Transplanted

Last weekend I had the opportunity to push this embracing-my-new-locale to new heights by driving with my husband to Charleston, South Carolina. And combined with our trip last year to Savannah, I can safely say that taking weekend road trips is a great way to embrace or at least check out your new surroundings.

Here’s what I’ve learned through my Southern excursions:

1. People in the South love their history. Never mind that it’s got a few major blemishes, they still LOVEit and they want to preserve it, sho nuff! Both Savannah and Charleston residents are seemingly willing to lay down their lives to stop someone from painting their house the wrong color. And it’s almost like the Civil War ended last year. When we asked our Charleston tour guide about the rivalry between Savannah and his home town he (loosely) replied, “Oh, we don’t care about Savannah. We’re the only place that didn’t surrender during the war and they know that.”   Uh, OK.

2. There seems to be some type of competition to be the drunkest, most haunted, morally deprived town the world has EVER known. The three main competitors are New Orleans, Savannah and Charleston. The winner, hands down, is New Orleans. Now in Utah the competition is just the opposite; that is, the most church-going, well-behaved, clean and sober towns. Their winner? Provo. Although behind closed doors might be a different story.

3. The South is just awash in unhealthy food. A recent survey found that the Southern part of the U.S. has, by a decent amount, the most overweight people. And while economic issues play a part, there really is no reason for anyone to scratch their heads about this study. Fried, cream-heavy food is simply everywhere in this region. Want a BBQ sandwich? How about one with buttered, grilled Texas toast and stacks of pork you can barely fit your mouth around. Care for some soup? Charleston can serve you their famous She-Crab soup that is mostly just heavy cream and butter–and it’s delicious.

4. People in the South are genuinely more friendly than peeps in other parts of our country. I don’t know how much if it has to do with the slower pace or how easily the booze flows or if people are just happy because they ate ten pounds of lard for lunch, but very generally speaking, people are nice in the South.

Of course there are many other wonderful things I’m learning about these strange Southern folks. When I was in Charleston I was reminded of one of my few Southern acquaintances while I lived in Utah. His name was Charlton and I thought he had the cutest little Southern drawl ever–I wanted to put him on a pink cloud and push him around he was so cute (little shout out to Fitzgerald). Now that I’ve been here for a year, while still endearing, those Southern accents have a little less sway over this gal.