Charleston, South Carolina, or as I like to call it, West Chester by the Sea...(why not right?)

Hola Amigos, I know it's been a long time since I've rapped at ya....(ok, who always starts off their editorials with that opening? Anyone? Anyone?)

It's been a great summer, and I ended it by taking some time off the week before Labor Day to take the train down to Southern Pines, North Carolina, my newest favorite get away location and of course to spend time with Lana.

Lana is the blond.....on the left

With us both having the time off together, and as nice and relaxing Southern Pines and Pinehurst is, we both wanted to strike out to someplace new and to her credit, it was her idea as she had heard some good things about Charleston and wanted to road trip it out there. Now I'm not sure how it happened, but I consider myself one of those gentile Southern gentlemen who knows his way around the South from Atlanta to Birmingham to Columbia, and all points in between.

Yet somehow, on those countless trips up and down I-95 from Orlando up to Ft Bragg to go shopping for uniform items, or those great Additional Flight Training Programs where we'd fly to Fort Rucker Alabama to hit a Barbecue shack in Enterprise, or St. Simmons Island Georgia for some low country seafood, I'd somehow never made it to Charleston. Maybe because it was out of the way, a good 50 miles off of I-95, and although come to think of it I might have briefly landed at Charleston AFB long enough to drop off some parts or something, I had not had the pleasure of checking the place out.
Here's the takeaway from today's blog entry, and that is that Charleston is a great place, and you should go there right away! (and no, just like I don't work for the West Chester BID, nor do I work for the Charleston Chamber of Commerce.

Charleston is a little bit older than West Chester, and I'd be willing to bet that they have as many historical buildings as we do here in town. Great architecture, great shopping and great restaurants, but the difference of course is that beautiful waterfront view. I just have a feeling that as great as life is here, could it hurt if from say the top of Coyote Crossings we could look out over the water and see a giant Aircraft Carrier permanently tied up to the docks serving as a museum? Colorful sailboats darting in and out of coves? Merchant ships escorted by small pilot boats in and out of our harbor? Yea, I know, nice thought right?


So, just like Charleston, West Chester is kind of off the beaten path, you have to almost go out of your way to visit here, but as I go along in life, I've learned going out of your way usually pays off in many ways, don't ya think?