Choose Charleston

The whole downtown medical district gets a-buzzing when the Roper-St. Francis cafeteria has smoked turkey legs on the lunch menu.

Big juicy smoked turkey leg and some sweet tea - you might as well be walking the midway at the county fair. Not that walking is the thing to do in this kind of heat. Man, that sunshine just pushes you down and makes you say, “Uncle!” And that’s just from crossing the street. Can you imagine what the construction workers are feeling right about now?

On the subject of Roper-St. Francis Healthcare, kudos are due. Health Imaging and IT Magazine recently named RSFH as one of the top 25 connected healthcare facilities.

Accurate information and the ability to access that information in a timely manner are vital to patient care, as we all know, and RSFH is just as pleased as a peach at the way their people consistently keep them on the leading edge, technologically speaking.

Now, everyone go hug someone from hospital IT. They’re the behind-the-scenes heroes keeping the information flowing, after all.

It’s the big two-double-oh for the City Market, one of the top destinations in town for tourists.

To say that Market Street has a storied past is an understatement.

Longtime Charlestonians recall the days when wandering into the Market was a rather dicey proposition. When the chain supermarkets first hit the area, the former go-to place for fresh food withered and went wild with weeds, so to speak. Lots of flies and buzzards circling in the skies are some of the visuals with which oral historians pepper their tales of those days.

Luckily, King Joe and like-minded preservationists were coming into power back then. The Market did an about face in step with the rest of the slightly North of Broad Street area.

Today, it is vibrant and bustling with activity. Everything from artisan sweetgrass baskets to art prints, kitschy t-shirts, candy, and keepsakes are sold in the Market these days.

Market Street is also a good jumping-off point for just about anything else you might choose to do while touring the peninsula.

Wild Wing Cafe and Tristan are just two of the many eateries on Market Street. Charleston Legends and Lore Ghost Theatre is a short walk down Church Street from the Market. The Shops at Charleston Place are just across Meeting Street, FIG and Jestine’s Kitchen are within walking distance, as is King Street shopping.

We ventured out into the heart of the sightseeing crowds Wednesday afternoon, mostly because there are some top-notch restaurants in the area and also because, hey, it never hurts to renew your sense of what is changing, what is staying the same.

We avoided the worst of it by staying off of Market Street. But Meeting Street - in the vicinity of Charleston Place, Hyman’s, and Sticky Fingers - gathers its own crush of pedestrians ’round about suppertime.

Our reservations were actually at another restaurant - FIG, one of my favorites. But we had a bit of spare time, so we ambled along the storefronts, playing tourist in our own town, as it were, and even strolled through some of Charleston Place. We passed a young gentleman fussing with the staff of Waldenbooks over their return / exchange policy and then we ambled into Brookstone to sample the massage chairs.

On our way back down Meeting Street, we got called over by one of those folks who sell tour packages. Mind, I said that he called us over, not that we accepted his offer to stand there while he launched into a sales pitch - we made no response other than to laugh when he asked what we were doing while we were Charleston. Hmm, let’s see, while I’m “in Charleston,” I tend to eat, sleep, work, watch TV, read, commute, put gas in the truck, get oil changes, shop for groceries, mow the lawn, take the garbage to the curb on Monday and the recycle bin to the curb on Wednesday, and basically do all of the things one does when living in a town.

For Pete’s sake.

I really dislike that particular street vendor tactic - shouting out to passersby to try to sell tour packages - and, if I’m not mistaken, the city has asked the tour companies to stop doing this on numerous occasions. It’s tacky. It makes you feel like you are at a carnival.

I don’t blame the kids who are doing it - they are just following their instructions so that they can earn extra cash to help offset skyrocketing tuition costs. I just feel that it is a flawed sales theory. Any additional sales that are made are bound to be offset by sales lost from those who are offended by the tactic.

The idea has been building for a long, long while.

The 20th Century brought many a change to these here United States, including a long-lived love affair with horseless carriages; newfangled contraptions that came to be known as automobiles, cars, jalopies. Chitty Chitty Bang Bangs. We polished them until they sparkled in the sunlight, gassed them up, and hopped inside for a trip from here to practically wherever.

They certainly were convenient when a trip between cities or states was what we needed, but gradually we grew so accustomed to riding inside of them that we would motor up even when we only needed to travel a few blocks down the road.

Somewhere along the way, a few forward-thinking minds thought: “Enough!” They shook one leg, then the other, revisited a few stretches that they learned in gym class many a moon ago, and rediscovered the art of walking. For slightly more distant travels, they dusted off bicycles.

And they soon found that they felt better. Not just in the cardiovascular sense, but also in the sense of noticing things about their towns that they had previously zipped right past.

When the James Island Connector spanned the mighty Ashley River, not only did our marvelous medical students gain affordable island housing that was suddenly just a quick trip over the water, but they also gained a great jogging path with a scenic view.

When the great Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge replaced its older cousins above the Cooper River, a walking and bicycling path was a key component in its design. Walking, running, or bicycling that path has fast become one of the most popular outdoor activities for locals and visitors alike.

Today, it seems like everyone with a bridge nearby wants in on that feel-good fit feeling. A meeting is scheduled for the end of the month at Charles Towne Landing to discuss how the North Bridge, linking West Ashley with North Charleston, could benefit from a dedicated walking and bicycling path, among other improvements.

If this blending of bridges and physical fitness continues, who knows where it might lead? Next thing you know, we might even have to launch a major annual international 10K… hm? What’s that? Oh… that’s right…