“The works of Jonathan Edwards”, wrote President of Yale University Ezra Stiles in 1787, “in another generation will pass into as transient notice perhaps scarce above oblivion, and when posterity occasionally comes across them in the rubbish of libraries, the rare characters who may read and be pleased with them will be looked upon as singular and whimsical.”

thankfully, not all men were born to be prophets.

i have just completed (finally! after months of “pick up/put down” reading) reading the rather large biography of Jonathan Edwards, penned by Notre Dame professor George Marsden (which you should definitely buy. NOW!). This particular biography has been lauded as the authoritative and most comprehensive biography to ever tell the tale of Edwards’ life, while also being spoken of as the standard for generations to come. i guess that should serve as notice (or perhaps as a challenge) to those who may have dreams of writing the quintessential Edwards biography.

while President Stiles may have seen Edwards’ writings fading into the sunset a generation after the American Revolution, history has laid those claims to rest as Edwards is still regarded today as America’s most influential and famous theologian, although he was a British citizen for the whole of his life. what Marsden attempts to accomplish in his biography on Edwards is to “bridge the gap between the Edwards of the students of American culture and the Edwards of the theologians” by setting Edwards in his proper historical context while also paying particular attention to the greater theological question of taking Edwards’s works “seriously as part of the larger Christian tradition.” while many of Edwards’s views may seem antiquarian to 21st century readers, Marsden still hopes that glimmers of Edwards’s thought and works may find themselves appropriated in the lives of all who read him, especially in the lives of those who are Christians.

the reader is taken through the whole of Edwards’s life, from pre-birth to death, stopping along the way to expound on the important events that would not only shape the thought of the man, but also the thought and direction of the young British colonies. among the events that Edwards lived through were the Great Awakening of 1740-42 (of which he was deeply enthralled) and the French and Indian War. Edwards’s life was also placed in the middle of many intellectual and religious controversies as well. he lived in a world that was being tugged by two extremely opposing forces and worked tirelessly to balance them, hopefully, at least in his mind, to sway them back towards the former. two hundred years removed from the height of the Protestant Reformation and in the midst of the throes of the Enlightenment, Edwards found himself engrossed in many of the intellectual struggles of his day. he saw the religious fervor of the Reformation and Puritans dying down (even amidst short bursts of revival) in favor of the prevailing trends toward “reason” and “science” that would envelop the 19th century. he saw the colonies staunch Calvinism give way to Arminianism, Socinianism, and Deism as a nation struggled to identify and establish itself. but amidst all these struggles, he committed himself to the Scriptures and saw it as his duty to make sure that his family and those under his care as either congregant or student also committed themselves to Christ and paid no heed to the evils that Edwards saw seeping into the culture.

he identified these evils through his constant study of history. i think the most profound thing i took away from the book was Edwards’s great love for history, not only for history’s sake, but because it is through history that God has chosen to work and bring about His plan of redemption. a history major in my undergraduate years, i too have come into an appreciation of all of history as God’s sovereign plan to bring the nations unto himself and to slowly, yet lovingly and perfectly, make new of all things. Marsden writes,

History, according to Edwards, was in essence the communication of God’s redemptive love in Christ. The history of redemption was the very purpose of creation. Nothing in human history had significance on its own, any more than created nature had significance on its own. Christ’s saving love was the center of all history and defined its meaning. Human events took on significance only as they related to God’s redemptive action in bringing increasing numbers of humans into the light of that love or as they illustrated human blindness in joining Satan’s warfare against all that was good.

after spending a good amount of time just dwelling on that paragraph after reading it, i have come to the conclusion that that is why i love history so much and why i think that Edwards speaks to me so much. nothing of his that i have read is without historical significance, whether it’s obvious in his The History of the Work of Redemption or more subtle through the historical setup of his describing how one cannot appreciate true beauty unless that beauty is experienced first hand as he does in his sermon, A Divine and Supernatural Light. history is nothing if it is removed from God’s sovereign plan to redeem a people for himself and to return again at the consummation of all things in great judgment, but also in great love, peace, and holiness.

