Sometimes 2 is better than 12

Well after our night in the sweat lodge (aka our tent), we decided we did NOT want to wander around too long in Charleston even though we loved it there. We wanted to hit some more sights but we didn't want to do the all-day-walking-tour thing, so we drove the Heyward Washington House.



The Heyward Washington House was built in 1772 and currently they give tours of the house, which is now furnished with actual furniture from the time period. Our tour guide was fantastic and told our group of 8 about the history of the home (it's called the Washington house because George Washington once stayed in the house for about a week.) The house also had some amazing antiques into it that were just beautiful and not to mention priceless. One of the pieces in the house is a bookcase which is considered to be the most important piece of American furniture ever created. Touring old homes is one of my favorite things to do in historic towns and this one was great.



We also got to talk one-on-one with our interpreter/tour guide about the Society of the Cincinnati. One of the most prestigious hereditary societies in American history, you need to be a male descendant of one of George Washington's generals in the Revolutionary War to be eligible. Billy is convinced he could be a member but I guess he's just going to have to do some digging into his roots. The Society of the Cincinnati is still functional today.



Next, instead of walking, we drove to the French Quarter of Charleston and had lunch at a pub called the Griffin. It was dark, had yummy food and the A/C was pumping - perfect!



We said goodbye to Charleston after lunch but I know we'll go back to visit soon. I'm filing it away in "possible places to retire." It was a lovely city and cliched as it is, the people were so friendly. Plus I love old money. And Charleston is full of that.



Next, we decided to drive to Raleigh-Durham, NC. Billy and I had once thought of moving to the Raleigh-Durham area because of the temperate weather and because it's one of the fastest growing areas in the U.S. It was pouring rain as we got into Raleigh, and surprisingly, the city was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. While we were in Raleigh, we saw a Krispy Kreme and I knew we had to stop. Why, you ask? Well, because Krispy Kremes are good. But really because North Carolina is the home of the first Krispy Kreme so you have to stop. So we got in the drive thru, and I just wanted 1 hot one and Billy wanted 1 too. We were really to order 2. But then, I thought, we should just order half a dozen to munch on later. I ordered and drove up to the window, where the girl informs us that for $0.50 we could have a full dozen. And like little piggies, we ordered 12. Arrgh. Why? I don't know. We were suckered into it. After 2 donuts each we were sick of them (but I will confess we were still eating them 2 days later).



We drove the short distance to Chapel Hill, and it was a cute little city. Home of the University of North Carolina, it was a really adorable college town. The campus reminded me of OU with all of it's great brick architecture and fun vibe. Then we drove to Cary, North Carolina, which was named America's Best City to Live In a few years ago. It had a nice little town center and some cute, quaint homes as well as a lot of new construction. Then we drove to Durham which seemed to have a younger vibe than Raleigh.



Knowing we were short on time, we drove on. The plan was to hit the Appalachian mountains and stop for the night at a hotel. Well, at 1 am, we hit the last town before the mountains - Wytheville, Virginia. There are about 15 hotels in this town. Shouldn't be a problem, right?? WRONG again! Every single hotel was booked. There were people like us driving from hotel to hotel, jumping out and running to the front desk but every place had no vacancy. Even the parking lots were full.



So we gave up. We found a parking spot at one of the hotels, moved all the luggage to the front seats, popped down the back seat and slept in the back of the car. It was uncomfortable and awful! Haha, Billy tried hard to make it comfortable (pillows, blankets, fan) but it just was not great.



Anyway, we woke up, brushed our teeth and Billy washed his face in the parking lot of a gas station, which got us a lot of stares haha. And on the road we went again. Appalachia is beautiful if you've never been there. All rolling hills and green pastures. Virgina went by, and West Virginia was upon us.



We stopped in Tamarack, West Virginia, which is basically this fantastic rest stop that has all of these great local crafts by Appalachian craftsman. Beautiful and expensive. The food is supposedly good but we didn't have anything to eat.



We saved that for Cracker Barrel. Mmmm. Nuff said.



Then it finally happened - the OHIO state line! The Hobbs Adventure had finally come to an end.