Choose Charleston

I know we can all agree it has been really hot recently but I think it is time to try my hand at golf again.  I recently purchased a new set of irons so I am ready to see if they improved my game any. (Don’t laugh!)  Since I have not played recently, I am asking anyone who golfs to weigh in on the topic.  What is your favorite golf course in Charleston, South Carolina. Or what course offers the most value? I am sure we have many readers who are coming to Charleston with the idea of playing some golf on vaction or a business trip.  You could help them make a great choice! Over the coming weeks, I am going to write a few articles about the Charleston golf courses mentioned!

Which Charleston golf course is your favorite and why?

Hit em straight!

Mother’s Day is quickly approaching, are you prepared to make this day a special one?  If you are searching the web for last minute Mother’s Day idea’s for a Charleston mom, maybe I can help! As always, the safe bet is flowers.  Can you go wrong with flowers?  Sound like a winner! Visit this local Charleston florist then.  If you think your mom would enjoy spending the day with you, then check out The North Charleston Arts Festival.  The last day will be May 12, 2007 so you can go before Mothers Day or on the day if you would like.  Lastly, call your mom and just tell her how much you love her!

A great event for a great cause will be going on March 8th, The 2nd Annual Sailing For The Future Benefit Regatta.  This gives opportunity to our Charleston youth to get involved in a great local event.  The harbor start will be at 1:00 pm but feel free to come early and get to know some of the local Charleston sailors!  The race will be followed by a reception that features a cash bar and light food and then awards.  Registration fee is $100 and will need to be completed by March 7th.  What a great event this will be!  Come out and show support everyone! 

For more information, go to CharlestonCommunitySailing.org

If you are planning on touring Charleston then I would suggest doing so by horse and carriage. Whether you are on a vacation to Charleston or planning a romantic outing, a horse carriage ride in Charleston is a great method to see what the city of Charleston has to offer.  Are you are ready to ride in elegance? Great! Old South Carriage Company is one of the more popular carriage services in Charleston.  Olde Town Carriage Company has been in business for over 25 years providing professional tour guides to vistors, they even can handle special events and large groups.  Carolina Polo and Carriage Company is a local family owned company that specializes in providing romantic adventures and is a great option if you are planning a wedding in Charleston.  Lastly, Classic Carriage Tours provides rides for couples and wagons for large groups.  All of the companies have unique offers and experiences.  I would suggest visiting the websites of each to gather a better idea of what they have to offer and if they will fit within your budget.  Enjoy your ride and view of the great city of Charleston! Don’t forget to give the horse a treat!

You know you’re in Charleston in August when skipping the weekly lawnmowing chores leaves the backyard a wilderness gone wild, grasses grown long enough to hide a herd of antelope.

That ’s what happens when the deadlines line up back to back.

But once I saw a sliver of opportunity to fire up the lawnmower, it was back to the salt mines, a return to manual labor for the writer, time to push through the shag.

We acknowledge, of course, that push through the shag would have another meaning altogether on Folly Beach, to say nothing of the U.K.

The lawnmower, self-propelled, takes a good bit of the manual out of the labor. It complained a few times as I walked it through the thickest stands of grass but it did the job.

Autumn, can’t you come on home a little quicker? I’m ready for pumpkins, color tours of the leaves in the foothills, cooler days, chilly evenings, and starry skies at night.

The South Carolina Aquarium does a fine job of portraying the natural diversity of the Palmetto State, all the way from the Blue Ridge escarpment upstate to the estuaries, beaches, and ocean way down here in the Lowcountry.

Through August, the aquarium might be your best bet for schlepping around to see some brownwater swamp. The building is air conditioned and harbors far fewer mosquitoes than the great outdoors, after all.

Of course, there being nothing like the real thing, the miles and miles of beaches between the Lowcountry and the Grand Strand are active as all get out as of late.

For beating the heat, beaches, barrier islands to kayak toward, and boating excursions all do the job well.

