Hello old friends, and happy game week! Damn it feels good to say that. As long as this off season was, I didn't get the no football blues like I normally do. Boston has been in the mix for the AL East for much of the summer, despite a shitastic bullpen and I've been busy at work. So before I knew it the annual anniversary vacation before season was upon us.
This year we chose Charleston, SC instead of an island vaca, because of zika concerns. The wife and I are trying to make linebackers and cant risk the chance of not reaching optimum training capacity.
We road tripped this time around, which is a change, we are the usually fly in fly out type. It was actually a really good time, we made frequent stops at weird little high way joints along the way, buying junk we didn't need, only to laugh at it later.
On to the destination, of course if you've been to Charleston or live down there you know how amazing it is. The food, the history, the architecture, such a beautiful city.
We decided to be super touristy this summer, something we usually don't do because it seems cheesy. Let me tell you I think I am I a tourist convert. The tours were really interesting, the ghost tours being both funny, and a little creepy. The museums and home tours, I have never seen anything like them.
My favorites were The Magnolia Planation, which is an all day affair if you want to get the full experience. Side note, they have a great hot dog at the concession stand and free snow cones! "Founded in 1676 by the Drayton family, Magnolia Plantation has survived the centuries and witnessed the history of our nation unfold before it from the American Revolution through the Civil War and beyond..." Most interesting piece to me was the history of the slaves tour.
Next I would have to say was the private carriage tour of old Charleston. It was a little pricey, but the attention and story telling was much better than the regular and we were able to go more places because of it. Best part of that was the story of Madame Grace Piexotto, the most famous brothel owner in Charleston. Nice little write up here.
Lastly, but to be honest I could keep going, was the ghost tour, again private was the way to go. My favorite for that was the story/legend of Lavinia Fisher. We heard 4 different accounts of this lady and her ghost, all centered around the story of her last words and dying in her wedding dress. Wiki for whats it worth, and another interesting read here.
Of course I rocked Ohio State gear pretty much everywhere I went, and endured the comments that went along with it. To summarize that part, people REALLY love South Carolina for some reason, but love being in the SEC more. They couldn't really talk a lot of shit because Zeke. Spent some time with some Bama people in our hotel, they were shockingly the best of the bunch that we ran into. Good football smarts, realistic expectations, and fun to talk with. No one was an asshole, except for one Tennessee fan, that flipped me off and told me to fuck my mother. Oh well, I asked if he was more upset about V. Bell or being irrelevant, he cussed some more and walked away.
There's my little summary of my trip, thanks for reading, thank God for football, and Go Bucks!
TL;DR - Charleston is cool, Ghost stories are fun, Bama fans are cool, Tenn fans not so much.
