I was able to make it in for Thanksgiving, and I spent all day in Charleston Saturday. I wanted to show my gf the town, and all the spots I love. I have a few thoughts from what we saw.
We had breakfast at First Watch, and the place was packed! It's been a while since I have eaten there, and the food and service were excellent!
Afterward, we walked around downtown. It was "Small Business Saturday", so all the stores were running promotions. Capital, Summers, Quarrier, and Hale were fairly busy for an early Saturday morning. We went in several stores like Buck and Betty, Black Locust, Taylor Books, Purple Moon, Art Emporium, WV Market, and Stray Dog Antics. I am very proud of what some of these stores continue to do in downtown. We ended up buying things in several stores. She really liked the stores that we went into.
We also went inside the library. It was the first time I had gotten a chance to go inside since it's renovation. All I can say is, wow! It was very well done and I felt like I was somewhere other than Charleston, WV. I was also pleased to see the "coffee nook" featuring a third location of Mea Cuppa. The architecture is very satisfying inside and out. I was very impressed. Capital and Summers street were blocked off, and they had vendors in the street. We were kind of early for most of them, but it was a nice thing the city was doing for small businesses.
In addition to that, we walked through the Brawley Walkway and new newly renovated Slack Park. They have it looking very festive with dozens of Christmas trees. I know that they were having a special Christmas thing "Holly Jolly Brawly"
https://www.wowktv.com/news/local/ho...pping-locally/. Honestly, I thought it was rather tacky. Still, it seemed to be a hit with people so I won't complain too much. The park looked nice, but I think there's a lot of room for improvement. One thing I's suggest is doing some kind or mural or light show on the wall of the People's Building.
We also walked into the Town Center. I wanted to show her a mall that had seen better days. The pictures on the vacant store fronts were a nice touch, but ultimately the experience was very depressing. It was hard to find any signs of life in terms of open stores. I have noticed that for the most part, the stores that remain are all national brands. I was surprised to see as many people as I did in there. It was NOTHING like it was back in the mall's prime on the Saturday following Thanksgiving.
Next, we drove thru the East End and Kanawha City. We were crunched for time, but someday I will take her to the State Museum at the Capitol. Not a lot has changed in either of those places, even though I did see the work they were doing to MacCorkle Ave. Also, CAMC's new building on the other side of the RR tracks looked very nice.
I then drove her up Bridge Road and we briefly went onto the Carriage Trail. A thought I had when I was there is that there should be a deck built there that extends out from the hillside. That way people could see all the way down to the Capitol. Next we drove over to Corridor G. Between the new R-Cut interchange, Dunkin, new storage units being built, and whatever they're building across from Dunkin, there's been a lot of work done in that part of town recently.
I took her up to Southridge, but just for a gander. Traffic was actually lite for post-Thanksgiving shopping. I didn't notice anything new or different from the last time I was there. We took Jefferson Road after that, and I was able to see all the work being done there. The new access road was shaping up, with the new bridge pillars up. The hillside along Jefferson Road was being cleared for the future expansion. The most supprizing thing was how far along they have gotten on the bridge over the railroad tracks at the bottom of the hill. I feel like they have made a lot of progress in a short amount of time! That will be extremely nice once it's all finished!
Next, we went to Spring Hill Pastry and got some hot dogs!!! Oh my how I have missed those things. They have never tasted better! I regret not buying all they had left and taking them back to NY with me.
We drove through South Charleston, then headed to Elk City. There were lots of people shopping at Kinship Goods and Vandalia Market, which is very nice. They really have something going in that part of town! She really like Kinship Goods, and maybe next time when the place isn't crawling with people we'll spend more time there.
After that, I showed her the Capital Market. It was also busy. We bought some things at the Purple Onion, and I think she was impressed with what the market had to offer.
That night, we went to Black Sheep for dinner and it was very good. Downtown was looking nice with the Christmas decorations all lite up. Overall, I was happy with the time we had in Chucktown. She was impressed with the city, and I was pleasantly surprised by some of the improvements to the city. I continue to see the potential in Charleston everytime I come back home, but there's still a lot of economic factors that hold it back from experiencing real growth and change!
Honorable shoutout: The new car wash in Kanawha City (behind Lowe's) does a good job. I really love the free vacuum afterwards.
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