Merry Christmas! This was one of the more unusual ones I’ve ever had, in that we spent the morning packing up, left Asheville, and then drove the four or so hours to Charleston. It was an uneventful drive, during which we listened to an audio book of A Christmas Carol, which is quite witty in the narration.

We got situated in our Airbnb, which is in a newly constructed apartment/condo building that is quite swanky, with marble countertops, an open floor plan, and a beautiful outdoor pool that we will probably have to content ourselves with looking at (because of overnight temperatures in the fifties making the water quite cold). It’s a nice place, and while not within walking distance of downtown, it is within ten minutes or so of driving on neighborhood roads.

The one outing we took on this transition day was to go downtown, right down to an oceanfront park. It has an iconic fountain in the park in the shape of a pineapple, and wading in the fountain is encouraged. No one was today.

There were many women and girls out in fancy dresses, having their pictures taken. As far as I could tell, they were all Hispanic, so I’m not sure if this is a Hispanic culture custom or a southern thing. Either way, it was festive. Why not wear a pretty dress when Christmas day is seventy degrees and sunny?

While we were strolling the edge of the bay, we saw a disturbance out in the water that turned out to be two dolphins. We pretty much only saw the fins, but it was still exciting for those of us in landlocked cold lands. Later on, we saw another (or one of the same) dolphins much closer up, and sometimes it would arch its back out of the water. It was a nice welcome to Charleston.

Even the drive out of the downtown area was great. For whatever reason, Dubbs’ phone’s GPS sent us on a zigzag through about ten blocks of beautiful streets with picturesque homes. This looks like a good town in which to wander around, and we seem to have some good weather coming up in which to do so.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good (and warm!) night.