frankly, I prefer a horseless carriage

Well, I've just finished my 10 day sojourn through the south -- from DC to Charleston to Savannah, Beaufort, Hilton Head and back. That's a lot of driving.

I'll be posting photos and observations from my trip in a series of anecdotes, but here are a few key things I learned.

Fusion southern cooking is, well, not all it's cracked up to be. I felt that the food I sampled at restaurants in Charleston and Savannah, were, in some cases, trying a bit too hard. Sometimes, going with the tried and true is really the best. When we were in Savannah, we couldn't figure out why there was this huge line outside a restaurant called The Lady and Sons, then we realized it was owned by Paula Dean, who does a great cooking show on Food TV network. We showed up, learned it was 2 hour plus wait for food...but...we asked if there was seating at the bar..and we got in 2 minutes! Not only was the bar not crowded, it was quiet, pleasant and we got the same great service.

We opted for the Southern buffet -- it was amazing. I haven't eaten fried chicken in years, so I decided to go all out and get the chicken, the mac n cheese, the lima beans, green beans and potato, black eyed peas, (I skipped the zuchini casserole although casseroles are best done by Southerners), and much more. It was truly great! And amazingly, not that salty. I do pity any vegetarians, all the vegetables were cooked with great chunks of ham -- but that's what makes it so delicious! And, I'm now a convert to sweetened ice tea, if done right. Good ice tea brewed fresh, sweetened and flavored with hint of mint. Sublime.

What else did I learn? Carriage tours are popular in Charleston and Savannah -- an interesting way to get around but going on foot was better. For one thing, even though the horses all have "diapers", with the heat and humidity, who wants to be downwind of a horse? Car exhaust or horse exhaust. It's no contest, the horseless carriage wins.

And finally, you'll never see an alligator in an English garden, but you will see one in Charleston's. The gardens at the plantations were beautiful -- probably best visited in the spring when there are more flowers. We saw a wonderful garden at Magnolia Plantation outside Charleston which had romantic, English-inspired gardens, surrounded by rice fields.