so i am grateful for having completed this book because i have come away with not only a greater appreciation and understanding of one of my heroes, but also because i have come away with a greater appreciation and understanding of my Savior and the work that He has done and continues to do through historical events, whether through the “great awakening” of hundreds of souls in 18th century New England, or the bombing of four London transportation vessels in 2005. all things, good or evil, will be made new through the blood of the Lamb in the outworking of history.

for those that have never read Edwards, i, of course, would absolutely recommend reading whatever you can get your hands on (although i would not recommend reading the “infamous” Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God first). i would start with A Divine and Supernatural Light, or The Religious Affections), and if you have never (God forbid!) heard of Jonathan Edwards or his work before, i will leave you with this summation of his theology:

God’s trinitarian essence is love. God’s purpose in creating a universe in which sin is permitted must be to communicate that love to creatures. The highest or most beautiful love is sacrificial love for the undeserving. Those–ultimately the vast majority of humans–who are given eyes to see that ineffable beauty will be enthralled by it. They will see the beauty of a universe in which unsentimental love triumphs over real evil. They will not be able to view Christ’s love dispassionately but rather will respond to it with their deepest affections. Truly seeing such good, they will have no choice but to love it. Glimpsing such love, they will be drawn away from their preoccupations with the gratifications of their most immediate sensations. They will be drawn from their self-centered universes. Seeing the beauty of the redemptive love of Christ as the true center of reality, they will love God and all that He has created.

amen.

so yesterday was our last day in Charleston, and it was only a half-day. we woke up pretty early because we wanted to get some walking sightseeing in before we had to go home, which we planned to do after lunch. so we drove into town and parked at about 9:45 am. the first thing we came to that we had interest in seeing was the Provost Dungeon. a building that was used by the British before and during the Revolutionary War to both entertain royal guests and to torture, imprison, and execute enemies of the state. incidentally, it was also the place in which seven honorary balls were held in George Washington’s honor when he visited Charleston in 1791. we, however, did not get to tour the dungeon because it would have taken too long and cost money that we didn’t want to pay because we were not that attached to seeing it. so we pressed on down Broad Street to stop in on a shop we had seen on the carriage tour called “Rivendell.” i thought this place might have Hobbitish things within, but they were closed and would not be open until 1pm. after looking in the windows, though, it seemed that it would not have been worth anything.

we continued down Broad Street until we came to the “Four Corners of Law,” the intersection of Broad and Meeting streets. this intersection is so named because on one corner you have a post office which also houses a federal courthouse and represents “federal law.” on another corner is a county courthouse which represents “state law.” the third corner houses city hall which represents “city law.” St. Michael’s Episcopal Church is located on the fourth and final corner, representing “God’s law.”

our first stop on the four corners was St. Michael’s. this was the church that contains the famous “pew 43″ which such great Americans as George Washington and Oprah are said to have sat during worship services. the church was very beautiful inside. all of the wood was a dark mahogany, very solid, and very old. there was an elevated pulpit, such as you might see in drawings of preachers during the Puritan age of this country’s history. there are also four Tiffany stained glass windows which are protected by bulletproof glass both inside the building and outside the building. the altar area has engraved walls on which the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostle’s Creed, and the Ten Commandments are found. it was a very beautiful church and we got a picture of the view that Washington (and Oprah) would have had while sitting in pew 43. it was also pretty cool because as soon as we entered the sanctuary, the organ began to play. we wondered if this was some sort of touristy thing the church does. maybe playing an organ cd or something. but it wasn’t. it was just the organ lady practicing the songs for this Sunday’s worship services. but it was very cool and greatly added to the ambience of the old church.

