Episode 37
1/2020
We are parked at lake Aire RV park and visited Charleston. We came across a emancipation celebration parade. While it was nice to rejoice about this celebration, it was a little sad because it was way too short and not very well attended at all. We went to King Street and got cookies on the suggestion from our friends. That day we walked Charleston some more. Campground was way too close to train tracks and it was noisy all night long. The campsites were soaked or underwater. But convenient to charleston.
The next day we went to Charleston Tea plantation. When I think of plantations this is not what I typically think of. There was no old plantation house to be found at all. So I googled the definition of a plantation and it is an estate which crops or grown and cultivated by resident labor. This plantation is a working tea farm and is the only one in the United states. It's free to enter and they have a free video guided tour of how they process the tea leaves all the way from the bushes into the tea bags. We learned that black oolong and green teas all come from the same tea leaves but the leaves are processed differently. They have a tour bus for $14 which we took. It takes you across the farm and the guy that explained a lot more about the Tea and about how the weather affects the bushes. It stops at the greenhouse and you can go in and explain how it's used. The tour is highly suggested by us. In the gift shop they have about a dozen teas that are for sale and are free to sample and drink. The tour bus lasted about 45 minutes.
https://charlestonteagarden.com/
About 10 minutes away is the deep water vineyard which we visited. We sampled many different wines and bought a bottle. We sat outside and enjoyed a glass of it. Right next door is a Firefly distillery. It turns out that this was my daughter Melinda's favorite distillery. We sampled some of the liquors. I really like the bourbon bowl chocolate pecan whiskey yep you heard me right. We then took a ride over to see Angel oak tree which was awesome. Check their website if you plan on visiting. They're only open certain days of the week. The entrance was free. We stayed about 20 minutes looking in admiring this big old tree. Angeloaktree.com
Then on our last day in this area we visited the Ernest f hollings basin and wildlife refuge. You can go into the house for free but each room has been made over into an office for the park. We walked around for a few hours and covered about 7 miles. The paths were really just old dirt roads. We got to see some wood storks and armadillos which was pretty cool. We then stopped at the Dungannon plantation heritage preserve and wildlife Management area. Here there is no manor house but there are about 5 mi of trails to walk. It was more scenic than hollings basin. There we saw another wood stork and alligators. The next day on the 4th of January 2020 we packed up and drove two and a half hours to another Boondockers Welcome location (check out RelaxRV.org/discounts to join). We got set up and we visited wormsloe state historic site. It was $10 to get in but they gave you a free tour. We visited the family estate dating back to the colonial English colony in 1733. Driving in your on the road that has the longest tree shaded driveway in the United states. There is over 400 trees along the driveway. The next day we went into Savannah. Savannah's been on both of our lists for many years to see. And yes we love Charleston but Savannah wow. So much history architecture squares and Parks. But also it has free shuttles bus and ferry. And live music in the city market on Sunday evenings in the January. It cost $5 to park in most of the parking garages and our first stop is at the visitor center. They told us a lot about the various sites to see. And oh the sites! We visited the first African Baptist Church in the us. There's a...