Daily Archives: June 19, 2009
Schooners and Container Ships…
Today is our last full day in Charleston.
We decided to take a Charleston Harbour Tour to see some more of the history of the place.
It’s been a while since we’ve had a real breakfast so we stopped off at an IHOP on the way to the docks.
While we were waiting for our tour boat, we got a good look at the new (2005) Ravenel cable-stayed bridge.
The pylons are 575 high, the roadway is 186 feet above the water, and the bridge has a main span of 1,546 feet, the longest among cable-stayed bridges in the Western Hemisphere. And it’s 8 lanes wide plus a walking/bike lane.
It’s a big one.
Ravenel Bridge
Ravenel Bridge Closeup
We also could see the USS Yorktown moored right across the river from us. It’s now a floating museum, along with a submarine, a destroyer, and a Coast Guard cutter.
- USS Yorktown
We should get a closer view on our tour.
Carolina Belle
Heading out from the dock we passed some of the large, expensive houses along the river.
Millionaire's Row
And everywhere you turn, there are boats and more boats, big ones, little ones, boats everywhere.
3 masted schooner
The far point of our trip took us by historic Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired.
Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter Closeup
We had thought about taking one of the tours that stops at the Fort, but with temps supposed to hit 97-100 today we decide to just wave as we went by.
So we did.
Heading back around the bay we part Fort Moultrie, another fort involved in the Civil War.
Fort Moultrie
A closeup of the USS Yorktown and a Navy Hawkeye AWACS aircraft.
USS Yorktown with Hawkeye
Next we passed a larger container ship being unloaded. Charleston is one of the largest container ports in the US and one of these ships can be unloaded at the rate of 40-60 containers per hour.
Container Ship
After our 90 minute tour wrapped up, we headed over the Ravenel Bridge to Mt Pleasant. We were looking for a Whole Foods Market to pick up some Aunt Gussie’s Organic Sugar-Free Cookies. We really like them and Whole Foods seems to be the only place we can find them reliably.
By now it was almost 4 pm so we headed back over to Meeting St. to eat at Hyman’s Seafood. We were told to be sure and eat here before we left and this was our last chance.
And it was certainly worth the visit, although Jan and I both ordered from the Deli menu instead of the seafood menu.
Jan had a fantastic chicken salad sandwich and I had a Reuben on grilled rye. We both ordered the regular size sandwiches, which was good since we couldn’t have eaten the large ones.
We also had the potato salad and hushpuppies.
The hushpuppies were a little different. They were more sweet than I’m used to. But it all worked out since they made a nice dessert. This was good since we really too full to order a real dessert.
Hyman’s is another one of those places you seem to find in Charleston where the family and the business have been around for ever.
The family has been in business on this block since 1890 and in the restaurant business here since 1986. The 5th generation is now involved in running things.
The staff is very friendly and took a lot of pains to be sure we were happy. We spent several minutes talking to ‘Mr V.’, who seems to be a roving good will ambassador for the place.
And we were lucky. We got there about 4:30 pm and were seated right away. However later arrivals were not so lucky. There was a long line outside when we left about 6 pm. Here’s what it can look like when they’re busy.
Hyman's on a wait
Be sure and check out their website at Hyman’s Seafood. It’s an interesting site.
Well, tomorrow we’re heading for Asheville, NC. We want to visit the Biltmore Hotel there, and then stop off at my cousin’s in Graham, NC on our way to Virginia Beach and Kill Devil Hill.
More tomorrow from another state…
