Lizard's WHAT?

It’s been a while between postings and for that I do apologize. Life’s been pretty hectic and it doesn’t leave much time for running around on the town or writing about it when I do snag an evening out.


So I’ll be catching up with a few fun activities for you this week. To begin, during the last week of February I spent a hectic week down at my parents home closing up their house since they are now staying** with me. When I packed up a few of their belongings and them and brought them home last November, it was uncertain about whether they would be able to return to their home or not. At this point it seems unlikely that they’ll ever be on their own again and so some decisions had to be made about their home and all the things that go with it.

Suffice to say that with the help of some very kind neighbors, I spent a frazzled four days sorting through the house and clearing it out for the future. Bins full of trash, a patio full of things for yard sales, cars sold, and paperwork packed up for reviewing, took a mental toll on me that I wasn’t expecting.

However, the fun part of the trip was the drive home in Dad’s 1993 Cadillac Deville with two of the best people I know, Grant and Lynn Murphy. Grant and Lynn had been planning a trip to Florida to visit their daughter and her family and they kindly offered to drive home with me. Well, OK, I sort of begged them to help, but they were gracious enough to say yes without too much whining on my part. Bless them both!



The menu board at Lizard's Thicket in Columbia, SC

COLUMBIA SOUTH CAROLINA

We had great weather for the trip, which we broke into two days of about 9 hours driving each. With a stop in Columbia, SC overnight, the trip was not too difficult, especially with three of us sharing the driving. We had rooms at the Hampton Inn, Columbia which were comfortable and clean. The front desk gal recommended we try having dinner across the street at the Lizard’s Thicket.

My chicken dinner with
fresh potato salad.

With a dozen or more locations in the Columbia area, we found this to be an interesting place for local southern cooking.  The menu is a laundry list of "pick 1, 2 or 3 meats" and a huge assortment of sides, including fried okra, sweet potato casserole, and mac n' cheese. 

Grant's pulled pork with Carolina BBQ

Lynne ordered the chicken and dumplings, Grant had the Carolina BBQ Pulled Pork and I ordered the fried chicken.  The food was all very good and we shared a blackberry pie for dessert.  Even the biscuits were good!  I was a little disappointed because I had really been hoping for some good BBQ on the way home, but the meal here was good enough to let that slip my mind with not much concern.

In any event, the overnight stay was fine, the remainder of the trip was uneventful and I arrived home to find everything in order. 
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**Staying....
Even now, I hesitate to state that my parents are living at my house, not just "staying".  Neither of them are really aware that they are now here permanently so I don't say it out loud often at all.  The other day Dad told someone that they were visiting with me here for a while and I think if that makes him feel better that it's OK.  I know that they both have moments when they are aware that they've left a house somewhere and all of there belongings and it breaks my heart that they cannot grasp that things have now changed.   

For now, we make the most of our situation.  I'm learning patience and hopefully some tolerance for things not going the way I want them too.  If dinner is going to be mushy broccoli and a bowl of dry cocoa rice cereal, then we try to make the best of that. 

The Old Biddy at Hilton Head

After having a great couple of days in Charleston, we packed up the cars and drove south to Hilton Head to spend two more days with our friend who lives in the area.

First impressions of Hilton Head....too darn much traffic. Our friend lives on, what she describes as, one of the most deadly roads in the area. And it's easy to see why. Too many cars, travelling far too fast, trying to figure out where they are on a road with almost zero landmarks. I'm sure the locals know what they're doing, but for an area that has such large numbers of tourists, the place is a death trap. Even with the GPS in the car, we missed our turns often due to poorly placed turn lanes and non-existant signage.

All of that said, I certainly enjoyed spending time with my friend Ruth. We drove around Hilton Head one day (don't bother, it looks just like any other tourist destination at the beach) and wandering through old Bluffton. Of the two, Bluffton was by far the more quaint and interesting area. They are working hard to restore some of the original buildings dating back to the early 1900's and putting in some newer shopping areas that mimic the same style. So although the death trap of a road going through town is strip mall heaven, they seem to be putting some serious thought into what they do as they restore the town itself.

We had two great meals while in Bluffton, one at a southern BBQ chain called Jim n'Nicks. Ruth set up a meeting with a few of her local girlfriends and we all had a really nice meal together. We miss Ruth terribly up in Ohio, so it was good to see her new friends and know that she's in good hands there. Sharing BBQ lends itself to gossip and laughter anyhow, so it was a fun evening all around.

