The top picture is of the Cistern at the College of Charleston and the first evenings jazz concert.


The second picture is of the Spoleto Festival Dock Street Theatre, Where the Chamber Music was held. Awesome music.

Our Charleston Birthday Trip

Well, actually the trip was to surprise a friends daughter when she graduated from Summerville High School, which was actually held at the Convention Center. The trip was both a need to disconnect from what was happening in Valdosta and the great need for Kay to find her beach and open water; it also was just a continuation of my Birthday weekend.

We managed to get room at Charleston AFB Inn for the few day and on our first day in we had supper at Manny’s Mediterranean Place where I talked with a small group of Klingon Women Warriors at they held their weekly meeting. The food was very well prepared. That evening we had tickets to see our first concert with the Spoleto Festival and the Wells Fargo Jazz concert by Karrin Allyson,
“In the 15 years since Karrin Allyson first appeared at Spoleto Festival USA, her voice has gone the route young singers hope for—deepening, enriching, reaching the height of its potential. With musical fearlessness that ventures beyond the familiar framework of the Great American Songbook, she has become “one of the jazz world’s finest.” (Los Angeles Times); at the Cistern Yard, College of Charleston on George Street singing a few number from her current album CD ‘Round Midnight.

The next day, Saturday, was Katlyn’s graduation and after we rested, we spent the rest of the evening celebrating with our friend and family. Good chicken Rob, and you’re are a great dad to your children.

On Sunday, we chilled and had tickets for the Chamber Music Concert at the Dock Street Theatre on Church Street were we heard;
Oboe Quartet in F major, K. 370 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–91)
Oi Kuu (For the Moon) Kaija Saariaho (b. 1952)
ZZ’s Dream
Osvaldo Golijov (b. 1960) and the
Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57 Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–75)

I would have really like to have heard more concerts but there is time and money and both were in short supply. Actually we realized that there are a lot of other offerings that are free, only there are happening in the following days and we need to get back home. Maybe next year we can do more.

On Memorial Day, we didn’t just want to sit on the beach all day and get burnt to a crisp, so we walked around downtown Charleston that morning and had a great lunch, and as we walked back to the car we came across a Oop’s Catalogue store where I found a great dress for $18 bucks, not bad considering that I saw others dresses priced in the hundreds of dollars, for the same cloth. After lunch and as it was going on to 2 pm we headed to Isle of Palms strip of beach and watched a steady stream of cars leave the island, which was a good sign for us as we didn’t loose too much time finding a place to park for the day. We just took our little chairs, a bag of drinks and snacks, our books and blanket to the beach with us. We actually took a spot from some people as they were leaving in the shade under a pier and just sat, read and felt the sea breeze on our faces as we watched the waves run to the shore. We never actually stuck our toes in the surf, but we really didn’t have a need.

As we walked around the state park, we noticed there were 3 short boardwalks to go to the water with lockable gates, and we noticed that the would be closed and locked at 7 pm that evening. As we read and lost track of time, soon we realized it was closing time as the took turns using the bathroom, it wasn’t until an hour later we decided we had enough and turned to leave noticing that all the gates were locked. Luckily there was another open boardwalk about 600 yards up the beach between some condos. So we weren’t really locked on the beach, but we hoped that the parking lot was still open; and so it was. Returning for the last night at the Air Force Inn. 4 nights in Charleston $150, 2 incredible concerts for 2 $130, shopping, eating, day at the beach, Priceless.