Hi, ya! I'm back in Philly after my Christmas vacation. I visited my parents in South Carolina, then headed to the South Carolina coast for a little chill time.We stayed on the coast at a friend's house (that house in the top picture). Yes, it does look like a shack, but that's because it pretty much is a shack. The house is a Freedman's cottage, which is a two-room home built after the Civil War and rented to newly freed slaves.
Our friends are restoring the house, and have actually removed an addition to the house to bring the house back to it's original footprint, and have also gotten the house on the National Register of Historic Places. Pretty cool, since lots of these houses are under threat of being torn down (or have already been torn down) due to development.
In the kitchen there is an antique electric stove. She's pretty darn cute, but, trust me, you do not want this as your every-day stove. It's basically a two-burner hot plate, and the oven part is identical to the round electric coil burner on the top of the stove, except there is a metal box surrounding it — kind of like an Easy Bake Oven.Oh, I ate while I was away, but, other than a few food tweets, my vacation was also a vacation from blogging and making mental notes of every meal I ate. So nice, I should do it more often.
We went to the beach, and also enjoyed the spectacular vistas of the marshes which are everywhere you look when you're hopping from island to island.
I climbed the lighthouse on Hunting Island, which is kinda cool, because most lighthouses aren't open to the public.
Walked through the streets filled with grand Southern mansions and Live Oaks. The houses are nice, but it's the Live Oaks that really strike my fancy. More priceless than the houses, in my opinion.
We spent New Year's Eve and Day in Charleston visiting my sister and friends — and drinking a bit too much champagne and punch. 
We tried to take a tour of Charleston Tea Plantation, the only tea farm in the United States, but despite their lovely website listing their operation hours and holiday closures, they decided to tack on December 31 as a holiday, but not mention it online. Ugh. So, after driving out to the island where the farm is located (along with a bunch of other people who had to turn around and go back from whence they came), we decided to hop the fence and at least take a few pictures of the tea plants, which are a species of Camellias if you didn't already know that tidbit.
I also spent a couple of days in Savannah visiting my best friend from high school. Ate a sub from a South African restaurant in Savannah, which was interesting, but the experience solidified my belief that Philly and the surrounding area really does reign on the hoagie / sub front. But I'm not going to talk about food on this post, even though, I guess I just did.I haven't eaten out at any place new in Philly in almost a month (those last few posts were written a while ago), but I am ready to tackle the city again. Just give me a bit, because while I'm ready to go out and devour, I just don't get out as much in the winter, because, well, it's freakin' cold up here, and I am a whiny winter wienie!
Glad to be back, Philly! (Just wish it were summer. Sigh.)
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