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HERBIG IDEA is a creative studio comprised of WHITNEY LYLE and SAM HERBIG. Whitney is a designer who loves to create books, packaging, and do more crafty projects in her spare time. Sam is a film electrician who loves to take photos tirelessly, while finding time on the side to create maps in various mediums (a long-standing hobby, starting with his 3-d topographical map of his hometown, Tübingen, Germany in elementary school).

Together, Whitney's big picture ideas and Sam's impeccable attention to detail, they pull prints in a print shop or set-up a makeshift photography studio. They love to generate ideas and find ways to execute them. 

Blog

We're chronicling our travels around the states on this blog. Check it out, if you're bored and sitting on an apple box (you can also check it out from home or the office).

Filtering by Tag: South Carolina

Charleston: Making it Count

Whitney Lea

Katzensprung, der ... Bedeutung: (umgangssprachlich) geringe Entfernung

We had less than 24 hours in Charleston, which seemed to fit the profile for our travels this week. So how could we get the most out of every moment we had there? On our way I had no idea how to accomplish that, I was solely focused on one thing: Get to the Angel Oak in time. The gates to see the tree up-close close at 5 so we had to make a beeline down there from Columbia when we left at 2:30.

Whitney can't see the tree for the forest

Whitney can't see the tree for the forest

The Angel Oak is an enormous tree that is estimated to be 400-500 years old. I had seen a similar tree (the Friendship Oak) in Gulfport, Mississippi and decided that we should see the Angel Oak just in case we don't make it to Gulfport. It is enormous and being around such a big and ancient tree is akin to a spiritual experience for me.

The Angel Oak

The Angel Oak

I think Sam may have felt the same way and spent most of our 30 short minutes there taking photos.

I'm getting just a wee bit ahead of myself here. The first picture Sam took when we got out of the car was not of the gargantuan oak tree, but of a red-headed woodpecker and this started Sam's hot, hot, hot streak in photographing the animals of Charleston.

Rotkäppchen

Rotkäppchen

The woodpecker was standing just ten feet from us, hopping around until he heard the shutter. Obviously there are more animal photos to come.

Because it was five, we got stuck in "rush hour traffic" on the way into Charleston from John's Island where the tree is. The quotes are only fair to use for drivers in NYC, LA, and DC as far as I can tell (this list may grow longer as we travel).

We arrived at our room for the night and immediately started to work on finishing our blog posts for Nashville and Memphis. This blog stuff really eats time, I'm tellin' you. We were in a private room at the Not So Hostel and it was a very cute place divided over three buildings with porches and pretty flower motifs painted on the fence.

We didn't finish the blog work until it was near dusk but I still really wanted to head downtown for dinner and to walk around.  I wanted our one dinner in Charleston to be seafood since it's possible to get something really fresh (you know, being next to the ocean and all). And boy, we sure did. After a bit of searching, I found Pearlz down on Bay Street where Sam and I split a very fresh scallop ceviche and 3 tacos (he took the tuna and mahi mahi, I took the shrimp). When Sam asked the waitress what ceviche was (Sam says: "Look it up!"), but he didn't hear her say the scallops were raw (probably the most important thing to know about ceviche and I was pretty surprised to hear Sam agree to order raw shellfish!), so it was his turn to be surprised when the dish came out. Luckily, both he and I thought it was excellent.

After that we followed some signs to a rooftop bar that wasn't anything to write home about (so ignore this). I was feeling really sad that we would have such a short amount of time in Charleston and that we weren't going to have enough time to really learn about the city's rich history. So you know what Sam did? The moment we got home he started reading up on it so that he could play tour guide for me the next day, a role that fit him well. What an amazing guy.

We got up around 7 so we could get as much out of our time as possible. As we walked, we chatted and took pictures. There are so many gorgeous houses in Charleston so Sam took tons of pictures of the gardens, architectural details, and very cared-for homes.

Oh yeah, Sam also got this awesome picture of a squirrel. He did this before having even one sip of coffee! Can you believe it?

It's a bird...

It's a bird...

We walked through city market, though it was hardly open, and then found a spot for a quick breakfast. While we ate we assembled a list of sights we wanted to see before we needed to leave town.

1. The oldest house in Charleston. Check.

Anno 1712

Anno 1712

2. Rainbow Row. (We don't have pictures of it because it seemed like everyone else does.) Check.

3. What is left of the wall that once fortified Charleston. (Still no pictures) Check.

4. A few old churches in "the holy city". Check.

Circular Congregational Church

Anno 1890

Anno 1890

St. Michael's

Cathedral of St John the Baptist

5. Wade in the fountains at Waterfront Park.

Splish! Splash!

Splish! Splash!

