Adventures of Luck of a Fool: July 11-13, 2014 Last Days in Charleston

Friday
I putzed around this morning. Then I walked about 30 minutes to my massage. This massage therapist has an office in West Ashley, across the Ashely River. But she sees clients on Mondays and by appointment at the Wentworth Mansion Spa. It was going to be $87 for an hour, more than I have ever paid, but I could walk there and I was in pain with my back. Well, for $87 you get a locker room with shower with shampoo, conditioner and body wash, robes, towels, & slippers. I loved it. Since I was sweaty from walking there, I took a shower before and after my massage. It was great to have the luxury of a full size shower and all the water I wanted. Amazing how the simple things tickle you.

This was the best massage I have ever had. And as a dentist, I had massages regularly. Afterwards, I was light headed, so I walked about 6 blocks and caught the trolly home. Then I was worthless for the rest of the day.

I checked out the Wentworth Mansion online. It is rated one of the top hotels on the east coast. There were 21 bedrooms in the original mansion. Each room has a fireplace and king beds. Looks like they added bathrooms. Weekday price was $400/night.

Dave always has projects for the boat to work on. Looking back we’re not sure what he did that day. If I don’t write things down, the days just run together.

Saturday

There had been a new boat in the marina for two days. Today I noticed they had left. I said to Dave “well, they weren’t very sociable.” He replied “they couldn’t afford to be. When you make friends, you stay for a month.” At least that happens to us.

We spent the morning sorting through what other important documents we should put in the computer in our Evernote files. Then I can finish them around other projects. Before leaving a port, I stock up on groceries as needed. Then I usually cook up a few things that we can eat while underway.

Dave helped our neighbor, Gary, install an autopilot. He and Dave are going to take a diesel engine class in Annapolis, MD the end of July, so he decided to move his boat back there along with us instead of driving and getting a room. We are making plans to “buddy boat” to the Chesapeake Bay. Since he has sailed this area a few times, it will be nice to have his local knowledge.

We joined Gary and his date, Katherine, for dinner and a couple drinks on his boat tonight. There was a beautiful full moon. I guess it is closer to the earth than usual and will affect the tides, being higher and lower. We learned that years ago, but it didn’t have any significance until now.

Sunday
I went to my favorite “southern” catholic church this morning, St Patrick’s. I love the music and everyone visits afterwards wondering where I am from or asking me to join the church. Then Dave and I met at a restaurant on Broad St that Gary and Katherine had recommended, but it was closed on Sundays. So we took another recommendation and walked to the Blind Tiger. It was an old place built in 1803. Their Bloody Mary’s were voted #1 in Charleston several times. And they were good. We had a great brunch. In the days of prohibition, people would pay an admission to see the “blind tiger”. While waiting for it to appear (which it never did), the establishment would serve “refreshments”.

The plan was then to go for a walk around the southern tip of the peninsula that Charleston is on. Battery park is there and south of Broad street is where the big money was spent on homes in the early years. We have both driven through the area, but wanted to go for a walk though there. Well the rain turned that into a quick walk between showers. Then we took a taxi back to the boat so we could see the second half of the final world cup soccer game. Congratulations Germany!

We then spent the evening finishing little projects to ready the boat to leave Charleston. We have said 4 times that we are leaving, so stay tuned to see if we really leave this time.

Today was my mother’s birthday. She would have been 96. A dear lifelong friend of hers passed away at 97 this week, Kay Nelson. Our families grew up together, and the bridge club helped raise all of us. They had a bridge club that played together for 50+ years. Kay was the last charter member to pass away.