A Trip to Charleston

I recently returned from a journey to the South, with a capital "S." In five days, I ate 4 biscuits, devoured 6 pieces of fried chicken, saw a Civil War reenactment, rode on a swamp boat, almost tried to smuggle an alligator head into my carry-on, and discovered the wonder that is Crackerbarrel.

Here is the beautiful Claire, my hostess with the most-est. Notice how Charleston just suits her...

Charleston is not only one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen, it's also supposed to be one of the most haunted. The porch ceiling in the picture above is painted "Haint" or haunt blue. The idea is that the spirits pass right over your house because they'll think it's part of the sky...sneaky.

We went on a great historic carriage tour of the city. So much fun.

The route you take on the tour is dictated by bingo balls- that way no one road becomes overly congested.

So, here is Claire- the perfect example of Charleston grace & class...

And here I am, looking like a pirate. "Arrrr." I don't think I got the class memo. However, in my defense, Charleston is known not only for its ghosts. It also has a long history of duels and piracy.

For our first lunch, Claire took me took to Poogan's Porch which is amazing...and you guessed it- haunted! Apparently, one of it's former inhabitants, a spinster lady named Zoe haunts the restaurant. The place has actually been voted the 3rd Most Haunted Place in the U.S. You can check out the whole story here

First biscuit!

To be on the ghost's side- I'd probably haunt this place too. It was delicious!

Time for some antiquing.

And then a ride across the river to see the view.

All was calm and carefree and then-

The mosquitoes came! Run to the car!

Claire and I have been doing "Fish Face" pictures for almost 2 decades now. We know how to rock it.

Post mosquito-attack, we decided to stay in the car, so we made a stop at Sonic. It was my first time, therefore we had to try the cheesy tots.

The next morning Claire took me to this awesome diner at the Marina. We actually first met in a diner back in California. Our moms became fast friends while working on an school art project when we were in the 3rd grade. They planned a get together for us at Bobbi's diner. Claire wore her rainbow framed glasses and I wore my "Where's Waldo" tee-shirt. Magic :)

Second biscuit!

Some more walking around Charleston. I can't even tell you how incredible this city is. This church above is being restored to its original color, pink. 

How pretty is she? Seriously- seriously!

I toned down my inner pirate for our walking tour, but only a little.

Next day, we went to Cypress Gardens. It was very cool! I don't have pictures of it, but there is also a swamparium (like an aquarium, but with swamp creatures). I kind of freaked out when we walked in there. There was some pretty creepy crawly stuff, stuff with eyeballs, and teeth. On a non-slithery side note, a scene from The Notebook was filmed here. The scene with the swans :)

Here is Claire on our boat trip. Look out for gators!

Next stop, Boone Hall Plantation. Another place where part of The Notebook was filmed. We went to see a Civil War Reenactment, which you can read more about in my post "The Time I...went to a Civil War Reenactment"

 

After the plantation and the reenactment, we were pooped. Claire asked me what I wanted and I said more biscuits. She took me to the most magical place I have ever been...

The Cracker Barrel!!! I got chicken n' dumplins' and I kid you not, I dream about them. I dream about the biscuits and the mac n' cheese and the front lobby that looks like a general store and the pecan roll that I bought and ate later that night. Claire asked me if I could ever see myself living in Charleston and I said that I didn't know, but that I could definitely see myself living in a Cracker Barrel.

On my last day, we made our way down to the outdoor market, where I saw these alligator heads. Post swamparium, I wasn't sure that I wanted to see any more alligators, particularly their teeth, but these guys don't seem too menacing. 

I bought several of these sweet grass baskets which Charleston is famous for.

I had the most incredible time in this amazing city with the fantastic Miss Claire, who I miss, almost as much as the Cracker Barrel ;)

LA Part Two: DISNEYLAND!

In my previous post I wrote all about Pasadena (LA Part l) and now it's time to share the the second part of our LA trip: DISNEYLAND! 

