Carolina Calling!

To be honest, South Carolina had not figured very high on my must travel list. But I'm so glad I had the chance to visit one summer many years ago.



For sure, it is the quintessential South - soul food, rich music and its own sedate pace. The drawl is sweet and the air is unhurried. My first surprise came at the airport while waiting at the open air car rental place in the merciless July sun cursing the slow service. Every slow minute of action seemed to be cutting into my vacation time. But once I ceased my foot tapping I realized that my holiday had begun right then. A New York minute might not be the speed here, but I was seeing something a lot more rare - the easy charm and simple courtesy of the folks. Instead of hustling me on, the rental clerk held the car door for me and chatted away like I was a favorite cousin. Right then, I had my first inkling. It might be the same country, but was this quite possibly a different world.



It was indeed. Over the next few days spent at the low country islands I truly did lie back. The beaches were pristine. Islands both touristy and quiet. The sea air overlaid by the smell of the marsh, with the aromas wafting from beachside oyster roasts. Sultry summer days that invite, almost compel long, lazy siestas. The golf courses are superb. The coastal salt marshes are many, weaving endlessly through the landscape. I loved their desolate beauty during an afternoon spent kayaking the waterways while the gators slumbered on in the quiet waters.



The last leg of my trip was in Charleston. As cities go, it isn't the urban Atlanta or flavorful New Orleans but worth a stop nevertheless. Ocean views overlooking Fort Sumter, numerous churches, Palmetto lined streets breezy even on the warmest day. Charleston is a gracious, old city; worth seeing is its Rainbow Row - a series of pastel colored period homes with strong west african influences. Away from the city, I also visited the old plantations along the Ashley river. At the heart of each lie vast mansions reminiscient of the grand South, surrounded by magnolia and myrtle filled gardens. Spanish moss drapes the live oaks looking, at once elegant and eerie.



Marshes, rivers and woodlands. Coastal low lands that lie in the eye of potential storms. Threatened sometimes by nature, the land battles the swamp but it endures, as do its people. And nobody echoes its spirit better than Henry Timrod.



Throw thy bold banner to the breeze!

Front with thy ranks the threatening seas

Like thine own proud armorial trees,

Carolina! Carolina!