2014 Charleston Trip – Rally Day 2 - Downtown Charleston

Day two was a busy day in downtown Charleston, beginning with about two hours in the City Market– about 15 minutes gave me all I wanted.  The market is a three block long collection on eclectic stuff and the only thing I bought was a glass of lemonade.  Here is most of the group hard at it. 

Bill, one of the rally attendees had worked a lot in Charleston, and he knew the good places to go to so we walked the couple of blocks to Magnolia’s for lunch at a fine dining restaurant and it was outstanding. 

Here are some of the meals.

Shellfish over Grits - sautéed shrimp, sea scallops & lobster, creamy white grits, lobster butter sauce, fried spinach....16

Buttermilk Fried Chicken Breast - cracked pepper biscuits, mashed potatoes, collard greens, creamed corn, sausage-herb gravy....19

Blackened Catfish - dirty rice, fried green tomatoes, habanero chutney, tomato butter....14

Pan Fried Grouper Special

We’d gotten recommendations for other restaurants but I can’t imagine food could be much better than this.  And we had very good service provided by this young man from NJ.

When I read the rally hosting guidelines, one of the suggestions was to put your own spin on things so I advised that Bev and I liked to cook and eat and we were in Charleston, SC so this rally would be about food.

After lunch, we loaded up for a carriage tour of the old city and had a great driver to get us around and give us the scoop on what we were seeing.  Some of the homes date back to the late 1600’s and many facing the water are very high dollar but they were just the owners winter homes back in the day.

The guy providing the horsepower for the trip was Bud and I believe they said he was a Percheron - French draft horse, which they buy from the Amish in Holmes County, OH.  The tour ended at their barn and this was one of Bud's co-workers and he must have been six feet at the top of his rump.

According to the guide, the Amish use them as farm animals for about 6 years then they are purchased for this duty which is like semi-retirement for them as pulling a wagon full of tourists is just a walk in the park for them.  And since the business depends on the horses and they cost $5000+, they are well cared for by the carriage company.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

5/13/14 event date