This morning I left Alexa’s home early…about 6:30am and headed to Starbucks, where I savored a Tall Caramel Brule, while checking my e-mails and preparing a blog post.  I turned around and asked a man seated behind me a question about Charleston and we talked for a few minutes.  He was originally from Cincinnati.  The odd thing was that the day before, while sitting in traffic, with my window down, a man next to me in a vehicle asked if I was from Cincinnati.  He could tell from my plates.  Anyway…he said he used to live in West Chester (a suburb of Cincinnati) and moved to Charleston four years ago for work.  I asked if he liked it here and he said yes, especially the weather, but he missed Cincinnati sometimes.  What’s that saying…”It’s a small world”.

My next stop was the Isle of Palms beach…so I could take photos of the sunrise.  It was less than 10 minutes away, but I had to rush to make it.  I pulled into a public parking lot and ran through a condo complex to the beach.  There was a gate and a code was required.  The sun was beginning to rise as I scanned from side to side, wondering how to get to the beach.  I entertained the thought of climbing over the gate, or going through the dunes and jumping a fence, but my common sense took over.  I ran back the way I came and saw a sign that said “Public Access to beach”!  I ran down the path just in time for this…

After taking two photos, my SD card said “Full”!  Frantically I began looking through the photos from my trip to Africa back in May/June and deleted some of them.  (They’re already loaded onto my computer, but I like to have a backup).  Then I was able to take a few more.  Here’s one of them…

Driving across a bridge I had to stop to take a photo…

I parked along the Waterfront and started walking…

There were people scattered around the Downtown area painting…

A cool cat must live here…

The devil’s in the detail…

I think everyone loves cobblestones!

I enjoy stark–contrasting–colorful photos!

I’ve never taken a photo quite like this…I like it!

After walking for a few hours…I made my way back to the car and took a final parting shot…

It was lunch time so I drove to a recommended restaurant named “Taco Boy” and sat outside sipping a margarita and eating fish tacos!  I had driven across the Arthur Ravenel, Jr. Bridge coming from Downtown Charleston going to Mt. Pleasant (where Alexa lives) and wanted to take a photo…so I found a spot and used my zoom lens.

And this photo…

Later that evening, Alexa and I went out to eat at a restaurant called “Rita’s” at Folly Beach.  I had Shrimp and Flounder with Grits…yum yum!  Then…we went to a Couchsurfing event at someone’s house.  It was mostly 20 somethings.  Someone even called me “Mam”!  There was a fire pit out back and we stayed for about an hour.

Join me for my last day in Charleston tomorrow before driving to Savannah!

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