Traveling is always an adventure, never quite sure what will happen next. Traveling with my family is adventure on steroids, never quite sure what will happen but when it does don't be surprised at what happens. Today we flew to Charleston from Dallas. To ease our travel on Saturday morning Melanie had agreed to spend the night at the house and bring her cat Cali who is staying at the house. This would save me time on Saturday by not having to pick up Melanie and then doubling back to get Debby. If only it could be that easy. As we are getting ready Melanie says she has to go back to her apartment for her 'lucky' necklace. I said I would buy her a new 'lucky' necklace in Charleston. She was insistent, so we rushed to get the car packed and out the door to drive back to Melanie's apartment and then back to Debby's house. Oh well, she said it was good karma, and we still got to the airport in plenty of time.

Robyn had not had any breakfast so she stopped at Auntie Ann's pretzels and got a cup of little sausages wrapped by pretzel dough. Melanie took one to eat and as I am standing next to her out of the corner of my eye I see something fly past my face and hit the ground. I hear Melanie immediately yell, "I lost my weenie!" That is a statement I just didn't expect to hear and what a way to start the trip.

The flight to Charleston was uneventful except that the pilots arrived for the flight 10 minutes before we were to take off. I overheard them say they were supposed to fly to Las Vegas and were re-directed to our plane. I think I would rather go to Las Vegas. We got to our hotel without incident. We are staying at the Marriott Renaissance in the historic district in Charleston. It was recently renovated so it is very nice. The plans for today were limited. Robyn after researching and asking questions on TripAdvisor had decided we would eat at a little restaurant called Pearlz Oyster House. I want to emphasize the "little," but to get there we had to walk about 3/4 of a mile. For most people that would take about 10 minutes. For us because of Robyn,it was a good 45 minute walk, part of which was through the Market which is about a 1/4 mile long enclosed street market. My brother-in-law Ronnie would have called it 'miles and miles of ****', which it was, but the women enjoyed walking through it, so oh well.




It was a 30 minute wait for our table a Pearlz so we walked over to the harbor and I took a picture of Fort Sumter way in the distance, but it is as close as I will get to see the place where the Civil War started, so oh well. No reason to give a history lesson here. When we got to Pearlz it was the first chance for alcohol all day. They had specials on house made Sangria, so Melanie and Debby took advantage of the special a couple of times. The food at Pearlz was very good, Melanie and I split a dozen oysters--so good, and we finished it off with a fantastic coconut pie--highly recommend this restaurant. Afterwards, we went to the Vendue Hotel which has a rooftop bar; rooftop bars are a big thing here so when in Rome, etc. Before going up to the bar, there was large framed copy of the famous painting by Grant Wood "American Gothic" with the heads missing so that you can put your own face in the painting. Attached are the pictures we took. I call them "American Gothic Horror Story." The rooftop bar was pretty cool. I enjoyed being up there, but I was drinking so I enjoy every place as long as I can drink. Before we left the Vendue all three women had to go to the bathroom; earlier in the day before we left the airport all three went to the bathroom. They were so loud I could here them talking as if they were standing next to me, and at the Vendue it was the same thing. One thing about Johnson women, they are loud and you know when they are nearby.







As we were walking back to the Marriott, a young man stopped us and asked if Melanie was our daughter and I said yes. He high fived me and said she is absolutely beautiful. So we spent the next few minutes watching this guy try to pick up our daughter. When he asked her name she said Melanie Johnson; we then said, "Or "Nosnhoj' , Johnson spelled backwards." One the guy's friends was nearby and sort of listening and said "did you say your name was 'Nosnhoj or Johnson spelled backwards?'" We said, "No. 'Nosnhoj' is 'Johnson' spelled backwards." He actually thought our last name was "Nosnhoj-Johnson-spelled-backwards." He looks at his friend and said, "Man they are messing with your mind". It is fun to mess with stranger's minds, especially those with limited thinking ability.

Tomorrow should be very interesting. Supposedly we are going to the USS Yorktown (retired WWII, Korea War, & Vietnam War aircraft carrier); the Hunley (a Civil War southern submarine); and go to Folly Beach. Hmmm we will see what doesn't get done.