I made a quick trip out to Charleston, South Carolina to attend the dissertation defense of a student whose committee I was on, Alex Woodell. There was not a whole lot of time for much other than attending the defense and committee meetings, but I did manage to get in a good meal at Husk.
A meal at Husk really is worth your time if you find yourself in the area with amazing food and a phenomenal selection of local beverages including some select regional ciders and a limited, though proper selection of Scotch (seen above).
Charleston is a beautiful place and I wish there were more time to explore. But, given that this trip was literally fly out, attend a meeting and fly back, the only photo ops were walking back and forth from the hotel.
My friend and colleague Barb Rohrer is a vision researcher at Medical University of South Carolina. We’ve been collaborating with each other for some time now on a number of projects, including the project that Alex was defending this trip. My most recent efforts working with Barb study the effects of smoking on the retina and its implications for age-related macular degeneration.
Alex did himself proud in his public defense and in the private defense and it was good to see him in person for the first time in several years of talking, writing and discussion.
I also had a real treat in meeting Masa Ishii (@dunkeld1969) who surprised me by noting that he followed me on Twitter. He seemed just as surprised as I was to realize that we were in the same room. Masa is also a talented photographer with a unique perspective. I wish we had a chance to walk around with our cameras on this trip. Perhaps next time? Make sure and check out Masa’s photographs on Flickr. It is some good stuff.
See you next time Charleston. I’ll look forward to more visits with friends and good meals.