Day Six of the Great Ten Day Train Trip: Charleston

Photos: me and Debbie Hopkins at Starbucks, one of the carriage rides, two ladies in makeshift rain gear, a hidden garden gate, a haint blue porch ceiling, and one of the outhouses at the wealthy Aiken House.




Charleston, South Carolina--what a city. Brimming with history, color, and people! Ginger and I took a cab downtown and arrived in the morning. Fortunately, we had both been to Charleston before and we had taken one of the ubiquitous buggy rides, so we pretty much knew the area and the history. We had never, however, been to the Aiken-Rhett House, a house that stands in the downtown area and is managed by a historical Charleston society. The house is unique because it was built in the early 19th century and was only updated once--around 1858. So the wallpapers and most of the light fixtures are original. The house has been preserved, not restored, and it is fascinating--especially the slave quarters and stables in the back of the house. It is perfectly easy to understand where and how the slaves lived by studying the house. There are even two rather elegant privies (outhouses) at the back of the property--amazing. The home is loaded with history and is definitely worth a visit.

After we left the house, we walked down to the downtown commercial area. Our walk took us through shady, tree-lined residential streets, and I was tickled to see homes with haint blue porch ceilings all over the place. One house was even being built in the typical Charleston style, and the painters were painting the ceiling haint blue. I snapped some photos because I thought you'd like to see them.

While we were downtown, the skies opened up and it began to rain. I snapped some pictures of these ladies who did what all Southerners do--we make do. :-)

When the rain relented, Ginger and I began our walk toward a place where we'd be more likely to pick up a taxi. While we stood on a street corner, a car came by and turned--and splashed us from head to toe. I promise, it was just like a scene in a movie, but the water was HOT. Not nearly as refreshing as it should have been.

Covered in dirty water and wet again, we caught a cab and went to North Charleston for our Starbucks stop. On the way, we talked to our garrulous cab driver. The conversation was pleasant and trivial until he happened to mention that he'd been over to Israel and seen the body of Jesus in a machine. Excuse me? Well, you know I couldn't let that one go by. Later I realized that he may have been confused about the shroud of Turin, but I said, "No, the body of Jesus is alive and well in heaven, so there's no way it's in a machine." He then assured me that he believed all religions had a bit of truth, and I said yes, but ONE religion, or one God, had all truth, because a supreme, holy, righteous God must be all truth. And if one God is truth, then the one who opposes him is a liar . . .

Anyway, I assured him that I wasn't interested in debating him or trying to convert him--because the Bible says that all who come to God must be drawn by the Spirit first. So when we left and he said that he wished the ride could have been longer, I said that I would be praying for him to find the Truth.

At our Starbucks stop, we were soon joined by Debbie Hopkins, one of the original Dazers (a member of the Heavenly Daze yahoo group, if you've never heard the term.) Debbie had been with us on last January's Heavenly Daze cruise, so we had a great time catching up. She's such a dear.

When we finished our visit, Debbie dropped me and Ginger at an outlet mall (funny how we seem to be shopping our way down the eastern seaboard), where we ate dinner and then came back to pack.

We have to catch the train tomorrow morning at 5:00 AM (yes, you read that right), so we're turning in early tonight and trying to pack ahead of time. We'll be in Savannah a little after six, so we'll have nearly two days to explore that lovely Southern city. If you're in the area, we'd love to see you at our Starbucks stop on Thursday.

Have a great day tomorrow! And stay out of the heat! (The heat index here was 105 degrees!)

~~Angie