Beverages

After the food roundup here is the one for beverages. First of all you should know that in the US people drink beverages (except coffee) with loads of ice in it. So if you should feel the desire to be recognized as a foreigner order your drink without ice ;-)

The most important beverage in the South is Sweet Tea! It is kind of the national drink down there. Sweet Tea is an ice tea like beverage. It's prepared with a mix of black teas (Orange Pekoe). Southerners pour a lot of sugar in it. I like sweet tea so much that I brought a family size pack of tea bags for sweet tea back to Germany with me!

Other beverages you should try are A&W root beer (it's no real beer. It's a soft drink. Either you love it or you loathe it), Dr Pepper (the American version tastes way better than the stuff you get to buy in Germany. Over here it doesn't taste as strong. Once again the taste is kind of special. Either you'll like it or you won't) and Mountain Dew (can someone explain to me why they won't sell it in Germany on a big scale? People would love it! It's a lemonade that tastes better than 7up and Sprite and has caffeine in it).

And then there are the big three coffee places you should check out. Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts (delicious, delicious donuts -  and breakfast!) and Caribou Coffee.

Southern / American Food

The Southern / American- and the Italian cuisine are my favorites. Every time I get to the US I have a long list of places I'd like to eat at and no matter how long I get to stay I'm never able to scratch every item off my list.

Here is my advise for a delicious (probably 5,000 calories) day in the South (including a few alternatives).

Breakfast

Go to Waffle House. Order an All-Star Special breakfast with eggs, toast, bacon, hashbrowns, a waffle (make sure to spread the butter on top of it. Trust me, it's delicious!) and some coffee. Alternatives are IHOP (International House Of Pancaces) or Denny's. If you don't feel like breakfast you can also get great food for lunch or dinner.

Lunch

Church's Chicken. You have to try fried chicken! Get a combo with chicken pieces, a biscuit (the best one I've ever had), cole slaw (the best one I've ever had) and some additional mashed potatoes with gravy. Alternatives are Chick-fil-A (I haven't had a chance to go there but they are supposed to be delicious), Zaxby's, Bojangles' and KFC.

Dinner

Let's have a burger for dinner. Let's go to Hardee's. Order a Thickburger and some fries. Alternatives (beside the obvious McDonalds and Burger King) are Wendy's (Baconator = great), Sonic Drive-In (chili cheese fries), Jack In The Box and Krystal.

I hope you'll enjoy this day (and the next few days when you decide to try the alternatives, too). Be advides that this is only the tip of the iceberg and that there are a lot more places out there. I'm talking buffet places and restaurants like the Lone Star (see post).

Dip

If you travel around the South you have to know about dip. Otherwise you're bound to experience some rather odd sights. What is dip? Dip aka smokeless tobacco is a special way to enjoy tobacco without burning and inhaling it. One takes a pinch of dip out of the can and puts it between the lower lip and the gums. The nicotine then gets absorbed through the mouth. One is advised to spit out excess saliva. Otherwise he/she will have a very bad time.

Smokeless tobacco is not a save alternative to cigarettes and may cause tooth loss and/or oral cancer!

So from now on when you get to a supermarket in (the southern parts of) the US you'll know what these small cans in the tobacco department are. If you meet someone who seems to have a swollen lower lip, look again - he might just dip. And if you happen to sit at the gate at the airport and someone next to you keeps spitting into an empty water bottle you know what he is doing.

Wrapping It Up

This has been my last day in South Carolina. I started it in Santee, drove up to Florence to say goodbye to Charles (and have an awesome lunch at Cracker Barrel), stopped in Columbia for a coffee, in Aiken to admire the old downtown area and am now in a motel in Augusta, Georgia.

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Tomorrow I'll close the circle of this trip by driving to Atlanta where ten days ago my plane from Germany touched down. I had a really incredible time here. Especially thanks to Charles I was able to accomplish a lot. I'm already looking forward to getting back to South Carolina and meet all these great people again.

Santee Indian Mound / Fort Watson

On my way back to Florence I stopped at the Santee Indian Mound / Fort Watson site. This place was used by Native Americans (the Santee Indians) as a burial site and during the Revolutionary War as a fort by the British (more info here).