after visiting the church we went across the street to the post office to mail a few things. then we set off down Meeting Street towards the harbor to look at some of the old houses and to see The Battery, an entire row of historic waterfront property. the houses and gardens were gorgeous! i had never seen anything like it before. many of the houses had cast iron gates with various markings or special insignia on them. several of the houses also had historic landmark plaques which told about the house’s history. the oldest house we saw claimed to have stood since 1740 and even claimed to have the original woodworking, although i’m sure that many layers of paint had been added over the last 265 years.

after our trip to see the houses, we were very hungry and decided it was time for lunch. not wanting to leave the city without having some barbecue, we settled on Sticky Fingers, a local rib joint. Sarah got the Carolina sweet ribs and i had the Tennessee whisky ribs. both were pretty good. they were pork ribs, which are not my favorite, but i was still pretty satisfied with them. the beans and cole slaw were very good as well, and i was very tempted by the pecan pie, but i was too stuffed and was still reeling from the excellent pie i had had two nights before and did not want to ruin that fine experience. after lunch we walked through The Market one last time and picked up a couple of souvenirs to take home. we were running out of time (we had to be checked out of the hotel by 1pm and it was 12:30 by the time we finished walking through The Market) so we decided to head back to the hotel to check out.

after doing this we took one more trip into town in order to see Rainbow Row. this is a line of multi-colored houses that are along East Bay Street. i’m not sure why they’re too significant (aside from the fact that they’re 1+ million dollar houses), but they were pretty, all the same. after getting a couple pictures of the houses we got back in the car and said goodbye to Charleston.

we really enjoyed our stay in this beautiful city and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a place to go in South Carolina. we can’t wait til we have an excuse to go back there as there is still some things that we would like to see and do there. at the same time, we’re glad we’re home and that we had a week to just relax and do fun things before we start back to work, school, and getting ready to move later this month.

so again with a late post. but again, who cares? our fourth day in Charleston started late as we decided to sleep in since we didn’t have to be anywhere early in the morning. so we got up around 10 and were quickly alerted to the events going on in London and were deeply saddened and troubled that more people had been killed in the name of a false god. even more striking to us was the fact that London was our initial choice for a honeymoon location (followed by Paris, and then Charleston when Paris needed to be postponed). we were thankful that we weren’t in London this week and spent a short time praying for all those affected and involved in what was going on over there, especially with the beginning of the G8 Summit. after this we started to get clean and dressed so that we could catch the hotel shuttle into town.

we got off at the second stop which was right in front of the South Carolina Aquarium. we bought our tickets for the aquarium and then headed to the nearby cafe to have lunch which was quite good. after lunch we went through the aquarium. it was a great aquarium! the first really fun thing we saw was a river otter. a very, very lively river otter. he was literally bouncing off the walls, shooting through his little pool, and taking short breaks in his little hole where he had a ready supply of corn on the cob to snack on. we tried to get pictures of him, but he was too quick for us and ever eluded our photographic attempts. moving through the aquarium we saw lots of fun fish and other creatures. they had alligators, lots of turtles, venus fly traps, etc. we then got to the “big tank” which had 18 inch thick acrylic walls. this tank was amazing. there were little fish, big fish, and SHARKS. three of them! there was a nurse shark which is a breed that’s not very scary. quite docile, and i think you can even swim with them in certain areas of the Caribbean. there was also a smaller shark that i don’t remember the name of. he was pretty quick and was swimming around wildly.

then there was the “big daddy” shark. a 10 foot long sand tiger shark. he was moving very slowly and methodically through the water, making sure to swim directly toward the tank wall, teeth bared, to give the onlookers a good fright. sarah and i could not imagine what it would be like to see something like this in the water. after wondering this, she said, “this is why you couldn’t swim out to the dolphin yesterday. you might’ve seen one of THESE on the way!” there were two divers swimming in the big tank with these fish…..while feeding the smaller, less scary fish. why they were not attacked by the big daddy shark i will never know. again, i don’t think i could do that job. i think i would always be looking over my shoulder for that massive shark.

