The French Quarter

New Orleans, Charleston, and Savannah. My friend, Nichelle, and I headed South for inspiration, good food, and exploration. There was no shortage of any of those three things. Loved all three places, and on the road between Charleston and Savannah, I fell in like with Beaufort and St. Helena Island.

My parents moved to California from Mississippi after World War 2. On my one and only visit to that state (and the South), I was twelve and to my teenage mind, Mississippi, and a...