You're more likely to see a dolphin than an alligator...

It was 27 degrees CELCIUS today. In October. It's sick!

So, we decided to hit the beach just in case this was freak weather. We caught the bus over to Folly beach but as it happens the bus turns back 3 miles away. Now I don't mind walking but when your talking 3 miles at the side of a motorway built through SWAMP LANDS I'm not so okay with that. I'm not sure if you're aware that South Carolina is home to alligators, rattlesnakes, coral snakes, poisonous spiders...and the rest.

So just picture us pair scurrying along the side of the road, on edge, surrounded by swamps on all sides, nowhere to run,  I'm ready to throw Paula to the alligators as a decoy at any given moment and we're worrying what our parents would say. HA! We were so worn out by the time we got to the beach we just had to lie down and rest for 3 hours. 

{In the glorious sunshine. Karma's gon' be a bitch.}

I don't know much about alligators but I assume they come out the water when the weather gets cooler and the sun begins to set, say around 5 o'clock? What time did we decide to walk back? 5 o'clock. There he was, right there beside the road in the water. I'm not gonna pretend he was huge or anything but he was the kinda size which made me think mumma was lurking close by. He'd at least have taken a leg. "Just.f*cking.go. Just go" was all we managed at the time. Sorry dad, we did try and get a taxi. 

We seen an alligator though!! How amazingly awesome is that! We seen dolphins in the creek feeding and birds of prey circling above our heads , bright red dragonflies and neon butterflies, I love Charleston!

Louise x

Palm trees, Y'alls and chevrolets

There's a reason Nicholas Sparks sets all his books in the deep south. It's because it's cool as hell and literally every man is an undiscovered Abercrombie model. And because he lives here but that comes back to it being ace. Paula says I'm prone to exaggerating but come and see for yo'self.

We hired bikes today to explore and once I'd got used to the silly buggers we were a force to be reckoned with. Paula was in front because "apparently" I wasn't to be trusted on the roads. Now I don't know if it's just me but Americans make everything so difficult...miles, feet, inches, cups, toilet doors with gaps, bikes that you have to pedal backwards to brake. I mean what the hell is that! I literally had to learn to ride a bike all over again. My constant stalling at traffic lights made my pretty bike/ sun hat/ aviators combination waaay less cool. Consequently a lot funnier though. Paula more like a mother taking her 5 year old on a day trip, in particular when my hat blew away. Well imagine the horror when I realised it was on the path of death as the wheels of a truck headed straight for it. To say I screamed in terror is an understatement. I did however teach her a thing or two about the civil war today, just a little something I picked up in Philly on my Independence Hall tour...cool points to me!

Louise x

Dixie dreamin'

This week we made the best decision of our travels, to catch a 20 hour long Greyhound bus to Charleston. It was probably the worst travelling I've ever done, we thought because it was an overnight bus that we would be able to sleep and the length of the journey would ensure we would be the only ones stupid enough to do it. Funnily enough we were wrong. Reeally wrong. We also never looked at the schedule details so we didn't realise until we were in Columbia that we had a 5 hour stopover in a room which they've tried to pass off as a station.

 

We arrived in Charleston to everything we'd expected it to be. Palm trees, chevrolets, sun, and the accents. Aah the accents. We spent the whole week walking around, or cycling, catching the free trolleys up and down downtown, and the nights spent with beer on our balcony as the sun set and the temperature dropped. We've both loved everywhere we've been but there's something about Charleston that feels comfortable and homely, I can't explain it, I'm just completely in love with the place.

 

Tonight we leave to fly back to Canada where we will stay until next year. We land in Calgary where it's already winter weather. I don't think we'll see summer nights like these summer nights for a very very long time, bro.

 

Hey y'all...

Charleston's a funny little place. It's so beautiful and friendly then you walk in what you thinks gon' be a nice little store and they've got Obama toilet paper. Not cool, Charleston, not cool.
We went to the Citadel Mall today over in West Ashley because the buses are only $1.75 and we weren't very optimistic about the weather. 1 hour in Target and it had gone from 13 degrees celcius to 25. So we ate our squished Nutella sandwiches and headed back to Charleston to sunbathe.