From The Three Little Pigs

Actually the first pictures tell it all. I am so uncomfortable as I sit here at my laptop and the proof is in the pictures. They were taken at Jestine's where we had some of the best food we have ever eaten.

The picture of the three of us is BIRTHDAY GREETINGS TO MELODY! We are raising our glasses of wine and sweet tea over plates of dessert! Coca Cola Cake, Pecan Pie and Coconut Cream Pie. We're mailing the extra calories to you!

The other pictures are from our bus tour of Charleston and a visit to Drayton Plantation outside Charleston.

We started out early this morning by catching a small bus tour with Alan. Got the bus across the street at the Visitor's Center (love the convenient location of our hotel) and he drove along the Battery so he could show us Ft Sumter where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. Unfortunately it was pouring rain so he held up a little model of the fort and told us all to squint. That's what it would look like if the clouds lifted and we could see across the bay.

Charleston is a lovely city. The historic district is well preserved and people actually live in most of these beautiful homes. Granted the price isn't cheap though. We were particularly intrigued by the single house with the end turned toward the street and the porch runs beside the house. There are houses like this in New Orleans also and were probably built like this to avoid taxes during the 18th and 19th centuries. Wonder if that would work today???? Loved seeing the Rainbow Row of houses painted the bright colors. Toured the Nathaniel Russell mansion and the gardens were beautiful.

The tour dropped us off at Market Hall where we shopped in several blocks of open air (but covered) shops. Found many treasures and enjoyed seeing the sweet grass baskets. Enslaved people were brought from rice growing areas of Africa, particularly Senegal to work on the rice plantations of the area. They brought not only their skills for growing rice but also their tradition of making lovely sweet grass baskets. At first they were merely utilitarian and used in the processing the harvested rice but now have evolved into an art form. The market was filled with people making these baskets but they don't come cheap and we did more looking than buying.

We scurried back to the hotel and dropped our packages and drove about 10 miles out of Charleston along the Ashley River to Drayton Hall. This is a plantation that was properous before the Civil War when the local economy was based on rice and many slaves were needed

to work in the fields. John Drayton who built the mansion in the late 1700's was the wealthy plantation owner and also built a large home in Charleston. After the Civil War when labor became a problem for the plantation the Drayton owners were lucky enugh to find a large deposit of phosphate on the land and the family wealth was assured. This plantation house was a vacation retreat and was in the family until the 1960's when it was sold to the Preservation Society. One stipulation of the sale is that the plantation house is not to be restored but merely maintained. That is no small feat but it is not furnished, as say Mt. Vernon, but that gives it an incredible feeling of authenticity. Sorry to say our guide was a retired primary grade teacher and was just a little too perky for our taste but she was quite knowledgeable. For that reason we didn't smother her! (Are the GGG's getting a bit jaded when it comes to guides?) The grounds weren't filled with landscaping and the live oak trees with the Spanish moss hanging gave things a bit of an eerie feeling. We stopped at the African American cemetary on the property and in the words of one of the last persons buried there in 1998 it has been "left natural". As Richard Bowens said "Leave 'em rest". It was a wonderfully peaceful place.

And then......from this enriching experience we had a very rich experience in the form of a dinner at Jestine's! Our dinners were fabulous! Fried Chicken, meat loaf (the best I have ever eaten) fried green tomatoes, okra, green beans, mac 'n cheese, collard greens, black eyed peas, and the aforementioned desserts. Now each person didn't have all that but we shared our plates round and round the table. Fortunately we had a long 4 block walk back to the hotel! Jestine's is famous in Charleston and has even made it to the Food Channel and major publications. A well deserved reputation! As Rachel Ray who visited there said, "Yum-o!"

I have to get to bed. Will be hard to drag ourselves out of Charleston. We might need to come back here someday! But onward to Savannah! Wonder if we will find anything good to eat there? Had to take the picture of the pig over a bar we passed on the way home tonight. Perhaps we need shirts with this emblazoned as our logo!

"Oink" from the Gotta Go Girls.