Christmas Cheer
07 December 2009 | Charleston, SC
Beth
I did laundry in the morning while Jim took the marina shuttle back to West Marine. The new chart plotter wouldn't recognize our radar or AIS and after some sleuthing, he discovered that new software updates were not installed on it. Back he went to rectify that, and pay another little visit to Harris Teeter for some more of their wonderful bread.
Jim arrived back just about when the clothes were dry and we headed off to walk along Broad Street where we caught the end of the Christmas Parade. We saw group after group of high school marching bands and cadet groups, several enthusiastic church floats, a group of vintage corvettes and at the end, Santa Claus himself! We chuckled at the highly stressed parade-traffic-director on our corner and figured he was seriously in need of come Christmas cheer! One float was from a BBQ place and the aroma had our stomachs rumbling so much that we immediately took ourselves off in search of food.
First was a stop at that wonderful sweet shop on Market street that Sue and Terry introduced us to last trip. We stocked up on to-die-for pralines of creamy brown sugar and pecans, and carmelly/chocolaty bear claws. One of our taxi drivers earlier in the week recommended Jim and Nick's BBQ on King Street, so with that smell from the float still tantalizing us, we walked up and along two or three blocks to find it. It was just about 4:30 but half the tables were filled with families so we sat ourselves down and ordered up a couple of platters of pulled pork and ribs. Delicious!
With the idea of finding some Christmas music, and having done laundry instead of following Jeannie's suggestion of going to church in the morning, we visited First Baptist Church for their service of Lessons and Carols. It turned out to be mostly a church school affair, but it was endearing to see the children with sweet smiles, clear voices and doting parents with cameras. Perhaps we'll find Christmas music of a finer kind further along the way. Our long walk- very long because we went a few blocks in the wrong direction first - helped work off that huge dinner and despite the blisters on Jim's feet, allowed us one more enjoyable browse along streets lined with Charleston mansions.
On Monday morning as we were gathering ourselves together in preparation for departure, a Bayfield 36 came cruising by - Kolibrie with Pat and Wayne on board. Pat come down the dock for a chat after they got tied up and made me feel so good by telling me that she'd followed and enjoyed our blog on our first trip. It was great to meet her and we'll look forward to meeting again in some harbour in the Bahamas. That's what happens in the cruising world!