For the first time in my life I went south over spring break. With the spouse, I visited Washington, DC for about 16 hours including a good night's sleep, then Charleston, South Carolina; Beaufort, South Carolina; and Savannah, Georgia. Charleston is a beautiful and striking city. We visited Fort Sumter and took some walking tours. For a self-guided tour, I'd recommend A Gullah Guide to Charleston. It was easy to carry along in a pocket and pull out for some history and personal stories all around Charleston, and it was a nice balance to all the official plaques about famous politicians. I learned something about John C. Calhoun in particular. Remember the fuss about Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis a few years ago? I didn't understand much about it then, but learning more about him in his home state, I understand a lot more! He really is quite a historical figure: a staunch proponent of slavery (not as a "necessary evil" but as a "positive good"), nullification, and secession. The guy didn't even want the US to survive as a nation, one could argue, so why does he get a lake in Minneapolis?
Charleston has a pretty and walkable downtown, but walking the short distance to our hotel across the river wasn't so pleasant, and taking the bus from the Amtrak station and to the airport was not that convenient. It's a town that clearly makes sure some visitors are very well served but does not put a lot of effort into public transit or walkable infrastructure. There is also broken glass everywhere, outside the poorest and poshest establishments -- is it how they do recycling, or was it an after-effect of St. Patrick's day? There is some delicious food in Charleston, though, and we enjoyed our chicken and waffles, collard greens, grits, fried pork chop, and even a fried quail.
Beaufort, SC, is a small and idyllic town of grand houses and Spanish moss. We used it mostly as a base to visit Hunting Island State Park. We spent one evening looking at the sun set over the marsh, seeing little crabs, a great blue heron, and jumping fish make their way through winding streams, and one day on the shore of the ocean. I learned a lot about little mollusks and how they like to burrow into the water. The scenes also powerfully illustrated the force of nature against human construction:
That's asphalt!
I got a tiny sunburn despite my phenomenal new hat, but it went away pretty quickly.
Last was Savannah, GA, which stole our hearts. The riverfront is touristy, but the parks every few blocks are amazing. The cemeteries are pretty. The flowers are amazing. The mood is mellow. The customer service guy at the Kroger was very, very nice. There is no broken glass even though the population of Savannah triples over St. Patrick's Day, and while it looks like 101 Dalmatians right after work because everybody is walking a dog or two, there is no dog poop on the streets! It seems like Savannahns (?) like their city and take care of it. The public transit system is quite nice, from our short experience. (In Charleston the bus driver pulled away from a stop even though she saw a man coming for the bus; in Savannah the driver pulled off the highway to wait for two men she saw on the other side of the road.) We learned about some history there, too; the original Georgia colony was founded as a grand utopian experiment that outlawed three evils -- slavery, lawyers, and rum. That didn't last, but maybe some of the feeling has. Great restaurants there, too, and a better beer selection than anywhere else on our trip except DC.
I got back to Minnesota for the weekend and enjoyed that a lot, as well. Miss all the family on this Easter weekend.... I'll be grading exams and writing some talks on Totally Awesome Mathematics, but I'll try not to work the whole time.
