Tourist in my own town...

This week I had two of my aunts and two of my cousins visiting from Ohio.  We drove so many places.  We walked so far! I think we gave a huge boost to the city's economy.  We toured two beaches. We had great Uno Attack games.  We kind of sort of visited three plantation homes.  We rode a boat to a historic battle site. We met a lot of very nice, friendly people.  Some of us did not eat eggs for breakfast on Saturday!  Overall we had a great time!

More than once during this weekend I had to say, "I honestly don't know.  I've never been here before."  It was great!  There is so much to see and do in Charleston.  Friday we set out to Fort Sumter, then the Charleston City Market, then Sullivan's Island.  A lot of back and forth driving and walking (almost 6 miles when it was all said and done) culminating in a trip to the only Fazoli's in the area!  Even with all the walking and touring we did, there are so many more places I need to visit.  (That is why I need more house guests!  I need more people to take out and about so I have more reasons to visit these places!)  

Saturday was a little more of the same.  We drove down Ashley River Road, which is one of the prettiest drives there is.  We wanted to visit some of the plantation homes, but they were kind of expensive.  So we just drove in the driveway and then turned around and left! After that we drove to Folly Beach, a trip that took us through James Island.  I usually have no real reason to drive an hour south of my house, but there seemed to be so many cool shops to visit.  I need to visit there more often!

I started thinking about this in relation to Ohio.  I never really had any out of town guests visit my family when I was home.  Almost all of my family lives within an hour of my house.  All of my friends lived within Medina County, and the few who moved away had lived here for so long before they left that when they came home they never needed to "tour" the area.  This is probably a good thing though, because there is just about nothing to do in Ohio.  I remember making fun of tourism guides for places other than Cleveland, Columbus, or Cincinnati.  

Essentially, the "must see" destinations in Ohio are Cedar Point, Amish Country, The Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Rock Museum, maybe the Science museum, and if you really want to go to Akron...um...maybe go there during the Firestone tournament? 

It's not really a fair comparison.  I mean, Charleston has a much longer and richer history.  Being situated where it is also gives it a much broader range of ethnic, cultural, and regional influences.  Ohio is like every other state in the Midwest: Maybe 150-200 years of statehood, a large portion of their citizens are descended from immigrants of maybe three or four European countries, and really obnoxious weather that changes whenever it feels like it.  (And honestly, Ohio does have it's perks.  I just feel like picking on Ohio.  Always a fun and easy target!)

I can't wait for my upcoming weekends.  I have about a million more places I want to visit, in addition to just chilling on the beach.  Come and visit me some time.  We'll have a ball!