Thursday, July 8, 2010

south carolina

I really have a love/hate relationship with the south.

On the one hand…Deadly heat. Oppressive history. Confederate flags.

On the other hand…AMAZING food. Beautiful places to visit. Incredible culture.

So as I struggle to decide what I really think about the south, we plod on through. When we arrived in Charleston, I had recently obtained the worst sunburn of my entire life on the beaches of Georgia. We decided to stay at a campsite for the four nights we would be residing in Charleston. We landed ourselves right in the middle of a terrible heat wave during those four days, with suffocating humidity and heat indexes reaching 107 degrees. So with my blazing red back radiating even more heat, I lay miserably in the tent getting two blinks of sleep and fantasizing about laying in a tub of ice (via Little House on the Prairie style). And once again, my travel companion, I’m further learning, can sleep through everything short of a nuclear war.

Groggy, boiling, and in pain we ventured downtown Charleston to do some sightseeing and exploring. We started at the City Market, where local vendors sell their wares, including jewelry, spices, crafts and baskets. The baskets were my favorite, an African American tradition, beautifully crafted by hand with sweet grass. I would have loved to have bought one, but the cheapest one was $20 and was so small it would have been perfect for a Barbie doll to carry. After our browsing we drove closer to the Waterfront Park and took a short walk to “Rainbow Row,” a beautiful line up of colorful historic homes (and probably the most photographed place in Charleston).


We walked a bit further and from this point I thought we might turn around to get the van, but Guy wanted to keep walking and thought the Fort Sumter Center that we had planned on visiting was close by. Not close enough. With my umbrella in hand to shade me from the sun, we plodded through the streets, and I had to stop several times to keep myself from passing out. Guy offered to go get the van several times, but I declined. I’m sure I was an absolute delight to be with. We did finally reach the Fort Sumter Visitor Center, with all of its glorious air conditioning. Fort Sumter is the sight of the beginning of the Civil War, where after decades of growing tension between North and South, the Confederates opened fire on this Federal fort. The actual fort is on an island, and you have to pay for a boat trip/tour to reach it. We opted to view it from afar, and look at the info in the Center instead.  After looking at the Center, I took Guy up on his offer to go retrieve the van and pick me up. That would have been the end of me, especially considering I FURTHER burned the lower portion of my back, since the umbrella didn’t fully protect me! Oh sweet misery.


The next day I requested that I stay out of the sun completely, and find place with air conditioning. After seeing a movie, we grabbed some lunch. As we sat there, my heart was racing out of my chest, I was freezing, started shaking terribly with the chills and thought I was going to pass out. Heat exhaustion. My body just couldn’t take it anymore. I was pretty scared for awhile. I think Guy was too. Guy practically started pouring liquids down my throat, and luckily after many hours of doing this, I started to feel as though I didn’t need to go to urgent care. I don’t typically do well with heat, but double sunburn on top of everything, plus sleeping in a tent every night with no air condition = misery.

Monday was the day we had planned to visit a plantation, since we had actually bought tickets in advance. I was very intrigued to visit a plantation, considering all of the loaded history of slavery that is wrapped up in them. We went to the biggest, most “spectacular” one of them all in Charleston - Magnolia Plantation. On the one hand, you have this magnificent, beautiful piece of land with incredible ponds and stunning gardens. But its impossible not to think of all of the exploitation that occurred to put that beauty there in the first place, and be mindful of that while walking through the grounds. I was curious to see if that issue would be addressed at all during our visit, considering the same family still owned the plantation (for centuries!), and I figured they most likely wouldn’t badmouth their own ancestors. We watched a short video on the history of the family and the plantation, and they did mention the fact that they owned scores of slaves. They also mentioned that they were “very well treated,” “educated by the family members in their own school,” and referred to as their “black roses.” Was this family just trying to soften the blow of their shameful past? Hmm. Its hard to say. What is interesting to note is that the African American family that was in charge of the gardens during slavery times decided to stay at the plantation after emancipation, and their descendants still work at the plantation today. The head gardener was interviewed in the video and seemed quite happy with his work and his life. All very interesting things to ponder.



