C is for Charleston

We felt right at home on our first full day in Charleston!  We started at an award-winning restaurant named Husk, where Katie abandoned her vegetarianism for a brief moment to try Babbitt's pork belly pastrami sandwich.  It was worth it!  We then walked through the market, tried the hottest hot sauce in the universe at the Pepper Palace, met the sweetest lady named Trudy, who made sweetwater baskets, and ended the night by eating and boozing.

Graveyard & Circular Church
O'Babbitt Tidbit:  We learned that graveyards and cemeteries
 are two different things...graveyards are located next to churches and cemeteries are not

Babbitt on a dock in Charleston
30 seconds after this photo was taken we saw 6 dolphins in the water

Katie & Trudy at her sweetgrass basket store
Sweetgrass basket weaving has been passed down for generations,
but it is rumored that this may be a lost art in the years to come

Babbitt enjoying a cigar & a glass of bourbon
on the rooftop bar named Stars
(Thanks again to Court for the great recommendation)

Babbitt with the one and only Neil Diamond at Hyman's Seafood
We were so excited when we heard Neil had dined here
They have plaques at each seat letting you know which celebrity sat there
We asked our waiter where Neil had sat and he had no idea, so as we were leaving
the restaurant we looked at the other two plaques at our table and we had been at Neil's table all along!

Jenga, Connect Four, two Pabst Blue Ribbon beers
two shots of whiskey & everyone in the bar singing TLC's Waterfalls
at the Upper Deck Tavern
There is no sign for this bar and it's entrance is a
creepy alley, but it was a ton of fun

Katie at the Griffin Pub
Voted one of Charleston's best bars by Southern Living Magazine

Fountain at Waterfront Park
All of the fountains in Charleston warn visitors that there
are no lifegurads on duty

Charelston Bound

When looking at the map, we realized that we would be driving through Augusta, Georgia on our way to Charleston, South Carolina, so we decided to spend an afternoon there.  We quickly realized that we should have come to Augusta for the Master's instead!  So, we jumped back in the Rig and made our way to Charleston.  Our first night was terrific!  We found street parking right in front of the oldest continuously operating liquor store in the country, where we enjoyed O'Babbitt Happy Hour in our new home, had an amazing meal of the BEST shrimp & grits ever at High Cotton (thank you Court & Stone for the great recommendation) and went on a ghost hunt tour around the city.  Most importantly, we are pretty sure we got a picture of a real life ghost!

Babbitt with Jack Nickalus in Augusta
We did drive by Augusta National,
but this was the closest we got to any golfing

The O'Babbitt's on the candlelite Ghost Hunt Tour
Katie was terrified of this tour, so much so that she would not go to the bathroom by herself
It didn't help that the tour ended on a completely different street than where it started,
leaving us to walk the haunted street of Charleston alone

Babbitt on the Ghost Hunt Tour with Poogan at his gravesite
Apparently this home turned resturant is haunted by both
Poogan the dog's ghost & one of the former residents

We are pretty sure this is the ghost of Annabel Lee,
the young girlfriend of Edgar Allen Poe

Goodbye To The A

On our last day in Atlanta we started at Mary Mac's Tea Room for juiciy fried chicken and delicious homemade sides. We then headed to the CNN Headquarters for a tour that honestly wasn't the best, however, we did get to ride the longest freestanding escalator in the world and see a number of giant Anderson Cooper wall paintings that made it all worth while. After that we walked across the street to the Olympic Cenntenial Park to see where the Magnificent Seven - USA Gymnastics Team hung out when they took the Gold in 1996. Our sightseeing ended at the Martin Luther King Jr., National Park, where we learned that the great leader preferred to be called ML. After all of the sightseeing we needed nourishment, so we checked out the famous Vortex Bar & Grill, giving us another chance to see Alaina!

Our Evening Out In Hotlanta

Once the Rig was back in working order our trip could get back on track.  We immediately headed to our wonderful friend Alaina's apartment in Buckhead for a shower, Fireball shots and sushi at Steel with her brother Cole and to see Louis C.K. perform at the historic Fox Theater!

Katie, Molly The Waitress and Cole at Steel
Molly gave us nicknames during our meal:
Babbitt - Chopsticks, Katie - Spicy Mayo,
Alaina - Wine and Cole - Soy Sauce
O'Babbitt Tip:  Try the Thunder Roll

Katie & Alaina outside of Fox after the show
The show was funny and the theater was amazing

Turn Signal Trauma

I'm sure everyone is wondering how this beautiful rig we purchased is working out.  So far it has been good, that is, until the turn signal issue.   What started out as replacing a bulb turned into replacing ALL the bulbs, a fuse that lasted 400 miles, five more fuses that lasted 2 miles, 6 hours at a clueless auto shop and still no fix.  Frustrated I panicked, cursed and acted like an all around baby.  Ready to give up I got the idea to call a good old boy in northern Atlanta that specialized in trailers and hitches.  We drove about 20 minutes to his shop and they had it figured out in a record 10 minutes.  There was a short in the wire touching the metal frame if you're interested.  Thanks to Bob for keeping us on the road.

Babbitt with the boys at The Hitch House

Taking ATL By Storm

We drove to Marietta, Georgia last night and came across the biggest chicken we had ever seen.  Then we took the Marta to downtown Atlanta to explore.  After dinner we ended up sleeping in the Marta station parking lot in 20 degree weather, which was much colder than we were expecting it to be in Hotlanta!

That's a HUGE chicken

Enjoying an F.O. (Frozen Orange) at The Varsity
Thanks to Mama Mc for the tip

The O'Babbitt's with the Whale Shark at the Georgia Aquarium
Babbitt was in heaven

Babbitt going to see the penguins

World Of Coca Cola - We tried 60+ flavors of Coke from
all over the world
O'Babbitt Tip: Stay away from the Beverly made in Italy

The O'Babbitt's with the Coca Cola Polar Bear
His eyes blinked and it was really creepy

City of Atlanta from the Westin on Peachtree Sundial Bar
Apparently this is the tallest hotel in the Western hemisphere

Elevator going down from the Westin on Peachtree

The Stops Along The Way...

In an attempt to get to warmer climates we drove from Cincinnati to Georgia today and we also made a couple of very important stops!  Stop 1:  The birth place of Kentucky Fried Chicken.  (If you're wondering the food was not better at this location.)  Stop 2:  Cumberland Falls Resort State Park - Home of the Moonbow.