We also visited a great little restaurant called May River Grill. http://mayrivergrill.com/ Voted "Best New Restaurant" and "Best Seafood Restaurant" in Hilton Head, this unassuming place was a pleasant surprise when you walk through the stripmall style front door. After ordering my dinner it struck me odd that I drove 1100 miles to order a piece of Lake Michigan Walleye, but believe me it was worth the trip. The chef is a Michigan native and gets plenty of fresh water fish from his buddys still in the North. He served my breaded walleye with a Lemon Caper Dill sauce that was really fantastic. One of the gals ordered the Duck which she deemed "so so", and one had scallops that were very good. Frankly I was so enthralled with my own meal I paid little attention to the others.

So it seems that the most memorable things about Hilton Head were the bad traffic, seeing Ruth (a GOOD thing!) and the meals we ate. Mmmmm, mmmm, GOOD!

Vacation in Charleston South Carolina

Last week found this old biddy and 3 of her very good friends further afield than normal. We hopped in the car and drove down to Charleston, South Carolina to spend 5 days roaming the area.

Charleston is definately a beautiful town. We found it to be both charming and interesting. The people were pleasant and although it is obviously a very tourist-y area, still retained a lot of local charm and warmth. The shops ranged from the modern GAP and Chico's to a small Sak's to local people making sweet reed baskets on the streets. We wandered through a few of the markets but ignored most of the more trinket-oriented lined up on the City Market.

We also found some local eateries and managed to eat and drink our way through several on our 2 day jaunt. Lunch at AW Shucks was pretty good (although our service was not the best). A stop at the Cupcake Shop was disappointing, but could probably be atributed to the late hour when most everything was already sold.

Our hotel was across the bay in Mount Pleasant which meant that we needed to find a way into Charleston without the car (for easier parking). The water taxi that crosses the bay every half hour was a great way to do this and it was entertaining as well. The pilots were very helpful with pointing out landmarks and getting us oriented once we hit the dock. 4 different trolleys can easily get you around town for an overview of everything. We bought day passes for $5 that we used all day. They are not narrated tours, but the frequent stops made it easy to get on and off several times all day. We took at least 2 routes and covered the majority of town on them.

On our water taxi back to Mount Pleasant the pilots stopped multiple times so that we could see the local dolphins swimming near the boat. We spent nearly 20 minutes chasing and being chased by up to 30 dolphin.

In the evening we took a specialty tour of Ghosts and Graveyards. Ooooo spooky! Our guide took us around to many of the churches, graveyards and haunted houses and told some great stories. My favorite was of the spirit of the local pooch "Poogan" who is said to still greet guests at the restaurant Poogan's Porch named in honor of the deceased pup. I took plenty of photos of the graveyards hoping to pick up a spirit or two, but no such luck.

After our graveyard tour we went in search of local pubs and started out at Vendu for drinks. If you're in Charleston, skip this place, the drinks were completly non-alcoholic and far over-priced. We left there and meandered over to Moe's bar where we had decent drinks and pretty good appetizers. We did learn that Monday nights in Charleston are pretty much the same as at home...dull...not much in the way of night life. Even the tourists weren't out pub-hopping.

On our second day, we had an Early Bird tour lined up with a wonderful local gentleman named Troy Green who took us on a 2 hour walking tour of the town. He was very knowledgable and quite accommodating in answering questions and talking about the local history and architecture. If you're ever in Charleston I would highly recommend making arrangements to have Troy walk you through town. Email him at jtroygreen@yahoo.com to make arrangements.

On our way out of town we stopped for a late breakfast at Hominy Grill. http://www.hominygrill.com/about.php I had been anticipating their Sweet Potato Pancakes with Toasted Pecan syrup that I'd read about in a review and was highly dissappointed to find that they had been a special and weren't on the regular menu. However, they recommended the Peach Pancakes and the Chicken and Biscuits with Poached Eggs and they were both very good. The pancakes were sweet and filled with bits of fresh peaches. Chicken over Biscuits is a family favorite around my house for dinner but I never would have thought about added an egg to the top and serving it for breakfast. But it was very yummy...who knew? Hominy Grill is a small place with an outdoor patio and well worth the stop.

After breakfast we headed out of town to Magnolia Plantation. We toured the plantation on the little tram and toured the house and then walked around the grounds. It was quite lovely and if you drove quietly along the tree lined driveway with the Spanish Moss drooping overhead, you can just imagine what it must have been like living a hundred years ago and riding by horse up to the house. We stopped to think several times about the ladies strolling the grounds in long heavy wool dresses in the hot days and sweltering humidity. We were miserable in our light clothing, it's hard to imagine how they felt in their corsets and multiple layers. The "gardens" weren't formal, but mostly just open swamps and filled in rice fields. It's hard to picture the place swarming with slaves planting rice and tending the other crops.