The Magnolia Plantation certainly was a beautiful place with a horticulture maze, herb garden, Biblical garden, Audubon Swamp, camellia garden, greenhouse, a large petting zoo and plenty of ponds with charming bridges. We didn’t tour the slave cabins or the main house (extra cost), but it was, as you might imagine, quite spectacular from the exterior. Luckily we were shaded almost the entire afternoon, so I didn’t have to die of heatstroke. Although speaking of dying…once when I stopped to take a picture of a pond, I stepped off of the path towards the water...just a few feet. When I did, a rather large alligator jumped quite high into the air just feet from where I was standing, and (luckily) quickly turned the other direction. I’m pretty sure Guy had a heart attack while looking on, and tried to pull me away as I stood there quite unaffected, wanting to see where it went and take a picture.  Sorry mom.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

georgia

The night before we got to Savannah was spent at a campsite just outside of Montgomery. Here were introduced to the beautiful spanish moss that drapes over many of the trees in the southern region, creating a weeping willow effect. We were also introduced to cicadas, the loudest bugs I have ever encountered in my life, kind of like crickets on steroids. I knew we were in for a long night when the camp manager looked at us like we were crazy and said “good luck” for choosing to sleep in a tent in the extreme heat and humidity (most of the people were in RVs). So, as Guy slumbered peacefully through the night, I felt like a crazy person sweating profusely and listening to what sounded like a jungle while getting virtually no sleep…again!



But the next day more than made up for it as we checked into a hotel with air conditioning, and more importantly, walked through the Historic District of Savannah. A popular destination for vacationers, Savannah certainly has no shortage of history, incredible architecture, or charm. When the city was first designed, it followed a grid pattern including 22 “squares” or essentially, oak-shaded parks, that provide a restful spot to enjoy one’s lunch or just lounge. We utilized one early on in our exploration by bringing our lunch we purchased from a popular South African eatery called Zunzis. While walking around the city, we visited several squares, saw a multitude of beautiful old mansions, as well as gorgeous churches, cobblestone streets and horse-drawn carriages. We also visited the eerie 18th century Colonial Park Cemetery, and beautiful Forsyth Park. Along the Savannah River we peaked in the antique shops and boutiques on River Street. After walking clear across town (a few times), over several hours, we decided to call it a day!





The following day was a bit approached a bit more leisurely, starting with lunch at the renowned "Mrs. Wilkes." In the 1940’s Sema Wilkes obtained ownership of a Savannah boardinghouse to provide lodging and delicious southern cooking to guests. Today, it functions only as a restaurant, open soley for lunch, during the hours between 11-2. When we arrived at 1:00, the line was stretching down the block, and I was concerned that we would even be able to get in by 2:00! Although it was slightly past 2:00 as we inched towards the door, we were allowed in (lest I leave bawling my eyes out). This was the one place in Savannah I really wanted to go to (imagine that, its food related!), and I couldn’t wait to see if it really was worth all the fuss. Several famous people have dined at Mrs. Wilkes, including President Obama - just a few months ago! The eatery is set up with several large tables that seat 10, so most frequently (unless you have a large party) you eat with complete strangers. The food is served family-style, and you are required to clear your dishes once finished.  When we sat down, I counted 20 different foods on the table. Twenty. It was like a soul food Thanksgiving: fried chicken, meatloaf, BBQ pork, cornbread, greens, beans, mac & cheese, black-eyed peas, okra, rice, yams, potatoes & gravy, creamed corn, and more! If a bowl ran out, it was replaced with more food. There were endless pitchers of sweet tea, and for dessert, a choice of peach cobbler or banana pudding. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. More than worth the hour+ wait in the scorching sun. I announced to Guy as we left the restaurant that this would have to be my LAST “southern” meal, since I had clearly been going off the deep end with the food here. For a “last supper,” we couldn’t have picked a better establishment.



Did we do anything else that day? Does it really even matter? I’m still fantasizing about the food! I do remember that we played mini-golf, went to a couple antique stores, and didn’t eat dinner that night. :)

Our final day in Georgia was spent at the small city (and island) of Tybee Island, very close in proximity to Savannah. The first part of the day was spent at Fort Pulaski. The Fort honestly wasn’t something I was highly anticipating visiting, but proved to be quite interesting. I learned that the Fort played a significant role in the Civil War.  The Confederates surrendered to the Union army when bombarded by the new rifled canons, taking down the high brick walls, and essentially changing how battles were fought. The loss of this Confederate port for shipping purposes damaged the Southern war efforts. The Fort also acted as a prisoner of war camp, as well as a final destination on the Underground Railroad. We were able to listen in on a tour of the Fort, as well as watch a rifled musket demonstration.



