My wife & I took my mom to Charleston this past weekend for a short visit. My wife wanted to visit a bead show, and my mom had not really explored Charleston before.

Caveat: we were on a budget (and this was a spur of the moment trip, so all of the reasonable B&B's in the historic district were booked). So don't have a cow when I say we stayed at the luxurious Days Inn at Patriots Point.

Actually, we were pleasantly surprised to get a $75 room (including taxes, fees & rip-off--excuse me--miscellaneous charges) that had been recently refurbished, with a fridge, microwave, and great water pressure!

The Days Inn is in Mount Pleasant, just north of the new Cooper River Bridge, on Highway 17. Very convenient to Charleston--takes about 10-12 minutes to get to the historic district.

Restaurants:

Lunch Saturday at Sermet's on King Street (near the intersection with Society St.) Great! I had a basic but delicious crab cake sandwich, with sweet potato fries. My wife & my mom got outstanding salads, also topped with mini crabcakes. Oh yeah, the complimentary bread was warm from the oven and came with a fantastic hot chile (and possibly sun-dried tomato) olive oil.

For dinner we wanted seafood, but we were looking to go casual/cheap (so no Peninsula Grill, SNOB or High Cotton), and didn't want to repeat other places we had been before (Hanks, Henrys, Mistral). We stumbled upon Coast Bar & Grill across from the visitors center on John Street. It won't win any awards for creativity and innovation, but it had reasonably priced, good food, and efficient service. It is somewhat like a Bone-Fish Grill (wood-fired grill, fish selections available with a variety of sauces). I had snapper with a very, very good adobo chile rub--lots of heat, complex sauce. My wife had a really good crab meat and goats cheese quesadilla; and my mom must have been on a salad kick--house salad again.

Lunch on Sunday was going to be one of our favorites (the heck with the no-repeat rule from the day before): Boulevard Diner in Mt. Pleasant. But it was closed. So we ventured back into Charleston and walked into High Cotton, thinking we would try that. However, we were slumming, and almost everyone was dressed for church. The hostess didn't balk at all, but we felt a little uncomfortable (it's a very, very nice place). So we walked a bit, and ended up breaking our no-repeat rule anyway, at Poogan's Porch (on Queen Street, between King and Meeting). I had a great open omelette with fried oysters and jack cheese (and unfortunately bacon, which I don't eat, and which was not listed in the menu description), and a side of cheese grits. My wife got the fried oyster caesar (which came first with shrimp--the waitress quickly corrected that mistake) that had a great tangy, not wimpy, dressing. My mom had the she-crab soup which was very rich, creamy & delicious. We had fried green tomatos, of course, for an appetizer. All were great, but the complimentary biscuits nearly stole the show.

Favorite Part for me:

The new Cooper River Bridge is awesome. The eastbound span has a great walkway & bike path, and it appears to be quickly becoming a tourist destination unto itself. I needed to get a long run in Sunday morning, so I ran over the bridge, down to the Battery, and back over the bridge to Mt. Pleasant--about 11 miles. The bridge itself is about 2.5 miles long, as far as the walk/bike path is concerned. Awesome views of Charleston Harbor, especially at dawn. Reminded me of hiking in the mountains, where you pay your dues for your views (steep incline heading into Charleston; long incline heading back to Mt. Pleasant).

Warning! If you're driving in Charleston be aware of this. We saw a really bad accident in downtown Charleston Saturday afternoon, where both drivers fortunately walked away. A westbound driver ran a red light probably because of the low Fall sun that was blinding her view of traffic light. She blew by us in the crosswalk just after her light had changed. I guess we were lucky we weren't walking faster to cross!

Anyway, great little trip to Charleston. I'd be happy to relocate there if anyone wants to start a beach_dweller housing relief drive. I found a few houses overlooking Charleston Harbor on East Bay St., any one of which would probably be acceptable.

Hi beach_dweller, so enjoyed your trip report! I was in Charleston for the first time this past April and fell in love with it too. Sounds like everyone does. The Cooper River Bridge was not completed when I was there but it did look awesome. Thanks for sharing your fun weekend. And best wishes with the fund raiser, LOL.

beach_dweller: glad you enjoyed your visit (all be it short) to our fair city. I am a big fan of the new Ravenel Bridge...growing up in Charleston, I was never really fond of driving the old bridges but now walk the new bridge every weekend when time permits. I'm actually starting a boot camp in January that will have us "doing" the bridge every Friday a.m. at 6...YIKES!

Glad you found Sermet's...it's one of my favorite places! Poogan's is another fav...I'm actually eating their fried chicken salad right now...and I'm with you on the biscuit...my fav part of every meal there!

thanks for the report. I like Sermet a lot too. I'm also in love w/ the new bridge, but I haven't had a chance to run it yet. If you ran the old one, how would you compare them from a running perspective? (I'm already thinking about the 06 bridge run)

The angle of the sun is scary this time of year. A similar blinded-in-the-intersection incident left a cyclist dead in Greenville, SC a few weeks ago.

I find the initial inclines on both sides to be more significant than the old bridge (natural since the Ravenel is higher) but then it is more consistant than the old bridge with the up and down. I think the wider lanes will make the run nicer than the old 3 lane run. I'm looking forward to this year's run...register early as I'm sure it will be sell out since it's the first year.

Thinking about that bridge run huh Chuck? LOL! BTW, aren't you still supposed to be recuping from DC?

I'm wondering how the new bridge having a bike path/walking path will impact the race attendance?

Nice report!

travelgirl, I was noticing how steep the run will be this year compared to the old one.

Litespeed, the race is so much fun! You must run!

I've actually stayed a couple of times at that same Days Inn in Patriots Point. It's not bad, is reasonably priced, and usually has rooms available for last minute trips. If one is headed north up the coast on HWY 17,toward Myrtle Beach or Georgetown for example, it makes for a quick and easy start.

We've never tried the Boulevard Diner in Mt Pleasant, but now it is on the list. Thanks. We always enjoy Charleston. It's easy

Oops--- didn't finish the sentence. It's easy to enjoy. Kathy

GoT: definitely has that incline...ugh but it does work wonders on the bum

A drive across the new bridge at night before the old bridges come down should be added to everyone's list. It is very eery seeing the 1/2 demolished old bridges so dark at night. Every time I drive over I think about the ghost stories associated with the bridges.

Fellow (word choice?) runners: Travel Girl 67, Lightspeed Chick, and Go Travel. Go Travel, you're to blame for my running the bridge yesterday! You got me thinking about the 10K there in April, so I just had to get a little preview.

I never ran the old bridge, so I'll trust you gals with the comparisons. I would say the steep part (on the Mt. Pleasant side) is perhaps half the distance of the longer, gentler slope )on the Charleston side). I can tell you I was flying down the steep part on my way back to Mt. Pleasant. Talk about your gravity assist!

As to resting from the MCM, no rest for the weary as they say. Actually, I felt very good after that marathon; all soreness was gone the following Saturday. And I don't want to waste the fitness level I built up. So, I should be back into 30-plus miles this week. I guess the crazy explanation is I really love running long distances. Now the trick is to get a little faster while still feeling good enough to keep doing them!