after spending about 45 minutes looking at the big tank, we decided to move on. we then got to the “touch tank” which was pretty disappointing. i thought they would have cool things that you could touch. but they basically only had bits of coral, a few hermit crabs, some starfish, and that’s about it. very disappointing. there were also tons of children around it, so we didn’t waste our time there.

then came the special Amazon exhibit that’s currently at the aquarium. it was pretty exciting. we were greeted at the entrance of the exhibit by two brightly colored macaw birds (really big parrots). i’ve seen macaws before, but none that were quite this big or brightly colored. they were hams for the camera and we got a good picture of one of them. we then came to the anteater….who was asleep and all bundled up. so boo to him. they had lots of different snakes and birds in this exhibit including piranha and an anaconda! the anaconda was 17 feet long and weighed about 250 pounds. the piranha were beautiful creatures. it looked as if they were sprinkled with glitter on their sides and they were so docile. it looked like they were just suspended in the water as there was almost no movement in them. this was greatly contrasted with a video they had playing next to the fish that showed them attacking a very unlucky bird who had decided to rest on the water just over a swarm of piranha. the video was quite breathtaking.

after going through the Amazon, we headed to the gift shop where we acquired two additions to our new family. bill the river otter, and barbara the manatee (plush, of course. we have room for a live otter. but not so much for a manatee). Sarah was greatly pleased with our purchases and giggled like a little school girl at them. we then spent about half an hour on the harbor deck just looking at the water and all the boats going by. Sarah started not feeling well so we caught the next shuttle and headed back to the hotel. her ickiness continued into the evening so we decided it would be Wendy’s for me and KFC for her for dinner. during dinner and after we watched a couple more episodes of 24 and then went to bed relatively early because we wanted to get up early the next morning to do some last minute sightseeing before we had to leave this beautiful city.

so we’re a little late with this post. but that’s ok. we just forgot to write it last night. our third day in Charleston started early because it was “beach day”. we got up aroun 9am, threw on our beach attire and headed out (with a quick stop at mickey d’s for some breakfast on the way). of the three beaches here in Charleston (Folly, Isle of Palms, and Kiaweh) we decided to try Isle of Palms. we had heard it was crowded and touristy, but it was convenient to us, so we decided to go anyways. we got there at about 10, laid our stuff down in a spot we could see from the water and then quickly submerged ourselves into the Atlantic Ocean. the water was a bit strange. for about the first hour or so it was really really warm and nice. but after that, there were pockets of cold water that would rush by you at about your calves. we decided that the cold water was true ocean water, unaffected by the great multitude of people simultaneously peeing in the ocean and causing the warm temperature of the ocean. slightly disgusted, yet fully enjoying the beach and water, we decided to ignore our recent conclusions and continue swimming.

there were lots of fun sights at the beach. pelicans were kamikaze diving into the ocean to snag some fish, dogs were splashing in the water, other dogs weren’t too sure what this ocean business was all about and were comically timid near the water, and just general jollity among the fine people who decided to visit the Isle of Palms that day. but the most amazing site of all was something i had never seen before. it was these things called “skimmers”. skimmers are basically bite-sized surf boards that you throw down at the edge of the water, it “skims” along the water (hence the name!) and you run and jump on it and “surf” this part of the beach. if you’ve seen the movie think of Legolas throwing down the shield and “skimming” down the steps in the Battle of Helm’s Deep in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. immediately after seeing these boards of funness, i decided that i must own one. however, after continuing to watch these young people on their skimmers, i began to notice something: only young people had them. there weren’t even any teenagers that were using them. it was just small boys between the ages of about 5-12. i also noticed something else: several of them, surely more balanced than i am because of their lower center of gravity, were taking some mighty tough falls off of these skimmers. so, thankfully, good sense prevailed and i decided that i would rather not break my neck (or injure something else!) on my honeymoon. so we bought a couple of boogie boards for the purpose of floating in the ocean instead.