The park goes all out decorating for Halloween. Main Street is covered with Jack o' Lanterns galore!

So cool to see all the pumpkins lining the balconies!

 Here we are! Waiting to go on one of my favorite rides, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, or BTMR as those who like acronyms (TWLAs) call it-

My sister Hayley=the best photo bomber in the world...

We stopped by the Halloween Carnival to check out some mad pumpkin carving skills. Here's Sparky from Frankenweenie

Just goes to show, there ain't no pumpkin like a Disneyland pumpkin. We decided to stop by the Disneyland Ranch to pet the animals (they have a petting zoo there) and visit some more pumpkins.

Just my luck! I find a creepy pumpkin man and Hayley finds a jaunty pumpkin hillbilly. Typical!

Of course, Disneyland wouldn't be Disneyland without a bowl of clam chowder at the Pacific Wharf in Disney California Adventure. Here's a tip: if you love any of the foods at Disneyland, stop by City Hall on Main Street. They have a binder full of recipes. A couple of trips ago, we picked up the recipe for this clam chowder. It tastes almost exactly like the park version..so good!

We stopped by the animation studio to do some drawing. This is one of the hidden treasures of the Disney California Adventure Park , mostly because you get to sit down for like 20 minutes in a quiet room and just draw. I actually kind of hate it (my drawings always end up looking like C-list stars from the 80s), but one of the biggest rules of Disneyland is if you get the chance to sit, sit!

Look at her, so proud.

And here I am with my Tigger that is a dead ringer for Bruce Campbell (from Army of Darkness & The Evil Dead I, II). Look at Hayley, all smug with her normal chinned Tigger- bah! Yes, my Tigger has a quote bubble, "I've got the moves like Tigger!"

Back to Tomorrowland

Time to sample the merchandise-

I entitle this next photo, "What up, girlfriends?" I couldn't resist moving Ursula. It just seemed like a natural fit :)

The ladies in my family suffer from an affliction wherein, if there is a hat present, we must place said hat on our heads. It's genetic.

This last hat (I promise!) is based off of the hat that Walt used to wear when he was jaunting about Los Angeles back in the 20s and 30s.

Another find this trip was Cozy Cone Treats. They just opened these in Carsland (more on that later) and my stars and garters, it might be my favorite place ever. There are multiple "Cones" and each one sells a different variety of foods which they serve in...cones. Gahhhhh! We opted for the Cone that served churros. Picture it: churro bites covered in cinnamon sugar, piping hot, served with a cinnamon chocolate dipping sauce. Forward my mail! I'm living here!

We had to buy the commemorative cups because that is what you do when you realize that you have the option to drink from a traffic cone!

We also tried out a turkey dinner at Flo's V-8 Dinner.

The meal was pretty good, but that's not what actually impressed us. We were eating dinner, just enjoying the view of Carsland, when all of the sudden we spotted...

VANNA frickin' WHITE! Apparently, Wheel of Fortune was taping at Disneyland this week!

Hey that looks like...VANNA frickin' WHITE!

Time to blend into our surroundings...

Back into Disneyland for the night- there's just something about Disneyland at night-

TEACUPS!

So dramatic! The next morning, we got up freakishly early (I swear I saw the sun rise), just so we could finally try out the Radiator Springs ride-

Hayley was a trifle bit apprehensive-

 But she LOVED it and so did the rest of us.

I actually was really impressed by Carsland and I did not expect to be. I kind of don't get the movie. I have so many questions about it. First off, what happened to the people? Are the cars the people? Where are the people? Where am I? What am I? What are we all? Basically, the movie Cars just throws me into an existential crisis, but I did like the land. It was beautiful!

Yes, we had an amazing trip filled with Vanna White, rides, pumpkins, hats, and did I mention...macaroons?

And on that note, this "Matterhorn" Macaroon bids you "Auf Wiedersehen."