That is a lot to accomplish in 4 hours or so. After that we went to have a spectacular lunch at the Five Loaves Cafe. On the way there, Sam added to his wildlife photo collection.

And then we took turns trying to nap on our short drive down to Savannah.

Random statistics and facts from Charleston:
• Number of cop cars we saw in one place: 6. When we walked to dinner on Wednesday night, Sam and I both remarked on how safe Charleston seemed to be. We had walked a mile and a half without seeing a cop car and normally paranoid debutantes were walking their tiny poodles after dark. On the way home however, we were nearly run over by two police speeding to an emergency that was clearly very important. A block later we saw at least six cruisers parked at a gas station with the glass door to the store shattered. We were afraid there might be a confrontation. No way I wanted to get shot as a bystander (Sam didn't care for it either). But it became clear that we missed the crime by just a few minutes and watched unmarked cars drive past us, searching, the rest of the way home.

• Amount of money wanted for ownership of the oldest house in Charleston: $799,000 (we looked it up on the spot, but the house was taken off the market in the time it took us to put up this post).

Cool story, sis.

Cool story, sis.

• Coolest headstone we read: 
"In loving memory of my dear Grandmother Mrs Martha Milner Phillips Relict of Eleazer Phillips, a Soldier of the Revolution. In those trying scenes she was herself a witness and heroic Sufferer... bearing to her grave the scar of a wound received in a bayonet thrust when only 14 years old while defending her child brother from the violence of a tory in the company of Capt. Lundy a British officer. Born 10th May 1765, Died 17th Dec 1856. At peace . . . [illegible] . . . and in charity with the world."

Justin, Danny and Sarah

Samuel Herbig

We're going to Columbia!

We rode into town early Thursday afternoon to one of the tunes Whitney and I had heard at the Bluebird Cafe just days earlier. Chris Cagle's version of the song was decidedly too "American Idol" sounding when compared to the raw-yet-humerous version songwriter Dave Berg had performed. The sky was blue and it was warm out. After some cooler days, this was a very welcome change of pace. Those leaves were almost making it look like spring!

Introducing our Columbia hosts:

  • Justin; budding gun-smith, philosopher-at-large.
  • Sarah; professional animal whisperer (not just Beasly!), fiery as her hair.
  • Danny; the bouncer, the playboy, the writer.
That's them

That's them

We arrived at Justin and Danny's place and after a going to the loo, we headed right back out the door down to the bank of the Saluda river, right behind the Riverbank Zoo. We kicked back with some buds, while Danny's corgi pitbull mix (Pam) Beasly entertained us by most inappropriately barking at people.

Saluda River

Saluda River

When we'd had enough of that we dropped the Beasly off and met with Sarah over at The Kraken Gastropub (FB link!) for a wonderful dinner. Whitney and I have gotten in the habit of sharing an appetizer and one or two entree's which works out great: more variety and we're rarely left hungry.

Justin had to head out for work, but after convening for an hour or two Danny, Whitney, and I drove out to meet up with Sarah for drinks. This was always supposed to be a crawl of sorts, I guess I just didn't realize the scope. In order to reconstruct the night, I am literally going through my foursquare checkins: Delaney's (FB link!), Speakeasy and finally Bar None. Danny really had a longer program in mind for us, but we're no spring chickens. 

Now, this sounds like Justin was missing out. Far from it. This guy hears we come to town and what does he do? Well Justin is the kinda guy who'll be damned if he doesn't show up for people. After work, but barely before we had a buzz going.

It was free!

It was free!

Anyway, back at Justin & Danny's we had a big old slumber party and opened a 1.5 liter bottle of champagne that I still had left over from the wrap of a certain Brooklyn Taxi show I had worked on for a few months in 2013. Apparently, I fell asleep with a cup of it in my hand, while the adults were talking grown up stuff. 

As everyone will be positively shocked to hear, I woke up to a splitting headache. I mean it was killer. It was one of those "don't jerk your head too quickly or you might throw up" kind of a Kater (that's German). Drank water, went out to brunch at Cafe Strudel (not German or Austrian, weird, right?) and it's still there. Yikes!

As if all the welcome and hospitality hadn't been enough Danny handed us an awesome road trip mix CD on our way out the door. Danny, if you're reading this: we listened to that mix three times in a row (that's almost all the way to Charleston!).

Wanna squeeze this one in, before we finish the post.

Wanna squeeze this one in, before we finish the post.

Random statistics (and facts) of the day:

  • Favorite SC fact provided by Danny: The wooly mammoth is not South Carolina's state fossil, because dinosaurs apparently weren't created on The Sixth Day (it's a fascinating read, I promise).
  • Pickled eggs are pink. And we ate them. While drunk. Thanks Sarah.
  • The Canada vs. France rivalry is alive and well. France trounced Canada in shuffle board, after Canada's initial strong showing.