The SCs in SC: You and me, and hurricane makes three!

After a rainy day, Mr. Snow Cone and I were excited to see sunshine coming through our windows the next morning.  Our happiness didn't last very long, though, as we casually turned on the television to discover a startling image.

Image via The Charleston Porch / The Weather Channel

Yep, that's Irene, our honeymoon third-wheeler.  Earlier in the week, we had heard that Charleston could be hit by something that was maybe going to be a mild hurricane, but definitely not until Saturday evening at the latest.  At that point, we decided not to worry about it, since we were scheduled to be out of Charleston by Saturday night.  So, imagine our discontent upon seeing this revised forecast on our television - Category 3 hurricane with 115 mile per hour winds, hitting Charleston pretty darned directly, on Saturday morning.  

We wrung our hands and pouted for a few minutes before deciding that we didn't want to get caught up in a tidal wave of people trying to revise flight plans as the storm drew nearer.  With heavy hearts, we decided to end our stay in Charleston about 24 hours early, flying out on Friday instead of Saturday, hoping to avoid Irene's wrath as much as we could.  

Inspired to make the most of what abbreviated time we had remaining, we headed into Charleston for an afternoon full of sightseeing. 

Miraculously, it was a perfect 75 degrees as we spent the hottest hours of the day traipsing around the city!  We took our second carriage ride of the trip, this time using a group tour to get a more complete understanding of the city's architecture and history.

We saw the city's landmark church, that tilts a bit due to a 19th century earthquake,

 and itty bitty side streets that were originally designed for a horse and buggy,

and old-fashioned architecture with buildings that are only one room wide,

 and houses with detached kitchens to beat the heat prior to the invention of air conditioning,

 and Charleston's oldest building (a liquor store),

 and weaponry left over from the Civil War,

 and houses that cost $8 million and are still considered "small" compared to their neighbors,

 and the street Mel Gibson rides down during the beginning scenes of The Patriot.

For anyone who visits Charleston, I highly recommend doing a historical carriage ride through the city; it was one of the highlights of our trip.  The guide was very knowledgeable and personable, making it a really pleasant way to spend an hour while learning about your surroundings.

Before coming to South Carolina, we had decided that we wanted to invest in a piece of art as our premiere souvenir, rather than collecting knick-knacks all over the place.  Without any rhyme or reason, we decided to pop into the Gordon Wheeler gallery that we stumbled upon.  We immediately fell in love with his style of art and how "Charleston-y" it looked to us.  It didn't take us long to decide on a winner that fell in a price range we were comfortable with.

"On Meeting" by Gordon Wheeler

After getting robbed a day by Irene, we were really, really excited to find a piece of art that we both loved and would be a treasured keepsake in our home for years to come, always reminding us of our fantastic trip to Charleston.

Finally, to cap off our lovely day in the downtown area, we enjoyed some martinis at Squeeze, a tiny but trendy bar, before eating our weight in seafood (yet again) at High Cotton.  We noshed on fried oysters, surf and turf, and shrimp and grits before waving our stomach's white flags of surrender.  For what started off as a cruddy morning, the day resurrected itself beautifully.  Even though we were losing a day on the tail end of our trip, with days like this one, we knew we were getting the most out of our experience in the South.

Did your honeymoon get boogered up due to some less-than-stellar weather?

(all photos personal unless otherwise noted)