Southern Style

Hey guys

We have been having a fab few days in the south- we drive up to Savannah which is a really pretty town set out with squares, tree lined streets with spanish moss hanging from huge oak trees, and beautiful houses. Although I think I mentioned that in my last post? I forget. Anyway, we had a lovely couple of days there- we did the proper touristy thing and did a trolley tour, which was excellent- 90 minutes narrated by the driver, no hops ons or anything. Then once we knew where everything was we walked back to it. It was by the river so in the evenings we walked alongside the river and it was fab. It being the south I was expecting to struggle to find veggie food, but there were a few healthy cafes which were open in the evening (I had a lovely tofu burrito one day) and also a burger cafe where you could sub veggie burgers for any burger on the menu, so I had one with guacamole (plus sweet potato fries mmmmm). We also found a relly gorgeous new-ish cafe which did amazing proper fresh smoothies (I find that in a lot of places in the USA a smoothie gets poured out of a clear plastic box with a stirrer, and is basically sugary squash) and also warm pretzels! How have we never tried a soft pretzel before???? We had one with cinnamon and it was amazing.

Then we drove up to Charleston for the last stop on our holiday. We have been away so long but suddenly it seems like it has flown by. The town is bigger here, but still very pretty, in fact crammed with beautiful buildings. Today we went to a couple of plantation houses- one was a bit like a national trust house and gardens, so we paid to just go in the gardens and spent a few hours following the self guided walks. At one point I saw a beautiful red bird, so I walked off the path to get a closer look. Big mistake. I looked up and saw a massive cobweb hanging between the trees with a massive spider there. Andy was impressed that I did not scream, but after that I was very jumpy. We saw so much wildlife including turtles, pretty birds and butterflies (they all get a  🙂  ) and also a snake (I was not expecting snakes), a crab, a massive grasshopper and some kind of newt lizard thing. The second house we went to was preserved in it’s original state (as close to that as they could) and so we did the tour of the house. There was not furniture in it, and it was so interesting. Apparently during the civil war they think the doctor who lived there at the time put out smallpox flags so the building was the only one to survive.

Anyway, after that we went for some dinner (we found a place on the internet that a- Man versus food had been to, and b- did a veggie sandwich, as here it seems to be a lot of seafood which Andy does not like, or BBQ- last night we went to a BBQ place and I had a salad without the chicken or blue cheese, so not with much!!). Anyway, I was excited because all the way on the drive here on the roadside were big signs for “Fresh peaches” (I know what they are), “Candied pecans” (I can work that out) and “Boiled Peanuts” (eh???). While we were waiting for our dinner, we were given some boiled peanuts. They were monkey nuts (you know, peanuts in the shell) boiled, so when Andy tried to split one open it spurted hot water all over him. Anyway, when we tried them, Andy liked them, but I am not sure. They had the texture of cooked kidney beans, and I think I like nuts when they are crunchy! But anyway, it was good to have that mystery solved.

Then we went to a baseball game, and now we are watching the weather channel as hurricane Irene is heading this way. Hopefully it will avoid us, but it seems we might be in for some heavy wind and rain tomorrow.

Right, this was (again) only meant to be quick and I have rambled on for ages!

Night (or morning) 🙂