT the day before? Well the tram bogged down and we all had to walk back to the visitor's center. When we left the tea plantation, we went to Angel Oak, a nearby live oak tree that is believed to be some 1500 years old and the oldest living thing west of the Mississippi. It was very impressive (photo of the tree was taken by Mac).
And today, Mac and I went with Friday's play date family to Charles Towne Landing, which has been redone in the last few years. It was a great afternoon of beautiful weather and good friends.
(Speaking of beautiful weather, my car thermometer yesterday said it was 69 degrees, which is a whopping 56 degree swing upward from last weekend. Do we dare hope that spring is on the way?)
Anyway, I know some of you other mothers were hoping to take the Mother of the Year award, but I think I've got the market cornered at least for the voting in our house. I even got flowers from Jimmy this week with the following card attached:
And that card came before this weekend's Charleston version of the "12 European countries in 7 days" tour.
But don't worry: I burn out fast and I'm not even sure I can get to February when the pass expires before I take to the couch for weekend afternoon napping.
1 comment:
Just in case you were thinking of touring other Naval ships, they ALL smell that way! Steve used to come home from work and that smell would be on his clothes. Just reading your post brought that awful smell back into my memory! Steve's current company treated us to dinner on the USS Midway in San Diego a couple of years ago and the minute you walked on the ship, there was the familiar smell. It was easy to spot the other ex-Navy people as it became the topic of conversation for the night.
Blessings, Kristy
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