And a couple days later, I am back to work on my birthday week post. So without further interruption, away we go. So we got back to the house after our River Street excursion and tucked in for the night. That is, not before a few games of Wii bowling with the whole family. Turns out, my dad is like a Wii bowling pro and actually currently holds the record on our system. But tired and bowled out, we took to the Living room to try and get some sleep. As in the morning we would be off to see the sights the South has to offer.
I believe we left the house around 9 or 10 and made our way to the fine city of Charleston. Becca had graciously offered to watch Lola and this would be the first time she, the dog, would spend time with another dog. As mentioned before, we were on our way to Charleston, and with a quick Mcbreakfast we were well on our way there. Upon arriving we went down King Street and did a little (I mean very little, much to Chelsea's discontent) shopping. She traded in her Mighty Mouse (defective) and picked up a copy of Office. We showed my parents what we loved about Charleston. As we are the kind of people that can just chill and walk around. My parents, however, are not so much like that. They need a place to go. The place we needed up at was in front of a huge mansion. Actually the third largest house on the east coast to be exact. And they called it the Calhoun mansion. Now I know Chelsea already mentioned this place, and to say it is huge is an understatement. I think the house itself was like 25,000 sq ft. Hell, I may have that number all wrong, but I do say the fish was THIS big. What? Every square foot of the house is covered with some sort of artifact that was worth a quite deal of money. The things that hold your drapes - made of gold. The ceiling - painted by Tiffany Co. Paintings, statues, crystal, animal heads from exotic animals. Everything in the world was in this house. I bet the frozen remains of Bigfoot will end up there soon. Straight from the Georgian forests. Yeah, so to sum up our afternoon in Charleston (in case I forgot something): King St., Market Street, Fountain on the pier, Chelsea get splashed with water, Rainbow Row, Battery Point, Calhoun Mansion...and there we are. Upon exiting the house, we were all but starving. It was about 3 I think, hot, and we hadn't eaten all day. We made our way back down to Market Street and found a place that reminded me of a box of chocolates. That is to say we ate at Bubba Gumps. I remember eating at a Bubba Gumps in Kona and hating it. My second attempt was a full 180. Not a seafood person, I ordered fried chicken breast with mashed potatoes and corn on the cob (yum). Chelsea got some fish and chips made from Mahi Mahi with the dreaded Malt Vinegar (bane of my existence right there). My dad got this shrimp basket that was like 5 or 6 different types of shrimp (as in cooked differently). I can't remember what my mom ordered, but it had to be non-seafood related. I think we were all overly pleased with our meals. After switch we went and checked into our hotel. And having such a late lunch, we weren't really hungry the rest of the night. We headed back down to Market street to cruise the town but most of the shops were closing up for the night. Tired, we headed back to the hotel and just hung out watching free cable (yay marathon of Entourage).
Waking up in Charelston, we headed to get breakfast at dunkin donuts. Now, I haven't been in a dunkin donuts since like Elementary school. And back in my day, they weren't the fancy establishment they are today. Back then they served donuts, and coffee. Now they have an assortment of meals, including bagels, and breakfast sandwiches. I think my mind was blown just a bit at that realization. I had a strawberry frosted air donut with sprinkles x2 cause I rock. While being in donut nirvana I completely lost track with what anyone else ordered, not that anyone cares. We ate breakfast then headed to Patriot's Point (An area in Charleston that houses the U.S.S. Yorktown, some smaller ships, a sub, and a tour of Fort Sumter. Our grand idea was to tour the Yorktown and Sumter. Now I will say, (and Chelsea will beg to differ) that the Yorktown was interesting. But after countless hours on that ship I don't think I need anymore exploring of naval vessels for quite some time. Because, it is boring. After a while your vision becomes blurred. Everything turned a neutral grey tone. You long for just a taste of what Teavanna might have to offer you. And what used to be where someone actually stood and worked day in and day out and even fought wars, has been reduced to an information booth for stupid tourists to get informed on what happened during World War II. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy myself for a bit (case in point the picture of me in the gun turret) But a couple hours is enough. For lunch, we got the "authentic navy fare" in which you can eat in the mess hall and get a hot meal for $2 more then a hot dog. The biggest perk for this meal was the mess hall, unlike the rest of the ship, was air conditioned. My meal was meatballs with rice, vegetables, and a salad. The mess hall reminded me of some weird church pot luck with those semi-plastic tablecloths. Faintly in the background, music from the 20s can be heard over the PA. Yes, I ate every last bite of my meal, and then went after my crew mates meals as they set aside some pieces. As for the Fort, it was interesting. It is actually one of the biggest things I remember from History Class. I remembered it was the first shot of the civil war and no one died in the battle there, except for a horse. Its kind of weird what you remember from school - who says you can't tell the difference between a Doric and Ionic column? Whatever. We left Charleston and were on our way back to Savannah. Teavanna-less and tired.
Side Note - While in Charleston, we were sent shocking images of our dog, yes our dog, made to dress up in little dresses and prance around. Poor, poor dog. She did however get to play with many of her kind and did quite well.
Back on track - We got back to Savannah and decided to grab a bite to eat at Vinnie's. Ah how I love pizza, but after waiting for about an hour to be seated and then what seemed like another hour for our food. We ended up eating around 9 and Chelsea and I agree, it wasn't the best Vinnie's we've had. We were disappointed. The next day, We sort of just lugged around. My birthday was just a day away and we were taking it easy until our dolphin cruise the next day. I chose this idea, because really, I just wanted to get on the ocean in a boat. It sounds like fun to me. But when my birthday arrived, our tour got rained out and being labor day, everything was closed. We ended up renting a movie and watching it at home. We rented Vantage Point, and while the same scene over and over got a little redundant, the movie was surprisingly good. For dinner, I chose Bistro Savannah. It was delicious. I had the steak. Chelsea ordered vegetable risotto. My dad had some sort of fish. And my mom had the steak also. I loved it, actually I could go for it right now, if I had the money, and it were still open. So while not the perfect birthday, I don't think it was half bad. I had my mom and dad, my beautiful girlfriend, and a spoiled rotten dog. Oh and of course one blog. 25 years. a quarter of a century...I have more to talk about, I know. I mean, I didn't even talk about Deedee's awesome birthday card she sent me. Completely custom made with a paper cheeseburger sans bacon. I mean come on. Did I mention she used real sesame seeds to top the bun. It was quite a surprise, thank you. And since it is 1:47 am here in Sav-town, and now September 13th, Happy Birthday Deedee. Maybe you will be 25 years old someday too Deedee.
Now, unless you want to hear more about how I ate a bacon cheeseburger or watched Rome the T.V. series, I am going to bed. I have a girl, who is already quite asleep. A dog, with an unnaturally loud snoring habit. And a cool (that gets even colder as the night wears on) breeze coming from my a.c. unit. Happy birthday blog. Happy Birthday Deedee, Happy Birthday to my brother, Happy 24.5 birthday Andrea, Happy 24.5 Birthday Chelsea. I bid you all good night and sweet dreams.
