Good news, everyone! For the first time on this trip, I had a night free from restless limb syndrome! In fact, I woke up very gradually, feeling like I’d finally had a good night’s sleep. But I hadn’t. It was 3:30 AM. So I played games on my laptop computer for a couple hours, then had my morning meds and some breakfast. A little later, I finally felt like I could sleep again, so I did. By the time I woke up again and got ready to go, there really wasn’t time to do anything touristy before I needed to head for Patriots Point, to catch a boat to Fort Sumter. The dock at Patriots Point is shared with the maritime museum (home of the USS Yorktown, see the last photo in yesterday’s post). I visited the maritime museum during my first trip to Charleston several years ago, and I remembered there being a food stand at the dock. So I went directly to the dock, figuring I’d get a cheap cheeseburger or hot dog for lunch while waiting for the boat. When I arrived, I found that the food stand was closed, and I didn’t think I had enough time to find a place to go get anything, so I just looked around the gift shop, and ended up having a Clif Bar for lunch.

Just as the boat to Fort Sumter was pulling in, a big ol’ storm blew in. It rained hard, and blew pretty hard as well. We were thus delayed by about 15 or 20 minutes. But even then, it continued raining. I decided I didn’t want to be messing about with my camera in the rain, so I didn’t get any pictures at Fort Sumter. Nor did I get pictures of the dolphins I saw today, partly because they were as non-cooperative as the dolphins I saw yesterday. But I did get a couple more shots of the Arthur J. Ravenel Bridge, from the safety of the boat…

Fort Sumter itself was enjoyable and educational, though there wasn’t sufficient time to go through all the exhibits before the boat headed back. You probably already knew that Fort Sumter is an island. But did you know that it’s a man-made island? More than 200 years ago, boatload after boatload of rocks were hauled out to the site. And these were not the boat equivalent of dump trucks. Boulders weighing from a few dozen to a couple hundred pounds each had to be lifted up and dumped overboard by hand. And given the time and place where this occurred, it should be no surprise that this was all slave labor. Also, very little of the original fort is still standing. It was continuously bombarded during a long seige near the end of the Civil War, to the point where it wasn’t much more than a pile of rubble. It is, however, still worth visiting.

---

During the return ride from the fort, the rain finally let up, and within a half hour the sun was out. It was time. Have you noticed the foreshadowing in today’s and yesterday’s photos? Have you already guessed what’s coming? Does anybody really know what time it is?

That’s right! Time to walk the Arthur J. Ravenel Bridge. Since I had walked the Golden Gate Bridge when I was in San Francisco a few years ago, I figured I oughta do this one while I’m in Charleston. I don’t think the following photos need comments or captions; just know that they are all taken from (or of) the Arthur J. Ravenel Bridge.

And then, once again, it was time for hockey.

---

Omigosh, can you believe it?! EIGHT AND A HALF HOURS of sleep overnight!! Maybe I need to walk that bridge every day. Speaking of walking, perhaps the most important Charleston-specific travel tip I can give is this: Don’t bring your car downtown. It’s not that traffic is bad, it’s that parking is impossible. On my previous visit, I stayed at a hotel that was close enough to downtown that I’d be able to walk everywhere I wanted to go. When I arrived that time, I learned that three of the city’s bus routes are specifically laid out for tourists, and are FREE. Over the next few days, I learned that “FREE” does not mean “reliable”. I ended up doing quite a bit of walking, and even called a cab one night as the city transit department apparently didn’t think tourists (or anyone else) might be out after 10:00 PM on weekend nights.

Today I learned that I chose the right time for this, my second visit to Charleston; for the entire month of May 2022, ALL of Charleston’s city bus routes are free! I had three destinations plotted for today (four if you include lunch). All three were museums, and as I’ve said before, I don’t generally take pictures inside museums. So I got my stuff together (excepting the camera), and hoofed it to the nearest bus stop. I immediately learned that the bus system is just as unreliable today as it was during my previous visit. The bus was at least 10 minutes late, but I was impressed that my phone’s default GPS app knew the bus was running late, and warned me accordingly. I was less impressed when I had to walk a block to switch from one bus route to another, and I walked about a block and a half in the wrong direction before the app corrected me. But I eventually made it to my first destination, the Old Exchange.

