Lazy Saturday

This morning I remembered why I do sometimes like Charleston - the historic downtown area is fabulous. Despite the heat and the oppressive humidity, walking downtown is awesome.  There's gorgeous architecture, flowers blooming almost all year, secret courtyards, great people watching, and so much history.

Steve is thinking about entering a 10 mile adventure race this winter.  Doing so means having to actually get on some sort of regular running regimen.  To that end, we headed downtown, parked the truck and set off in separate directions...Steve went for a run, and I went for a power walk.  We met 45 minutes later at the bagel shop on King Street for some grub.  As I walked, I thought about what I would do if I wanted to plan the perfect 3-day trip to Charleston.  What would I see?  Where would I eat? (especially if I didn't have a budget limit - Charleston has fantastic restaurants)  I didn't get very far in my musings, too many uneven sidewalks to let my mind wander much, but I did decide that I should put together the perfect plan, then do it and take pictures to share with everyone. 

As a starter, here's a few of my favorite places, and my own fantasy world.  This courtyard is somewhere downtown, only visible for a moment as you walk past the gate.  I probably couldn't find it again without some serious effort canvasing the streets.  I can imagine sitting out here for breakfast on a cool, lazy April morning...

This house, on the other hand, is much more visible.  It's the entryway to one of the huge mansions down by the Battery.  This is where my butler would pick up our morning paper, before delivering it with my breakfast in bed.

Or maybe I'd live in the top floors of this old house, where I could have a reading nook in that peaked window.

Then this would be the alley that runs out from my own private courtyard.  Even in summer, it would still be shady and cool(ish).