Hubby & I really enjoy traveling, and it's been something that we've always made a priority even after having Elyse. Our goal is to have a "couples only" vacation once a year and hopefully a family vacation once a year as well...hopefully this keeps working out for us!
We (or at least I) are normally beach vacation people, preferring to simply sit on the beach a few days, and venture off the resort to have some fun...but mainly just eat yummy food, and relax. However, we also know there is SO much to see, so this year we opted for a little bit more of a "city" vacation. We made the decision back in the fall to try Charleston, SC out and once we found some fairly cheap flights, it was a done deal.
We flew out on a Sunday morning after waving goodbye to Elyse at the airport security check. Of course, she could have cared less...she was spending the week with Papa & Gigi and then with Mamaw & Pappy! What could be better!
We arrived in Charleston, grabbed a taxi to our hotel (Hampton Inn Historic District--which I loved for it's close location to the free trolley stop), and after a quick stop in at the Visitor's Center, we headed off to explore. We made it all the way to Broad, before we decided to stop in at Blind Tiger Pub (which used to be a speakeasy) for a quick dinner. We made our way back to Waterfront Park and checked out the area before heading back to our hotel fairly early. It had been a BUSY day!
Monday morning we started out with a carriage ride around the city to hopefully gain our bearings and learn some history along the way. To be completely honest, Hubby & I were less than impressed with our tour guide...which is why we chose to do another carriage ride later in the trip. This guide seemed to have a little bit too much of an agenda when it came to certain things and didn't really seem to have any desire in sharing much of the old, old history.
However, after the carriage ride, we headed off for a little photo scavenger hunt that I picked up from Kate @ Elefantitas Alegres. We enjoyed finding all the hidden alleyways, and it was a fun way to see some beautiful, yet more secluded areas of the city.
We had originally made lunch reservations at one of the hundreds of highly recommended restaurants, but decided to cancel those and opted for a casual pizza lunch before spending the afternoon doing some more walking and some afternoon shopping.
Tuesday morning we headed out in the opposite direction for some more photo scavenger hunt opportunities...the buildings in Charleston are seriously so incredibly full of history, I wish I knew all the stories that accompanied each building we walked by!
We made our way down lower King all the way to Battery Park, snapping photos for the scavenger hunt along the way.
We finally made our way to our lunch destination...Fleet's Landing. It doesn't get the highest reviews, but it's the only place truly on the water and I just can't resist outdoor dining on the water. We had a great casual lunch and it was the perfect way to relax for a bit before heading out again.
After lunch we spent some time shopping in the city market and purchased some mother's day gifts and finally decided upon a beautiful canvas photo print for the new house. Of course I failed to take a picture of it, but it's already found it's home on our new entryway table!
At the recommendation of April from A. Liz Adventures, we headed up to the rooftop Pavilion Bar for afternoon drinks & dessert. It was a great place to just sit and relax and enjoy the sites.
We called it a day fairly early in the afternoon and headed back to the room to rest and change for dinner. This time we opted to take the trolley back to dinner at Magnolia's. We walked down to Waterfront Park for some photos before heading over to dinner. I LOVED the pineapple fountain!
We finished off our evening with a ghost tour from Bulldog Tours. While our tour guide was a great story teller, the tour was 90 minutes long and was basically broken down like this...3 20-minute stories, with 3 10-minute walks in between. I've been on ghost tours before that jump from story to story to story and for me, this is much more entertaining. However, we did get to tour the dungeon and "bloody alley" which just the day before (see picture #5 above) was one of the most picturesque places in Charleston...too bad it's also where they had all their duels! ha!
2 comments:
Awesome trip! I've never been to Charleston, but it's on my "someday" list. Looks like a wonderful place to relax, eat and spend some romantic time away from the kiddos.
Looks like a fun getaway. You guys got great smiles.
Lauren, you always make me smile when I stop by your blog. I like that Elyse is so comfortable with her grandparent to not mind when you are going away. I really miss that relationship for my children. Their grandparents live in USA and UK so we don't see them often.
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