This Saturday and Sunday, August 4-5, the Washout on Folly Beach will once again host the South Carolina Governor’s Cup of Surfing.

That’s two whole days of competition featuring the best of the class from all the way up and down the Easten seaboard. Wahines wade in from the Outer Banks and Menehunes migrate from Myrtle Beach to show their stuff at this top wave event.

Arrive early to catch a good parking spot.

Keep in mind that South Carolina is one of only two states with an official Governor’s Cup dedicated to the sport of surfing (the other is California). Governor Mark Sanford, well known as a champion of coastal and environmental causes, is himself an avid surfer.

So the Governor’s Cup is a point of pride for Sandlappers.

Speaking of which, the summer 2007 issue of Sandlapper: The Magazine of South Carolina features a cool article on the Governor’s Cup and the Folly Beach surf crowd, if you’re interested in some background research before you show up on the beach.

As well, the summer issue of Garden & Gun has an article on the local wahines and the July 2007 Charleston Magazine has an article on Folly Beach in its golden age (check out the sailing adventure by the ever adventurous Ida Becker in the same issue).

Early afternoon thunderstorms drenched the South Carolina Lowcountry on Saturday. It was pouring down so hard at points that visibility dropped on the highways and slowed traffic to a crawl.

It put a bit of a dent in the heat. But with August gearing up right around the corner, these runs of hot, hot, hot are not going away anytime soon. More, once all that rain soaks way down deep in the soil, grass and kudzu are going to spin up toward the sky like magic beans had been planted. Better get the lawnmowers and weed-whackers ready!

And more is on the way. Today and through most of the coming week, cloud cover and a chance of thunderstorms are the watch words.

Far, far away, beyond Goose Creek and near the shore of Lake Moultrie, there is a quiet place of canals and woods…

If you want the inside scoop on the country charm of Moncks Corner, you could hardly go wrong with Moncks Corner Moments, a personal blog written by the ever adroit and charming Heather Solos. She also manages the local blog round-up, Lowcountry Blogs, for Charleston’s Post & Courier and, together with BigBadIvy, she pens the sassy and savvy Home Ec 101.

In the remaining hours of the day, or so I’ve heard, she also squeezes in a bit of eating, sleeping, and the raising of ch’urns.

The drive to charming Moncks Corner from gentle Charleston can take the better part of an hour so it is best to have your itinerary well planned. There is natural beauty in abundance: Cypress Gardens, Old Santee Canal Park, and the gardens of Mepkin Abbey, as well as opportunities for boating, fishing, or just wandering down a good old-fashioned Main Street.

Now, some folks will claim that Moncks Corner is named for the Trappists who live simple lives of labor and contemplation at Mepkin Abbey. This is actually not true. Moncks Corner is named for George Monck, Duke of Albemarle, who was one of the Lords Proprietors.

The Lords Proprietors, of course, were a group of English gentlemen who helped Charles II regain his throne from the scurrilous Oliver Cromwell. Charles II was very, very happy about having his throne back (wouldn’t you be?) and rewarded the men with land grants in the Carolinas.

Now, all this talk of history makes one hungry.

Luckily, when it comes time to feast, be it midday or ’round about suppertime, there are ample diner-style eateries available in the center of town.

Of course, fair is fair, last time I was Moncks Corner, I was pressed for time so I took the Sonic Drive-In option: BLT and a Tropical Mango Iced Tea, yum yum.

The young lady at the window provided the friendliest service I’ve seen in a good long while.

This is the time of year when the long, hot summer really starts to shake off the last lingering snarls of springtime and gear up for serious business.

All the way up and down Ashley River Road, greenery is bursting out.

It’s getting to be “mow the lawn twice a day and it still looks shaggy” season - that time of year when all it takes is a few thunderstorms to give the ground a good soaking. There are vines winding up the T-posts where the laundry lines used to be that are winding skyward like a magic beanstalk straight out of a fairy tale. You can practically stand in the back yard with a tape measure and record its progress hour by hour.

If I’m exaggerating, it’s not by much.