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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).

Charleston: Making it Count

April 14, 2014Whitney 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

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.

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

Views: Johns Island, South Carolina by Samuel Herbig

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.

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.

Views: Charleston, SC by Samuel Herbig

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?

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.

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

St. Michael's

Cathedral of St John the Baptist

5. Wade in the fountains at Waterfront Park.

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).

• 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."

categories Exploring
tags Charleston, South Carolina, Angel Oak, Church, Stained Glass, Architecture, Animals

Justin, Danny and Sarah

April 12, 2014Samuel Herbig

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

categories Diary
tags Friends, Columbia, South Carolina

Travel troubles

April 12, 2014Samuel Herbig

To be honest, the two or three days after Memphis were a bit rough around the edges. We really didn't work out a harmony between the two of us, and that was wearing us down.

But! Before all that we really did start out on a good note. Our breakfast on the way out of Memphis consisted of donuts. That's right, those lovely fried rings of culinary pleasure. In New York, they're all the rage and you wait in line for your cronuts. In Memphis, you just head on over to Gibson's Donuts shop (FB link!), waltz right in the door and order!

Anyway, we set out on the road towards Chattanooga. A lot of the time spent en route we tried to fit our experiences in Memphis and Nashville in words. Both of us agreed that we walked away from those couple of days musically enriched and inspired to look outside to find the unusual as it pertained to us personally.

We stopped for gas once and another time for me to get a break from the monotony of driving over flat land going 80 miles and hour. I made an ink drawing of the view from the parking lot of a small Baptist church somewhere at the end of the world Alabama. Turned out alright, I guess.

Back on the road.

It had always been the plan to get to Chattanooga and see Rock City. Problem was the weather (low cloud ceiling) as well as a lousy forecast kept us from going and put a damper on our camping plans. Overall, we found ourselves juggling a number of decisions.

We decided to sleep in a hostel/hotel and eventually went for the Crash Pad, a very cool rock climber-oriented hostel. We nixed the Rock City visit for the evening as well, and instead opted for a quieter evening on the town and then filled the night putting down our experiences in the two musical cities. It turned into a late exhausting night of haggling with technology and balancing the content of our posts (blogging is a real occupation after all!).

All along we also knew that we had to be conscious of our next stop: Columbia, SC. There we were due to visit three old friends from northern Virginia. Getting to Columbia during the week meant that we were asking them to make time for us in their schedule to accommodate our visit. To make the most of our time there, we planned to head out as early as possible.

Discussing the road ahead, we also encountered another difficulty: Whitney was getting frustrated. The past year she'd been tirelessly planning and researching the trip. As far as the prep work went, she'd been doing the lion's share of it. Now that we were on the road, it started to become burdensome, that keeping the schedule and paying attention to the budget continued to fall to her.

The problem became: Whitney wasn't having any fun.

When you want to be on a road trip, and you want to be on it for three months, you wanna do something about that. No time did this become clearer to me, then when we set out on Wednesday to find a place to do some drawings of Chattanooga before leaving town. While I'd had an, in my mind, pretty uncomplicated idea of driving up and down a street or two to find a spot to draw, Whitney felt left out. Sharing the experience of creating art together had been an integral part of planning the trip and by organizing the things I needed to do my art, without considering what Whitney needed to participate, obviously caused friction. That's friction neither of us wanted, but we had to deal with it, that much was clear.

After some discussion, neither of us drew a thing, and that's about the worst outcome for me. We got in the car and left Chattanooga. To me, it's about creating something together, and when I end up in the way of that, that's when I'm really starting to pay attention.

Thusly, we've got no pictures or drawings to show for from Chattanooga. That's not to talk any shit about it. I actually thought, it was quite a nice town. In the end we just basically treated it as a rest stop on our way. Sorry!

The road didn't have anything in particular to offer. The flat landscape had turned more hilly and the ground was noticeably sandy and we started to see more pine trees and tall grasses as we approached Columbia. I'll mention that we passed through Atlanta and that we stopped in a town called Greensboro (Georgia, not North Carolina) for lunch at Yesterday Cafe.

All in all, after a few turbulent days, we were both happy to be on the road to see some good old friends. Here, have a few road pictures:

categories Drive
tags Chattanooga, Art, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee

The land of the Delta Blues in the middle of the pouring rain

April 09, 2014Whitney Lea

My dad had big dreams for our short stint in Memphis so we left Nashville on Saturday night so we could spring into action in the morning. We woke up on April 6 in a Super 8 outside of the city. Sam had his first experience with Waffle House ("the Starbucks of the South" as I like to call it) and soon we were on our way to Graceland.

