In which Thanksgiving vacation has begun

Saturday came and went and we were finally able to make it to Charleston, without much problem. When we got here the skies were relatively blue and the temperature was cool. After driving into Mount Pleasant, we found a motel which Cindy could agree on and checked in. At this point, we freshened up and drove over to Shem Creek for supper and a reunion, of sorts, with Michelle and Maureen Hayes. It was fun and Kate and I began seafood oddysey with a shared bucket of steamed oysters and another all for myself. After an evening of stories and food and drink, we made it back to the motel in time to watch UGA lose in the end to Kentucky. I am not so broken up about that as you might think, despite UGA being my law school alma mater. Georgia is rebuilding and Kentucky is better than normal.

The next morning, we ate breakfast from the facilities downstairs, repacked the car with our things and headed into downtown Charleston for church services at the French Protestant church (Hugenot). The church was built in 1844, on the site of the original church which was built some time in the 17th century. The inside is small but grand, filled with name plaques placed there by people with Hugenot ancestry, or their relatives, including: George and Martha Washington, WHF Fitzhugh Lee, Sidney Lanier, Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar and one with Valentine Sevier printed on it. A lot of people probably see the Valentine Sevier plaque and don't realize that he was the founder of Clarksville, Tennessee.

The service began and the church became quite full with the congregation. The pews had doors, making them private pews, very old fashioned, and the service began with a hymn sung in French. I struggled with the phonetic pronunciation guide below the French words. The rest of the service was in English and was quite enjoyable. Despite the differences, there were quite a few similarities to our modern Scots Presbyterian service. We are less liturgical, but there are quite a few bones held in common in the structure of the service.

Afterward, we were invited to participate in a congregational fellowship, complete with appetizers and a glass of wine, but the group was so large inside the little house that we just headed back outside rather than add to the crowd.

Afterward, we headed back to Mount Pleasant and enjoyed a midday meal with Kate's friend, Emily and Michelle Hayes and her daughter, Maddie and sister Maureen. More oysters and beer and other seafood and football on the big screen televisions surrounding us. I was able to change clothes and relax a bit. Afterward, the rain began in earnest and we had about an hour to kill before we could check in, so we headed out to Sullivan's Island and enjoyed a time in Poe's Tavern, a restaurant and bar in an hold beach house with a decorative bent toward Edgar Alan Poe, who lived on Sullivan's Island and died there. That was fun for two English majors.

We headed across the bridge into Charleston and backtracked to the road leading to Folly Beach. In the rain, we stood and waited for Cindy's parents to arrive. A little bit later, Kate and I sighted Cindy's dad, walking up and down the sidewalk, half a block away, trying to find the rental office, in front of which we were parked. We were able to handle that business, and find the condo for which we had reservations.

Now we are tucked in for the evening, and Monday morning is here and I am sitting here, awake, alone and listening to the ocean roar outside the glass door which leads to the balcony overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. I am flipping an imaginary coin, trying to figure whether I should go back to sleep, go drink some orange juice and eat something, read, or turn on the tv. Any suggestions? I figure today will involve quite a bit of walking around downtown Charleston and my eyesight is getting a bit blurry from lack of sleep. Maybe I will just go back and catch a catnap before the day begins in earnest.