From there, we headed to the beach at Tybee Island. Since leaving California, I was longing to go to a beach again, and now I would have my chance in the Atlantic. Now late June, the ocean water was quite warm, and lying on the beach was downright hot! Since I have spent so many hours outside over the last three months, I thought I didn’t really need to worry about applying sunscreen. I was wrong. After several hours in the sun, Guy commented that I was looking a bit red. Later that evening, I realized I was as red as a lobster. The time at the beach was fun, but the sunburn I obtained turned out to be a disaster.

Savannah was a beautiful city with loads of character, lots of fun.

Friday, July 2, 2010

alabama

We have hit the southern heat.


From Memphis, TN we headed towards Selma, Alabama, in search of a place to sleep. Looking at our map, we decided to stay at a state park that looked to be only about 7 miles out of Selma. As we were driving down what we thought was the road that would lead us to the campsites, it seemed as though quite a bit of time had passed since we arrived in Selma. The sun was setting at this point, and we were now on a slippery red dirt road, and there were no lights or signs of life to be seen anywhere near us. A few times our van started sliding as if we were on ice, and we realized we were running low on gas. At this point, we both started to get nervous and wondered if we were going to either slide off of the road into a ditch or get stuck. The road was fairly narrow and there were no places to turn around. Not too far from where we were, there had been other forests/campsites that had been washed out from the rain! Although Guy remarked how calm I seemed, I was totally starting to freak out at this point. We were miles from anything or anyone and the situation did not look promising. We ended up finding a decent place to try turning around, which Guy did successfully, and started back towards civilization. When we hit the pavement again, we saw a sign for the state park, but it had closed just a half an hour earlier. I was so thankful we made it out of the scary forest, I didn’t even care that we still had to find a place to sleep.

As we headed into town - there it was - the huge “Walmart” sign. We pulled into the lot and decided to stay there for the night. The only other time we stayed at a Walmart on this trip (or ever) was back in Peyson, AZ, and it was NOT an enjoyable experience for me. I was hopeful this round would be better. It wasn’t. It was so hot and humid that night, I probably got about two hours of actual sleep that night. The only thing that comforted me that night was the fact that I wasn’t lying in a ditch in the middle of the forest.

So, enough about my campsite/no sleep ramblings…and back to the real point of this blog - the journey from Selma to Montgomery. Before we left on this trip, I was so excited to go to Alabama to retrace the steps of this historic march, and I was not disappointed by the experience. In 1965, thousands participated in a 54-mile march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capitol in Montgomery, led by Martin Luther King. African Americans were discriminated against in many facets of every day living, including the right to vote. When attempting to register to vote, made up “rules” would inhibit them from registering - including limiting the number of applicants, or suddenly closing the doors of the facilities without explanation. Selma Alabama was extreme in its restrictions towards blacks, thus protestors decided to gather in the city in hopes of drawing attention of the president and gaining new voting rights legislation.


The first march was attempted on March 7, 1965, but after only 6 blocks peaceful marchers were met by hostile lawmen armed with teargas and billy clubs, violently attacking and stopping the march in an event known as “Bloody Sunday.” Just days later, MLK Jr. led another nonviolent march, this time calling for religious leaders around the nation to join in a prayful gathering at the sight of Bloody Sunday. This gained the attention of President Johnson who promised to introduce a voting rights bill to congress.


The third and final march was held a few weeks later (with the protection of hundreds of federal agents and the national guard) over a number of days, going the full 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery. The number of marchers totaled approximately 25,000, and they congregated on the steps of the Montgomery Capitol, where King delivered an inspiring speech. A few months later, President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which authorized the attorney general to send federal examiners to replace local registrars if voting discrimination occurred.




We began retracing the steps of the march at the site where it all began - Brown Chapel in Selma. This church served as the headquarters for the Voting Rights Movement as well as the starting point for the march.







We then crossed over Edmund Pettis Bridge, where marchers were met with brutality on Bloody Sunday. On the other side of the bridge, memorials, a fountain and a mural commemorated the march.

As we drove along the trail, we saw the campsites the marchers stayed at over the four days. At the half-way point, we visited the Lowndes County Interpretive Center which gave an excellent overview of the events leading up to the march, as well as the march itself, and the aftermath. When we arrived in Montgomery, it was amazing to stop and see both the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church where MLK Jr. served as pastor, and to stand on the steps of the the capitol where he delivered his speech to all of those thousands of everyday heroes.



Before leaving Montgomery, we stopped at the Civil Rights Monument - a beautiful sculpture and fountain that simply read “…until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a might stream.”


It proved to be a very moving and powerful afternoon spent reflecting on the struggles and triumphs of the Civil Rights Movement.