Charleston again? Apparently. A couple of weeks after Violet and I had a quick Charleston adventure, it was time for a whole family adventure. Many years ago, G and I accidentally found Marion Square overflowing with people and tents. We learned it was a thing called SEWE (South Eastern Wildlife Expo or something like that) and it was not just people, there were animals too. Specifically of interest to me, there were birds.
(A side note of interest, that weekend we stayed in a hotel nearby and kept hearing very loud banging noises coming from the room next door. It was very annoying and it was all night. The next morning when we left the room, we saw a guy wheeling out two full sized tigers in metal cages from the room next door. Mystery solved.)
Since that first accidental meeting with SEWE, we've more intentionally tried to be near Charleston for the event. We took the kids a few times and they still remember watching a rattlesnake have diarrhea. So on SEWE weekend, we got up on Saturday morning and drove down.
Blue and Violet are into vintage clothes and Blue found out there was a vintage market happening in North Charleston. We decided it would be fun, so we killed a little time at the outlets grabbing a few things for school and then drove to the vintage market. It was a very cool thing with tons of vendors and clothes. Violet was checking out the Carhartt jackets but y'all, vintage stuff is so expensive. Eventually she found one without a price and asked the guy. He hesitated and said $50. G jumped on it and paid him before he could realize he was wrong. Blue got a shirt. Everyone was happy. Oh, that guy up there was selling vintage shoes and balancing them on his head for photos.
I think this is an original Bronco. It may be a Scout. I didn't check. Ugly color but very cool. We were hungry for a late lunch by the time we arrived at Marion Square. Blue and G stopped for pizza.
You already know where Violet and I ate. It was time for second coffee and these cuban coffees are soooo good. We also got a couple of empanadas.
Violet pointed out that I take a photo of this church every time I walk past it. It's true. When I move to Charleston, I'm going to convert to Lutheran just so I can go here every Sunday. They also have jazz festivals and beer festivals. So much cooler than Baptists.
Do we fit in at SEWE? Heck no. I'm not going to judge any books by their covers, but most of these covers were puffy vests and plaid button up shirts. So yeah, not my crowd. But lots of very expensive dogs to pet.
And I mentioned the birds. Raptors mostly. We made sure to arrive in time for the raptor demonstration. A couple of raptors sail down from adjacent hotel roofs and then they chase a little kid pulling a fake rabbit. It makes more sense if you see it, but trust me, it's very cool.
There's a raptor tent with some taxidermied items...
and some living, breathing raptors up close.
I would go just for the hawks.
That's a bottlenose dolphin skull. So cool.
We walked by again.
We originally planned to see the dog demonstration but we missed it because we were walking around. As the sun set, we headed back to the car and saw this from the roof of the parking deck.
The next morning I had a loopy run around a big parking lot, which means we didn't get to stay in any of my preferred hotels. But we got a really good breakfast and decided to go to the beach. Someone clever adjusted the don't walk sign at McKelvin's Surf Shop.
It was beautiful but it was also cold. The air was ok but the wind was howling.
There was a really high tide overnight so all the sand was wet and we had no blanket this time. All we could do was walk. G and Blue were not dressed for the wind so after a short walk, they headed back to the car. Violet and I kept walking and found a few shark's teeth. Don't you love our glasses? Mine may or may not have come from a women's underwear store. Still cool. Violet was warm in her new, used jacket. Did I ask her if she brought a coat? Yes. Did she bring a coat? No. Worked out, I guess.
We took a few photos and headed back to the car. It was Sunday and no one wanted to get home too late. And Blue still had another stop he wanted us to make. We checked out the vinyl record store the day before but somehow Blue missed the vintage store that was just a couple of doors down. We drove back to Charleston but SEWE had the whole parking situation worse than normal. I didn't want to pay to park in a garage again so I just dropped everyone off at the vintage place and kept driving.
I looped around a few blocks looking for a space. I parked illegally long enough to get a good photo of the Bill Murray mural and then drove around a little more. Soon they were all back out and I picked them up.
Blue can't go to Charleston without getting Cane's. I know, I'd never heard of it either but he's crazy about it. I'm not a fan so we grabbed him some Cane's to go and the rest of us got Paige's from the food truck in Summerville before continuing on home.
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