our trip to the beach was very successful. it was a BEAUTIFUL day and we could not have picked a better time to go. the only bad thing was that our sunscreen did not work well enough and sarah got a little “burnted” (as she likes to say) on her face and shoulders. but she’s ok. it was also nice because we, again, got to see some dolphin. except this time they were a lot closer! sarah wouldn’t let me swim out to them though because “you don’t know what else is out there.” so that was sad. not that i’d be able to catch them anyways. but they are definitely beautiful creatures and i really want to try to swim with one someday.

after the beach we decided to come back to the hotel to relax after being in the hot sun for a little over 4 hours. after our rest, it was time to decide what to do with the rest of the evening. we decided to go on a carriage ride through the city and then go to a nice place that was recommended to us by Rich and Olivia Hamlin (Rich was the A&M RUF intern when i was there) called Magnolia’s.

the carriage ride was very nice. it wasn’t a horse-drawn carriage. it was a mule-drawn carriage. they said they do this because mules have more endurance and stamina, and you don’t have to change them out as much as you do horses. whatever the reasons, mules still remain funny-looking creatures. although i found them to have much character and wouldn’t mine having one. our mules’ names were Jack and Diane (who were, at one time, as our tour guide explained to us, “two American mules growing up in the heartland”). Jack was a hard worker. Diane was a slacker and constantly needed the “encouragement stick”. on the tour we saw a lot of the historic Charleston sites including several fascinating (and very old) churches. we were told that all 187 or so churches in Charleston remain open to the public so you can go in them and peruse as you see fit. one church in particular has a very famous pew. it is a pew that George Washington sat in when he visited Charleston shortly after the end of the American Revolution, and has also been occupied by another great American……Oprah. i cannot wait to go back and sit in the place that Oprah has sat. what an honor it will be!

after our carriage ride we were dropped off at the barn and were told to go see Peanut, the company’s miniature horse. he was so small! i’ve seen dogs bigger than he! sarah said he was really adorable, but i thought he was really funny looking. even moreso than the mules. while we were watching him, Peanut spent his time munching on some straw and would occasionally look up at us with his way-too-big-for-his-body eyes. sarah melted at this. i chuckled.

we then took a little stroll around downtown Charleston since we had about 35 minutes until our dinner reservations. we went over to Waterfront Park which is just a park with several fountains. one of the fountains, aptly named “The Children’s Fountain” had a bunch of little tikes running around in it and splashing each other. it was fun to watch. further into the park we came upon an amazing site. there was a group of people…….wait for it……..fencing! i decided this was the high class version of those people that fight each other with foam swords in city parks. these people actually had real swords (even if they are tipped) and fancy white outfits with their names on back. if one can be a balla and still fence, these people were definitely ballas.

we then headed over to Magnolia’s. Magnolia’s was a nice, quaint little place that was dimly lit and nicely decorated. they call themselves an “upscale traditional southern restaurant.” they serve everything from fried chicken and collard greens, to the finest and freshest fish. an hour and a half and $100 later (hey…it’s the honeymoon, right?!) we were so stuffed that the short walk back to the car seemed like miles. sarah had mahi mahi that came with a crab cake, spinach, and mashed potatoes. on a scale of five stars, she says she would give her meal four stars. fitting, since this was a four star restaurant. i had the pork tenderloin that came with an andouille and butternut squash rice and green beans. the tenderloin was covered with an apple, bourbon, and pecan glaze. it was one of the most amazing things i’ve ever tasted. very tender and juicy and the mix of different flavors was incredible. we also each had a glass of some Russian wine that was quite good. then came the desserts. sarah had cream cheese creme brulee that was garnished with strawberry jam and red velvet cake. again, she would give her dessert four stars. i had one of my most favorite desserts: pecan pie. now, i’ve had a lot of pecan pie in my short life on this earth, but i don’t think i’ve ever (nor may i ever have again) had pecan pie that was this amazing. i can’t even begin to describe it….it was that good. completely amazing.

