Hookers, Harlets & Haunts!

As I was saying...off to the Pub Crawl we went!

(our new friend Mark)

(we found Hokie fans!  and a Hokie bar!!)

(it was about 100 degrees, and we had walked 6 miles down king street on the "sunny side", so please excuse the whale spout on top of my head.  i had about given up on my appearance at this point :)

Funny story.  So TEN says "I want my picture with my head in that hippo's mouth!", and he points to the hippo on the wall.  The hippo was located above a booth.  A booth that was full of people.  "Hmmm...perhaps you could explain the situation, and they may move so that I can take a quick picture?", I remarked.

And he was off!

And when I made my way to the booth....the man sitting directly under the hippo was standing, and shaking TEN's hand, and barking at his wife to pull up the photo of his head in the tailpipe of that truck that they saw when they were on vacation.  "It was a huuuuuuuge tail pipe", he exclaimed, "you've never seen such a thing!"

And I hadn't.  It WAS a huge tail pipe.

(some of the local crawlers had these shirts made...)

(we let ourselves into the VIP section of the King St. Bar :)

We lasted for the duration of the crawl, which was quite impressive if I do say so myself.  We finally decided it was time to head home, and we stopped into Gilroy's on King Street to order a Large pepperoni pizza to go. 

It was so big that as hungry as we were, both of us could only put down 1/2 of the pizza!!

~~~~~ Sunday ~~~~~

Sunday morning we headed to Folly Beach.  I'd never been before, but I remember hearing my father talk fondly about his visits to Folly when he was in high school & college. 

Later in the afternoon, one of TEN's college friends met us at Rita's. 

"Squid", as they call him, lives on James Island.  I met him at the wedding in Big City Virginia earlier this summer.  Very nice guy!  He brought along a friend of his who was also nice, and then he treated us to a shot of Fireball Whiskey.  EGADS!

After enjoying a few margaritas (and the best SHRIMP I may have EVER had in my life), we headed back to Charleston to get ready for our Ghost Tour!

I will say that I think the idea of a Charleston Ghost Tour sounds amazing.  However, I picked the wrong one for us to go on :(  I, somehow, chose the one that ONLY goes into graveyards.  And as much as I adore wandering in old graveyards, I like to hear more of the spooky stuff about the city in general.  Myths, legends and not really hauntings I suppose?

We decided that the next time we are in town we will go on the "18 & older" ghost tour.  They talk about the brothels, and the illegal stuff that went down back in the day.  I think that sounds much more colorful, if you will....

After our tour ended, the rain started.  Quite the torrential downpour.  Imagine our pleasure when we discovered we were conveniently standing in front of High Cotton!

We enjoyed a glass of champagne, and as the rain let up we wandered down to Pearlz Oyster Bar.

TEN hadn't had any oysters while we were in Charleston, and he is quite the fan.

The day at the beach had worn us both out, and so we returned to the hotel for a good night's sleep.

~~~~~ Monday~~~~~

Monday morning we were up bright and early.  One more trip to the Historic Market for a few more prizes for friends (and for me!):

(TEN bought this sterling pineapple for my charm bracelet as a little prize from our trip :)

...and then it was off to Toast! to meet The Real Housewife of Charleston & The Real Baby of Charleston for brunch.

The neat thing about Toast! is their "Bottomless Mimosa".  Breakfast all day, every day, and bottomless mimosas.  Are you kidding?  NOPE.  TEN's sister gave us the low down on this location, and we kept meaning to make it there for brunch.  Unfortunately, we didn't make it until Monday and we were getting ready to get on the road.  No bottomless mimosas for us :(

The NY Times also voted Toast! "The Best Breakfast in Charleston", but TEN's sister didn't tell us that.  She just told us about the mimosas. 

TRHoC and TRBoC met us, as I said, and we had a lovely breakfast!  TEN and TRBoC had a bonding moment, as seen below:

After brunch, we hit Dumas one more time (where TEN got 3 new shirts and a new belt), and then we were on the road back to Smalltown, VA.  

It seems like we did so much on this trip, but somehow we also relaxed.  It was wonderful.

OH!  We also saw a hooker.  Like, a real one.  Coming out of a fancy pants hotel called The Mills House Hotel.  She came down the steps, and began walking right in front of TEN and I.  Both of our jaws dropped and our eyes became as big as saucers.  Not because we're THAT innocent, but because it was so out of place.  10am on a Monday morning.  Beautiful day.  Beautiful hotel.  Families all around.  And here she came, proud as a peacock.  Bless her little heart.

On Saturday morning we saw another girl doing the walk of shame.  Just goes to show...there are sinners everywhere.  Even in The Holy City :-o

T