Over the river

Matt's parents have been visiting us this weekend, so we have lots of tales to tell, since we don't ever do anything fun until we have visitors to go with us!

On our first day, we went on a carriage tour of the old city. Apparently, the carriage industry is regulated by the city, so there are three different routes and only 20 carriages allowed out at one time. When a carriage leaves, they tell someone the number of people on their carriage, so they can be taxed accordingly; then they are told if they can venture out into the city and which route they get to take that run. Our tour guide, our friend Lance from church, and his narcoleptic steed, Jeff the draft horse, took us by some fascinating and architecturally interesting houses, and we learned many tidbits I would share with you here, but you might come and visit us, and I don't want to steal my own thunder! We had lunch at Jestine's, made (more) famous by Rachael Ray's visit there, where we sampled Lowcountry food and the famous lemon cream pie with a graham cracker pecan crust. If you come here, you must try it!

The next day we went to Patriot's Point to see the Yorktown, an aircraft carrier turned museum. There were numerous planes above and below decks and lots of informative displays, including the interactive Medal of Honor museum, narrated by Tom Brokaw, the only one of its kind. The Yorktown area also include a submarine you can board (J and I did not and were the better for it, since apparently it was a tight space not designed for babies, as you might imagine) and various other ships you could tour. The place was filled with boy scouts and veterans, the former there for summer camps in which they get to sleep on board the carrier and the latter there for various reunions. That day we had lunch at Melvin's, a barbecue joint serving southern mustard based "secret" sauce and some of the best ribs and pulled pork we've tried.

Sunday was Sunday, so we went to church and took it easy. The in-laws really came to play with baby J, so we had to make sure there was plenty of time for that, after all! Beth made pork chops for dinner, the recipe for which is so easy I may have to adopt it into my repertoire and share with you, my loyal readers. Today, Monday, we plan to visit Charlestowne Landing, home to the original settlers in the area, so more reports will ensue. Stay tuned!