Anniversary Adventures in Charleston

While we’ve talked a lot about our Ocean Family on the blog, we haven’t mentioned much about my real family. My mom and dad flew down to Charleston in June to celebrate their early 30th wedding anniversary with their favorite child (me). My brother stayed home to work —I guess one of us had to turn out responsible.

Grace and I sailed overnight from Savannah to Charleston. We arrived exhausted but excited to spend a fun-filled weekend with Mom and Dad and my aunt Amy in the prettiest city. We tried to give my them a small taste of boat life by sailing around the point, but the combination of no wind + 90 degree heat and sun meant we just went for a short motor-sail while chugging water bottles instead. While Grace and I have become accustomed to living a life without temperature regulation, I think the experience was less than pleasant for those whose lives still regularly contain air conditioning (sorry, Mom / Dad / Aunt Amy).

Other memorable activities included eating at the Mellow Mushroom, walking past Rainbow Row, taking a bus tour of the city led by a friendly fellow named Bubba, no one getting that upset about my tattoo, and listening to Vinyl Café podcasts in my parents’ hotel room (Grace and I listen to Dave Cooks the Turkey over and over again on the boat and laugh).

We had the most magical night at the Rooftop Bar at Hotel Vendue. Grace and I were thrilled about fresh food and fun drinks. My dad particularly loved the live band, who we think were possibly wizards of some sort because we were discussing a song from 2008, and the next thing we knew, the band was *playing* that very song! Everyone was in great spirits.

On our last night with my parents, in true Gazall family form, we all went out for Lebanese food at Saffron Cafe and Bakery. I got hummus, because I am literally always craving hummus (I have since moved to Manhattan, and one of my roommates remarked that it’s “so funny how you eat hummus every day”). Grace got the largest slice of chocolate cake we’ve ever seen. My dad asked the waiter what the saffron was, and the waiter replied, “I can’t give you the recipe!” in a very panicked voice. We think maybe it was his first day.

Grace and I had the best weekend with my family and are so happy they chose to spend their vacation making sure we were fed and showered and generally surviving. Huge thank you to them for their support of our boat trip and being amazing human beings and parents. <3