after our dinner, we slooooowly walked back to our car and headed back to the hotel. on our way back, we drove past this guy who truly was a one-man band. he had some crazy contraption fashioned to himself and he was just jammin away. i would try to describe it, but i don’t think i really can. hopefully he will be somewhere in downtown Charleston tonight and we will try to get a picture of him. we passed him so fast we were just kind of like “what WAS that??” when we returned to our hotel, we were caught giving each other a small kiss by this old woman with a very strong New York accent. she came up behind us and said “the world loves a lovah, please continue what you were doing.” slightly embarassed, we decided not to continue (especially now that we had an audience) but were then entertained by her story of how she went to Paris and fell in love with lovers. she was quite charming. we then returned to our room, watched another episode of 24, and turned out the lights on another great day in Charleston.

so today we woke up and realized that we did not have anything that could be eaten for breakfast. neither did we want to immediately get up and go get something for breakfast. so thanks to the marvel of hotels, we ordered some room service. i had a $3.50 very small box of Apple Jacks and sarah had some french toast. i think she got the much better end of the deal.

after our breakfast we got dressed and headed out to Mount Pleasant which is across the Cooper River from the Charleston peninsula. at about 1pm we boarded a small ship and set sail for Fort Sumter, the island fort where the first shots of the Civil War were fired on April 12, 1861. the boat ride over to the island was very nice and we even got to see several pods of dolphin. the fort itself was pretty exciting as they had several original cannon from the initial bombardment of the island. we were also told that all of the brick work on the fort is original to the 1861 version of the fort. today, Sumter is not quite like it was 144 years ago. there is now a large battery in the very center of it that was constructed during the Spanish-American War in the late 1800’s. but it is still a breathtaking place and there are lots of interesting things to see. there are several points in the brick where 1861 shrapnel still remains embedded and it appears that the original constructors used seashells in the brick mortar to make the fort stronger and more defensible. after we finished touring the fort, we got back on the boat and headed back to our next sightseeing adventure.

upon returning to shore we each got a polish sausage hot dog since we hadn’t eaten in quite a while, and then purchased tickets to tour Patriot’s Point. this was one of the coolest things i’ve seen in quite a long time. it’s basically a maritime and Naval museum, but the museum consists of American warships. there are four in all: a World War II battleship, aircraft carrier, and submarine, and a modern US Coast Guard vessel. we only had time to go through the aircraft carrier and submarine, but we still feel that we got more than our money’s worth. we went through the submarine first and it was neat to see exactly how small they are on the inside and how involved they are. there were so many dials and switches and levers that we were baffled at how one crew could even begin to remember what they all do. the submarine also had loaded torpedo tubes and a model torpedo that was open at certain points so that you can see how they work and what is inside of them.

after we had gone through the submarine, we headed over to the aircraft carrier, the retired USS Yorktown. it is the fourth version of the great ship as the third was sunk during the Battle of Midway in 1942. the hangar of the carrier had several World War II aircraft on display and also a few spacecraft replicas as the Yorktown was responsible for retrieving John Glenn’s “Friendship 7″ Mercury craft after it’s return from its mission of orbiting the Earth for the first time and the Apollo 8 spacecraft after it returned from its mission as the first craft to orbit the moon. you could also tour the engine room, the captain’s bridge, and the flight deck of the carrier. up on the deck there were more aircraft on display including a couple of Huey helicopters, an F/A-18 Harrier, an F-14 Tomcat, and an F-4 Phantom fighter. this ship was just incredible to walk around on as i have always had a fascination with fighter jets and was really into them when i was younger. it was also really special for Sarah because her grandfather (on her father’s side) was actually an admiral of an aircraft carrier (the Hornet) in World War II. so she got to see pretty much an exact replica of the ship that her grandfather was in charge of as the Yorktown and the Hornet are both in the same class of aircraft carrier. all in all, Patriot’s Point was the most fun thing we did all day.

