Carolinas

We had planned to visit the Great Dismal Swamp on our way down to the Carolinas. The goal was to find RoUSs. Unfortunately some lightning strikes had about 90% of the reserve on fire, the deer hunt was canceled, and all the trails were closed. So much for that idea. We drove straight for Raleigh instead.

In Raleigh we met Rebecca for dinner at a neat local pizza place. After dinner we drove just outside Raleigh to Umpstead park, which was actually a really nice park. It was adjacent to the airport, but planes are a lot less annoying than trains and they don't run for several hours in the middle of the night.

We left Raleigh and drove across the Carolinas. We saw Philip Morris and tobacco fields, and the south's answer to Wall Drug: South of the Border. We didn't stop, but it looked like Wall Drug on crack. No jackelopes there though. We got to Charleston around 5pm, parked near the Battery, and walked around for a bit. We immediately saw dolphins in the harbor, got a view of Fort Sumter, and the sprawling live oaks. Nice trees. The houses were great; they all had big porches facing away from the street with a door leading out. Porches had lots of comfy furniture and ceiling fans. Obviously folks spend a lot of time hanging out there. Charleston was really walkable and lots of folks were riding bikes. Not sure how they navigated the old brick and cobblestone streets though, the tree roots made those roads rather bumpy. We decided we liked it there and should move there.