Charleston Walks

Saturday was coller than a lot of days we've had lately. I guess for one day, we would reap the benefits of cooler air after the rain. Anyhow, Darren and I decided we'd head downtown to walk. We had a map of Turtles on the Town and some letterbox clues, but overall, we just thought we'd take a nice, long walk. We wound up with two letterbox finds and saw 15 turtles. Plus, we walked quite a few miles. Quite a successful afternoon.

Our favorite turtle we saw was Native Sons. This turtle was in a quaint little park. It features pictures of some famous native sons- men from Charleston who've gone on to make quite a name for themselves- Stephen Colbert, James Brown, Hootie of Hootie and the Blowfish, Francis Marion, James Brown, and others.

Poseidon was outside the Gibbes Museum. The area where the turtle was was roped off so you couldn't actually get within a few feet. I liked all the detail around this turtles face. The props also added a lot to the overall effect.

Turtle van Gogh (Memml) was outside of a church. I couldn't get a great picture of the entire turtle because of the sun. This was a cute turtle. The edged os the turtle had little houses and buildings that has been painted by children and decoupaged onto the turtle.

Sea of Blue was right at Blue Turtle Yoga. This turtle was pretty simple, really just done in two shades of blue. It was very beautiful though.

Davey Wavey was right outside Stickey Fingers. We'd seen him when driving down Meeting Street, but hadn't stopped right then to take a picture. This turtle was mostly two toned as well, with a bit of white accenting the edge of the green and blue. I liked this turtle (but, I probably won't see one I really don't like...)

The paper said this was the Meeting Street Turtle. However, the placard said "Louie", so I guess the artist decided to change his name. He was just displayed off the sidealk on Meeting Street. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but this turtle was kind of metallic. When rays of sun would hit the brown, little shimmers of color would shoot off. The paint was really pretty.

I'd seen the South of Broad turtle when I was out with Darren's mom and KP on Friday. We stopped to see it, though, because Darren hadn't seen it. I'm still really upset that someone broke his feet off.

Charleston's Grand Marnier was in front of a restaurant near the cruise ship port. Though the design wasn't my favorite, the paints were beautiful and vibrant, so it was still a great turtle. The eyese were painted as small palmettos and moons, which I thought was really neat.

C-Shell is a beautiful turtle. However, she was sitting under some trees, so getting a picture without a bunch of shadows was impossible. The body of the turtle was covered with a variety of starfish and other shells, sone like mosaics. It was a really cool turtle. The eyes were cat's eye shells, which worked perfectly.

Mi Tortuga/ Su Tortuga is probably my second favorite turtle we've seen. It was simple, yet intricate. The swirls on the body of the turtle we're done by placing tiny dots of paint close together. The swirls on the shell were made using tiny clear gems. You can't see just how intricate this turtle is until you are really close to it. It's beautiful.

Theatre Wings was at the Old Dock Street Theatre. This turtle was very well done. The arms of the turtle were painted with feathers. The turtle was positioned between the great big brown columns at the front of the theatre. The whole placement of the turtle looked really nice.

Soaring was located in front of one of the College of Charleston buildings. The turtle was really quite striking. The paints contrasted beautifully, but blended well together.

Our State Symbols was located at the Charleston Museum. The gates were closed and locked, so I had to get creative and take pictures through the bars. The turtles featured symbols that represent the palmetto state- the palmetto, yellow jessamine, the carolina wren, and others.

I know this isn't a full-body shot of this turtle, but it was my favorite view. The turtle was elevated, so it was hard to get a great full-body shot. Tutor the Turtle was outside the Post and Courier building.


This was our last stop of the day- Turtle Van Gogh. This was definatley the most uniquely displayed turtle. Turtle Van Gogh is actually hanging on the side of a building, about 35- 40 feet up.

It was a wonderful day walking in Downtown Charleston. We've decided we'd like to walk the whole peninsula. I think we're going to start with south of Market Street and go from there. We definatley got a great start today!