Colors of the Highway
May 16-18 — Charleston, SC
The song for Charleston is by artist Sam Rae, who we listened to at a restaurant in Folly Beach:
After a lovely weekend with our friend Criss in Columbia, we made our way to Charleston. I had been to Charleston before but it was James’s first time there. What I remembered about my previous experience in Charleston was that I wore a very bohemian beachy outfit (think oversized black paisley shirt with Birkenstocks) and walked around downtown on a Sunday feeling judged by a bunch of people in dresses and heels. I remembered that Folly Beach was nice but I wasn’t a huge fan of Charleston. To be fair, I hadn’t had a lot of experience in the south when I went there back in 2016 so I’m sure it was a little bit of culture shock. I’m happy to say that my second time in the city changed my mind about it. We had a great time!
We stayed in a hostel in Charleston. Both of us have stayed in hostels before—James in Asia and i in Europe—but this was our first time at one in the US. My experience with hostels has always been social. Some of the best memories I made while traveling in Europe were through events organized by hostels and with people I met at hostels. Usually the friends I met were Australian. Sometimes British. But this one was a bit different—we knew there were other people there but we didn’t really see them around. Everyone just kind of kept to themselves. Not sure if it was covid apprehension, or if hostels are just different in the US, or if it was just this particular one, but either way I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t what I was expecting. Part of the fun of traveling is meeting new people! There was a porch swing though, so that was pretty neat.
Since the hostel room was pretty small, it was really no place to work from, so we set off to find coffee shops to work from throughout our stay. I never thought that finding a place to work from would be one of the more stressful parts about being a digital nomad. You really have to learn how to adapt and pivot on the fly. The ideal place to work has good wifi, ample outlets, a place to sit, bonus points for comfy furniture, and a nice ambiance that isn’t too loud for you to take a meeting from. It’s nearly impossible to find places that fit all of these criteria. We tried several different places and we end up getting frustrated with each other when things aren’t working out and we have meetings to get to (by that I mean I get really frustrated and James is a wonderfully patient angel). So we ended up working from the library. Thank goodness for libraries. I feel like we’ve seen more libraries across the country than anyone who isn’t a librarian. While we’re talking about it, make sure to get/renew your library card! Help keep libraries alive! ♥️ Honestly, if my main complaint in life right now is that the atmosphere isn’t perfect for working, I think I’ve got it pretty good. Sometimes I just have to remind myself about how small my problems are.
Photo break!
We spent as much of our free time at the beach as we could—both Folly Beach and Sullivan’s Island. Both were beautiful and we enjoyed some lovely walks. Something that was sad and shocking to see was that Folly Beach looked so different than it did when I was there just 6 years prior. The beach shrunk and the long, beautiful pier was partly destroyed. When we were at Sullivan’s Island walking along the beach as the sun was setting, the tide was getting closer and closer to the shore until there was no shore at all and the waves were washing up huge chunks of the land and pulling them into the water. Our visit here was just a few days after news that two houses in NC collapsed into the ocean. Seeing the effects of climate change up close and personal like that is devastating. It makes me all the more confident that it’s important for us to do the work to help our planet. But we also need to hold large corporations and the government accountable for their damaging acts on the environment. Lifestyle changes help, but we can’t reverse climate change by personal lifestyle changes alone. Don’t even get me started about the not one but TWO Norfolk Southern train derailments in the midwest this month, a direct result of environmental regulations being rolled back in favor of profits. We should all be frightened by this. There is an ongoing climate crisis and the people and wildlife in and around East Palestine, Ohio are suffering damaging effects to their health. I mean, have you seen the videos of all the dead fish? Sadly, I’ve been hearing and seeing more about this disaster on social media over the past few weeks than in the news.
It seems like there’s a new climate disaster every week. I’ve been a bit angry about this, worried about what it means for our future, and looking for ways to help. If you are too, The Brightside Project is a great organization doing work on the ground in East Palestine. This Twitter thread also has a list of orgs to support. You can contact the EPA, sign a petition, and continue to demand better from our government. Here is a list of lifestyle changes that can help reduce your carbon footprint and here are the top 6 that would make the largest impact. I’ve found that choosing 1-2 at a time that seem feasible to add to your life helps and you can continue to add more as they become habits. I’ll probably write a post about how we try to be sustainable while on the road (knowing that traveling in itself is not a very sustainable practice) if that’s something folks are interested in… more to come on that later. If there’s anything that I’ve learned about traveling around the country, it’s that we have a lot of room for improvement in a lot of areas. But I remain hopeful that with enough people who care we can make some lasting changes. It’s like the Dr. Seuss quote, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.”
Phew, so back to Charleston and our silly little lives. 🙃 We went to The Crab Shack at Folly Beach and caught some live music by a phenomenal artist named Sam Rae. They did a combination of covers and original music, sang, played guitar, played the cello and used a loop pedal! Definitely check out their music, they are so talented! They also toured in Brandi Carlisle’s band, which is super cool. I dropped a tip and my business card in the tip jar hoping that maybe they’d need a graphic designer for some album artwork or posters or social media work. Nine months later and I haven’t heard anything but you’ve got to shoot your shot, right?! 😅 In other personal news, I may be working on some more design projects for music in the near future—stay tuned! 😉
We discovered that there was a place called James Island and obviously had to stop and get a picture with the sign. For those following along at home, we found Maggie Valley in North Carolina, so it was exciting to find James Island too. We also did lots of walking around Charleston and exploring their downtown. James found a vegan restaurant that was really tasty and fun for a date night (Neon Tiger, check it out if you’re in Charleston or just look at their website for some good design aesthetic). We found a dessert cafe because your girl always has a sweet tooth and wants ✨ a little treat ✨ Overall, it was a great time despite the reminder that the ocean levels are rising.