after spending 5 hours combined at Fort Sumter and Patriot’s Point it was time for dinner. we headed back to our hotel to catch the shuttle into downtown Charleston with the hopes of eating at a local seafood joint (seafood two nights in a row? why not? it IS an ocean city!) called “The Crab House.” we had a coupon for a free order of crab dip and it was VERY good. not typical seafood dips that had a very small amount of meat in it. this thing was mostly meat! for dinner, Sarah ordered crab cakes and i ordered a crab and shrimp combo that came with fried shrimp, a crab cake, and an Alaskan snow crab leg cluster. it was pretty good. not the best seafood i’ve ever had, but certainly not the worst either. i would definitely go back for the crab dip though. delish!

after dinner we walked around the market a little bit and even saw a ship in the harbor that said “TEXAS AGGIES” on it in giant letters. i think it was from the satellite campus in Galveston that has a “maritime academy,” but it was still really cool to see. we’re hoping the ship will be there tomorrow so that we can go back and get pictures of it. we then returned to our hotel, watched another episode of 24. and are now turning in after a very successful day 2 in Charleston.

so sarah and i are now married. it was a wonderful and beautiful ceremony and we are both so grateful for the multitude of people that helped to pull it off. the reception went by terribly fast and is a big blur to us both, but we’ve both heard from a good number of folks that it was enjoyable, the food was good, and people wish the party could have been longer. so all in all, i’d say it was a successful event. and besides…..all we wanted was to be married….and that’s happened…..so that’s a good thing!

now we are on our honeymoon and we thought it would be a good idea to post a honeymoon journal-type-thing not only so that our friends and family can read about our trip, but also so that we can have a written record of our memories that we can look back on as the years progress. so, in taking advantage of the free wireless internet provided by our hotel, i present you with the Cozart Honeymoon Journal.

so today (monday) is not technically the “first” day of our honeymoon. i guess you could say that our honeymoon began yesterday, july 3. but we spent that day (and night) in the city that we live in so we’re not going to consider that as part of the honeymoon. so with that out of the way, today was the first day of our honeymoon.

after getting the first good night’s sleep (10 hours!) in quite a while, we awoke and began packing for our trip to charleston, south carolina. neither of us had ever been to charleston and so we were very excited not only to be in a city with so much to see and do, but also a city with a nice, relaxing beach. we set out for charleston at about 2 pm (et) and arrived at about 5pm or so. after finding our hotel (the holiday inn riverview) and parking, we checked in to our room to find we were on the 8th floor of a 14-story building with a tremendous view overlooking a harbor on the ashley river.

we got settled and about 6pm decided that it was time for dinner. we had received several warnings about traffic since it is the 4th of july and decided to give the hotel restaurant (on the 14th floor with a panoramic view of the whole city!) a try. however, we soon read that dining there on this evening would be by reservation only. we decided to give it a try anyways, gave the restaurant a call, and were told that if we came up at that moment then we would likely get a table. and get a table we did!! they served a wonderful seafood buffet with everything from jalepeno shrimp to alaskan snow crab legs (my favorite!) complete with an assortment of starches, salads, and desserts. it was wonderful! nothin like having seafood in a coastal town.

after dinner we returned to our room to watch an episode of 24 (yes….we are THAT obsessed) while we waited until it was time to go outside to watch the fireworks display. we were told this display would start about 9:30, but we were apparently lied to and only got to see about two minutes of this particular display (that was closest to our hotel). however, we returned to our room where we still heard the sound of fireworks going off. we went out onto our balcony and were amazed to see that we had a panoramic view of about 8 different fireworks shows at various distances across the city. it was a sight to behold! after being out there for about an hour or so (new shows kept popping up as soon as others would end!) we came back inside and decided to call it a night.

tomorrow we are planning to spend the good part of the day in the city and will probably take a tour or two. but most of all we just look forward to relaxing and enjoying the city. tune in tomorrow to see what kind of trouble we get ourselves into!