The Old Exchange was a pretty interesting place. The word “Exchange” here is used in the same sense as the New York Stock Exchange. It was basically a place where rich businessmen would come together to make business deals. More (in)famously, for a couple of years during the Revolutionary War, this building was used as a local headquarters for British military, who used the building’s basement to temporarily house prisoners. During this period, some locals started calling it the Provost or the Dungeon. But no, DAMMIT! It’s the Exchange! This place is definitely worth a visit, as it has interesting displays on many subjects in regard to Charleston’s history. Unfortunately, I couldn’t read it all if I wanted to get to the rest of today’s destinations. So I headed out and walked a couple blocks to:

Magnolias. An old work friend of mine who grew up in Charleston said that I absolutely had to go to Magnolias and order the shrimp and grits. First let me say, if you wanna eat here, get reservations. I showed up around 1:00 on a weekday afternoon, and was informed they had no tables available for the rest of the day! But since I was alone, I was able to get a spot at the bar. Based on my friend’s advice (the man knows food!), I ordered the shrimp and grits – which the Magnolias menu officially calls Shellfish Over Grits, and describes as “sautéed shrimp, sea scallops, creamy white grits, lobster butter sauce, fried spinach”. It was $24 for a half order, but it was SO GOOD! But like they say, “When in Rome, eat the Romans.” I think that’s what they say. I’m not really sure how it’s relevant here.

Following that most excellent of meals, I put my hooves back on and trotted a few blocks to the Nathaniel Russell house. This is a nice tour of a beautiful old mansion, and I’d recommend it for those who are interested in that kind of thing. But I’ve been to so many such places now that, even though each one is unique, I end up feeling like I’ve seen it all before. It’s neat to see again, but I feel like I’ve reached a point of diminishing returns. It also sometimes seems like the guided tours are over too quickly, and I would have liked to have more time to just soak it all in.

That’s what I was thinking as I left the Nathaniel Russell house. But that would all change when I reached my next destination. But before I got there, I realized I have a Parkinson’s Disease (PD) Travel Tip for you. Well, three of ’em, now that I think about it.

PD Travel Tip the First: Set Alarms. I have to take Carbidopa/Levodopa several times a day. I have often forgotten to take a dose because I lost track of time, so now I have alarms set on my phone’s clock app to alert me every day at the appointed times.

PD Travel Tip the Second: Always Wear a Fanny Pack. Those of you who carry a purse all the time probably don’t need this tip. But there have been many times when my phone sounded the medication alarm when I was out roaming the city and didn’t have my meds with me. So now, I keep a supply of my two main meds in a fanny pack, which I hang on the inside doorknob of my front door (or hotel room door) to make sure I never forget to take some meds with me.

PD Travel Tip the Third: Always Bring Water. All right. I’ve got my alarm set so I’ll know when it’s time to take pills. I’ve got my fanny pack, so I’ll have my pills with me. With these two precautions in place, I have still run into situations where I couldn’t take my meds because I couldn’t easily find a beverage to wash ’em down with. Since my experience at Brookgreen Gardens a few days ago, I’ve been carrying my own water supply with me. I’ve been using my CamelBak^(TM) – a backpack with a 100-oz “bladder” and a tube fer drinking. I bought mine for mountain biking (this was several years ago), and I had it with me on this trip in anticipation of doing some hiking. But as I was taking pills at the bus stop on this warm afternoon in Charleston, it occurred to me that my CamelBak^(TM) had been pretty expensive. So if you’re looking for an inexpensive method of always carrying water with you, I might just recommend a bota bag. Based on personal experience, I’m pretty sure the bota bag was invented to allow college kids to smuggle booze into football games. But it should work with water as well.

And now, back to our story…

Thanks to an on-time and free bus ride, I was soon at my final stop of the day: the Aiken-Rhett House. This may be my new favorite historic mansion! First, it’s an audio tour, so it’s essentially self-guided – meaning that I was able to linger whenever/wherever I wanted. I ended up spending about 90 minutes at this place, as opposed to the 15 to 30 minutes I would expect from a guided tour. And that wasn’t just from lingering; there’s a LOT of information in the audio tracks. Another cool thing about this place was that the museum folk decided to preserve it, rather than restore it. Meaning that they are maintaining it in the condition it was in when it was given to them – and the house had been neglected for several years before being donated. This gave some parts of the house a ghost-town-like appearance. Finally, the audio tour deals directly and honestly with slavery, acknowledging the contributions and suffering of the slaves who served at the Aiken-Rhett House. I’ll leave it at that.

My summary for Day 6 is this: Charleston has several old mansions open to the public. If you want to visit just one, then make it the Aiken-Rhett House.