Sunday morning and we are moving slowly. We packed the Toyota, more stuff than we had when we arrived - surprise, surprise. We found our way out of town and headed south, our eventual destination today is Charleston, South Carolina. As we saw the sign for Colonial Beach, we decided to see if we could find the location of Mt. Moriah farm, Mark’s boyhood summer haunt. This was the original farm purchased in the early 1900’s by his great-grandfather James R. Covert. The farm was sold to developers in the early 1960’s. For over 10 summers, Mark and his brothers and parents journeyed to King George County, Virginia to spent the entire summer at the farm. There they ran through the fields and woods, played marauding Indians and threw rotting walnuts at the outhouse.
We drove past Ninde Corner, found Tetotum Road, and eventually the sign for Mt. Moriah On The Potomac private community. We drove down the quiet lanes, passing huge McMansions tucked into the woods, and eventually found a drive that led to a bluff overlooking the Potomac River. There was the old summer home, now added upon and dressed up, but still there. We snapped a picture or two and then headed back toward the highway and turned south again.
We reached the Potomac Beach area at 11:30 AM and decided it was time to stop for lunch at the famous Wilkerson’s Seafood Restaurant for crab. They started service with deep fried fritters as an appetizer. We ordered crab cakes and a crab cake sandwich, accompanied by a salad bar, wine, cherry coke and a beer. The food was as excellent as we remembered, although very pricey. Back on the road, we continued through Colonial Beach and on towards South Carolina.
This was a very long driving day. Abigail occupied the gunner’s position in the rear and Deb and Mark switched back and forth in the pilot’s chair. Deb took the last shift and piloted us into Charleston at 9:20 PM - a very long drive with only one gas stop and a driver switchover. We arrived at our hotel, The Emeline, gave our vehicle over to the valet for the next two days and hired the bellman to haul our luggage up to the 4th floor. We poured ourselves a glass of wine, broke out the last of our cheese and crackers and called it a day.
The Hotel Emeline is perfectly located in old town Charleston. It aspires to be an upscale establishment and is nicely furnished. How ever similar to a Stephen King movie it may appear, it was not quite up to its self imposed standards. Although offering a pair of king sized beds, the mattresses were too soft. There was an inspiring marbled bath with separate toilet room, but only one small wastebasket; the shower, while of marble and commodious, lacked a grab bar for safety, especially when the soap got under foot on the marble floor. The pump bottle of lotion on the sink counter was nice, but soap would have been better. They were trying, but just a bit off the mark.
On Monday morning, we were up and looking for coffee; only cups in the room, but no coffee maker. It turns out the coffee machines were placed in the elevator lobby of each floor. Two espresso machines but only one was working. Mark schlepped the coffee back and forth, and then we decided it was time to explore. Abigail powered up her computer and logged into work. The rest of us showered, shaved and applied make-up. We broke for lunch and walked into the old market area and found Tommy Condon’s Irish restaurant. Abigail lunched on a beautiful set of fish and chips, Mark enjoyed a Ruben sandwich, and Deb indulged in a bowl of potato soup. Wine was ordered, and Abigail ordered a “Peach Paddy Rita,” essentially a peach Bellini margarita. Deb and Mark headed out to explore the old Charleston Market Place while Abigail returned to the hotel lobby coffee shop to go back into work.
Deb and Mark returned about 3:00 PM, lightly laden but tired. Mark went up for a nap and Deb stayed with Abigail for a coffee and visit while she worked. We had arranged to meet our grandson Adrian at the nearby Mario’s Italian Ristorante for dinner, so we ordered an Uber and arrived to find Adrian at 6:00 PM. The restaurant was a charming local establishment with good service. We started with a Dirty Martini, a Lemon Drop Martini and the “boys” opted for a couple of glasses of the House Red wine. we moved on to Lasagna al Forno, Carbonara, Mussels in white wine sauce, and Linguine ala frutti de Mare. For dessert, there was cheesecake with a strawberries drizzle and a large cannoli covered in chocolate sauce. All the food was excellent and we had a wonderful visit with Adrian, now stationed at Joint Base Charleston with USAF. Rain showers had started as we finished our dinner, so we ordered a shared Uber to return us to the hotel and Adrian to his apartment near the base.
Back in the hotel, we read, watched the tail end of the movie Chicago and finally fell into a deep sleep, at least Mark and Deb did. The last waking view of Abigail was as she labored away on her fourth pair of knitted socks, on towards her goal of 10 pairs for June in celebration of Pride month. A good day, a great chance to visit our grandson/nephew and an exploration of a city, even if we didn't get to see that much.
