I packed 17 shirts, 1 skirt, 1 skort, 2 pairs of jeans, 3 pairs of sandals and 4 pairs of shorts for a 2 night trip. Most of those shirts were black. We joked that we would probably have a dozen black shirts between us. I dunno, I just wanted to be prepared for the weather, my mood, wherever we went, etc. Luckily, my suitcase has rollers and a "leash" on it.

Anyway, we left Friday morning and promptly hit a traffic jam in Atlanta. We left late enough (9:00) that we thought the rush hour would be winding down or gone. There was a wreck, and that ate up about 30 minutes. I then proceded to push it up to 80 mph or so to make up the time. I knew the small bladder twins would have to pee several times, and we were stopping to picnic for lunch. We had to make it to the hotel by 4:00.

We stopped at the Augusta rest area -slash- SC visitors center and had a lovely picnic. The weather could not have been more perfect. We then got free brochures and maps in the visitor information center. All along the way, we listened to my burned CDs being especially entertained by the 80s one, and the funky one which included Freddie's Dead by Curtis Mayfield and Mothership Connection by P-Funk - "Put a glide in yo' stride and a dip in yo' hip...and do the loose booty."

We were cutting it close on time and gas when we got into Charleston. We then missed the exit that would have landed us on the exact same street as the hotel. I saw another street I recognized, so I took that exit. We then tried to find a street to cut over to Meeting Street. Couldn't do it. We had to call the hotel to tell them we were in town, but lost. They said it was ok since they weren't sold out, and gave us directions to get there from where we were. We got there, checked in, and collapsed onto the beds. Aaahhhh. All that driving is tiring. But I don't care what Weetabix says, the Monte is a comfortable ride for a road trip. Well, my trip was about half the time hers was.

After freshening up, cooling off, and resting a bit, we headed out with our cameras. We were supposed to eat dinner at a place on King Street that Leigh found online that was supposed to be vegan friendly. It was, sort of. It kinda creeped us out. Some local derelicts were hanging at the bar. A lone black woman was tending to them. We looked disappointedly at the menu, and decided to get the hell outta Dodge. We walked along King Street weaving through all the annoying rich skinny college kids, and the tourists. We then got to a residential area with beautiful houses, wrought iron gates, double stairways, and gardens. It was so quiet and peaceful there, 180 degrees from the college kid area. A kitty came down a curved stairway purring, meowing at us, and rubbing his head on the stair rails. Aw, our welcome committee. So, of course we petted him, and Leigh took a picture.

We made it to the water, and it was so pretty. We're like, "Yep, here's the water." We headed back up King Street, and ended up eating dinner at ol' reliable Mellow Mushroom. End of day one.