Now, my mom and dad never played Elvis when I was growing up but I still knew who he was and could list a few songs of his by the time I was in kindergarten. As I grew older I started to appreciate him a little more but I don't own an Elvis album or anything. So I was looking at a Graceland tour as more of an "American experience" rather than visiting a key musical milestone (this is the way Sam views visiting Disney World).

So we drove to Graceland and it sure came up quick! We saw a disappointingly bland looking Heartbreak Hotel (I am a total sucker for kitch and had hoped heartbreak hotel would be doing it up) and were suddenly staring at the nose of a jet. We made it to Graceland 8 minutes after if opened but the lot already had at least 50 cars in it. We got our super fancy all-access tickets and headed to a shuttle bus. There was a photo op on the way and we decided to make very disappointed faces and if it hadn't cost $25 for a copy you can bet we'd be posting one right here.

So we load into the bus and strap on our audio guides so we could learn how to press play and pause and what not. We also learned that Elvis bought Graceland when he was 22 (I suddenly had nesting-envy) as we drive across the street and up the driveway.

We arrived, were given a "no flash photos, no turning back on the tour so take your time going through the house" speech. At this moment my experience began to differ wildly from that of my family.

Elvis had amazing taste in interior decorating. I would love to have a house that has such punchy colors and strong textures. I loved it all. My family used terms like "wild" and "WEIRD" while shaking their heads and giggling. Sam expressed that he would have reconsidered asking me to marry him if he thought I would decorate our house like Graceland. That's his loss! We can paint everything taupe for the sake if the marriage.

Anyway, I left Graceland an Elvis fan and we drove deeper into Memphis to catch lunch and check out Sun Studio.

Rather than McDonald's, we opted for local fast food, Tops BBQ.

Such BBQ! So wow! Much stuff in the way of camera!

We headed on to Sun Studio, the birthplace of rock and roll. En route, a gentleman in traffic handed us a "Memphis Music" bumper sticker across the lane. Thanks kind stranger for the shwag. It currently resides on the dash in front Leilani (our hula girl). For a few minutes or so it seemed like we wouldn't get a tour before we needed to bring my dad and Cheryl to the airport, but then a big group didn't come in so we made it by the skin of our teeth. Sam was outside taking these photos so he missed out on the scarcity complex that was going on.

The studio tour was the most entertaining and informative tour I think I had ever had and it was the icing on the musical appreciation cake that my dad had been cooking up for us throughout the weekend. I would say it is a don't-miss for anyone going to Memphis.

We were short for time before my dad and Cheryl's flight, so on the way to the airport we drove past the Lorraine motel and new civil rights museum (someplace I would love to tour if we had the chance) and then took a bridge over the Mississippi into Arkansas just to say we saw the river, though we'll see it at least twice more on this trip.

After we said goodbye at the airport we headed to the Pilgrim House hostel. It was the only hostel in Memphis and their rates were great, but I was nervous that they were located in a church. It turned out to be a really cozy place with tons of room and it felt pretty organized. They ask that guests perform a small chore while they are there and ours was to sweep their stairs. Sam totally rocked it and at the end it was clear he had done the most thorough sweeping those stairs had ever seen.

I finally got to try ribs at Central BBQ before we headed to a cold, wet, and rainy Beale St. We heard a blues cover band and a 17 piece big brass band before calling it a night. Whew! Memphis sure was great.

Random Statistics from our time in Tennessee:

Whitney's preferred rib style: dry rub with the sauce on the side.
Number of TN businesses that mentioned the Fire Marshall: 5, apparently, they're very strict with enforcing fire code.
Rough number of hours Sam has listened to country music prior to the road trip: 20
Rough number of hours Sam has listened to country music since the start of the road trip: 36
Rough number of TN traffic fatalities (this year): about 200, makes you wonder why you see so many people crossing five lane roadways against the light or why there are no sidewalks.

categories Exploring
tags Tennessee, Live Music, Memphis, BBQ, Sun Studio, Elvis, Graceland

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Blog

Charleston: Making it Count

April 14, 2014Whitney Lea

Justin, Danny and Sarah

April 12, 2014Samuel Herbig

Travel troubles

April 12, 2014Samuel Herbig

The land of the Delta Blues in the middle of the pouring rain

April 09, 2014Whitney Lea