A bridge to hospitality

Art Jr's Bridge

Departure travel days are always exciting when fueled by the anticipation of going somewhere new. But even the most exciting destination gives way before long to the never ending question of the small child: Are we there yet? Jan and I didn’t have a small child with us so it was my inner child I expected to be crying out with the annoying question. In reality, the ride from Nashville to Charleston wasn’t too tedious. We had the new Murano to play with on the road and I discovered the feature about forward sensing cruise control the salesman hadn’t articulated very well was something I absolutely loved and wondered how I had ever done without. I could put the car in cruise and if a car got into my path it would slow me down to avoid running over slower cars as the old style cruise was apt to do.

We broke the trip up by stopping halfway in Asheville for lunch. Yelp guided us to The Corner Kitchen, though even GPS couldn’t bring us immediately to the restaurant door and we had to ask some locals when Google Maps said we were at our destination. We didn’t know to look around the corner to actually find our lunch. The Corner Kitchen proved to be a great choice with a delicious light lunch followed by big cookies at the bakery across the street. We commiserated that we didn’t have time to stop and go through Biltmore again, but we had been there and done that a few years back. So we did a Willie Nelson and got back “On the Road Again”.

Four more hours brought us finally to Charleston, SC. The skyline was unremarkable from the interstate except for a huge span bridge in the distance. We had the new Hilton in Mount Pleasant punched in our GPS but were elated when the lady’s voice led us to cross the spire and cable dominated bridge that identified itself as bearing the quintessential Charleston name of Arthur Ravenal Jr. I could almost feel Ole Art Jr., whoever he was, looking down his nose at interloper Tennesseans as we drove up the incline. Crossing that bridge provides one of the best views one can get of the city and the harbor formed by the collision of two rivers with the Atlantic Ocean. As we motored across, others ran, walked and biked the span.

We were elated that our Hilton Garden Inn was indeed brand new and $100 per night less because it was on the Mount Pleasant side of Art Jr.’s bridge. After check in, we were faced with the universal question of the traveler: where is our next meal going to be?

We knew we wanted to dine on the water since there was so much all around us, but it was late in the day and a couple of first choices were closed. We finally settled on a place with the intriguing name, “The Wreck of the Richard and Charlene”. Turned out this could have been a first choice all along.

One has to concentrate on GPS to find this restaurant as the directions take you off the highway and into a long standing beachfront community until one finally arrives at what truly looks like a shipwreck of a restaurant.

We had already seen the Yelp review where someone had remarked, “Definitely the most expensive fried seafood I’ve eaten off a paper plate, but very good and a cool location.” I’m not sure I can improve on that succinct characterization. Richard and Charlene’s does serve good fried seafood on paper plates with no apologies and none needed in my opinion. The view of the harbor or river, I’m not sure which I was looking at as they all come together in a watery smorgasbord, is spectacular and just the ambiance two weary travelers had envisioned on the eight hour tour from Nashville. The staff was the highlight. Since we were the late dinner crowd of which there weren’t many on a Monday, they spent time visiting with us and advising us things to do while we visited Charleston. We left with full bellies and a great first impression of Charlestonian hospitality.

Jan in front of The Wreck of the Richard and Charlene