A rainy day in charming Charleston

After the loss of our rudder, Scotty and I immediately switched gears to work on replacing this essential piece of our boat. And so, we were back on the road again, this time to get a new one made at Foss Foam in North-Central Florida.

We left North Carolina on Monday, January 13 and decided to make a halfway stop in Charleston, South Carolina for one night.

As usual, we used Hotwire to make a last-minute hotel booking and wound up with the four-star Mills House Wyndham Grand Charleston hotel. I downloaded the Hotwire app to my phone to score a $25 discount for bookings over $100 and the total came to $103.94. Not too shabby for this view and the room was pretty nice, too.

We would have camped, but it was raining, among other excuses. And after weeks of boatyard life and van camping, it feels really great to have a big bed to stretch out in and a television.

Of course, Charleston is too gorgeous of a city to stay holed up in even the nicest of hotel rooms.

The next day we had to make a visit to the famous Angel Oak on nearby John's Island. A southern live oak, the tree is estimated to be anywhere between 400 and 1500 years old.

Its branches are so big and heavy that they touch the ground.

Scotty took me here on our first trip to Charleston together in 2008 and it was fun to see this massive and beautiful tree again.



We also stopped by a park Scotty used to ride his bike at when he lived in Charleston a decade ago, the James Island Country Park.



It's definitely worth checking out for a peaceful walk or bike ride if you're in the area. If the weather had been nicer, we would have considered camping there as well, though at $40 a site, it's not exactly cheap.

You can take a man out of the South... :)

They have some pretty sweet houses for rent there, too.

I'd love to rent one of these for a fun weekend with family or friends.



Charleston may be known as a fashionable and sometimes touristy city, but there's a lot more to do here than just shop and eat. Take a drive through the nearby islands, admire the historic buildings, and you might find yourself wondering why you would ever want to leave.



Wind-Lass might just have to sail this way in the future...