We left on Saturday morning (3/26) and flew into Charleston, SC. The wedding was that night in Columbia, so we had to drive about 2 hours to get there. Rhett's childhood friend, Philip and his fiance are both doing medical residencies there in Columbia and did not have much time off, so that is why the wedding was there. When we got off the plane around 2pm, it was warm (probably 70's) and nice outside. By the time we got to Columbia, it was raining and the temperature had dropped into the 40's! Yikes! Luckily, we'd checked the weather ahead of time and brought coats and an umbrella (although the weather was much worse than we were even expecting). We checked into our hotel (stayed in Columbia just the 1st night) and got ready for the wedding. Despite the terribly cold and rainy weather, the wedding and reception were beautiful. It was actually semi-outdoors (ceremony was on a covered balcony) but they had those nice large propane heaters set up so it was actually bearable. There was an indoor area for the reception so that was nice. I did not feel like hauling the "big" camera around for the wedding so I don't have any pictures. If I can get some from Philip, I will come back and post them. We stayed out late (midnight!)...or maybe that's late for us...and then actually got to sleep in until 9am the next morning! I can't remember the last time we slept in that late - it was great!
After we checked out of our hotel in Columbia, we went to the lake house that Philip's family was staying at and had lunch with them. Philip and Kelli did not have enough time off to go on a honeymoon, so they just stayed there at the lake and spent time with both families for a few days. Since we traveled all that way and Rhett and Philip rarely get to see each other, they invited us to hang out for a while. We had fun visiting with everyone and watching the bride and groom open their wedding gifts. We left there at around 1:45pm and headed back to Charleston to stay for 2 more nights.
In Charleston, we stayed at the Meeting Street Inn. It was in a great location, within walking distance of all the shops, restaurants and "tourist-y" type things in the downtown area. At first, I was a little leery of this whole "inn" thing b/c I'm really more of a nice hotel kinda girl, but it turned out to be just fine. It kinda grew on me and it really was in the perfect location, so that was the best part. They had breakfast every morning and wine and cheese at 5:30pm every day. I would definitely stay there again and recommend it to anyone visiting Charleston.
The Meeting Street Inn
We got checked in and settled in our room, then walked to a seafood restaurant called Fleet Landing for an early dinner around 5:30pm. Fleet Landing is on Charleston Harbor, but we did not sit outside since it was so cold and dreary. Since we were eating so early (b/c we were trying to make a 7:30pm movie), we just split a seafood plate and appetizer. After dinner, we went to the movies to see The Adjustment Bureau. We haven't been to a movie in a while, so that was nice. I wasn't even really hungry but when we walked in and smelled the popcorn, we HAD to get some! (and a coke and sour patch kids, too) The movie was good and we enjoyed our first evening in Charleston.
Fleet Landing (picture taken from the boat during our harbor tour)
Monday, we slept in until 9am again...wow, two days in a row! We got up and ready and called to buy tickets for a carriage ride through Charleston and a boat ride/tour of Charleston Harbor. We'd read that the rain was supposed to go away on Tuesday so we scheduled the carriage ride for that day (Monday) and the harbor tour for Tuesday morning (b/c we were not flying out until Tues at 5:40pm) We headed out around 11am to walk to the carriage barn and luckily it was not raining at this point (although we did bring the umbrella!) When we got there, we were told they were booked until 1pm so we went to eat lunch. We ate at a place called Joseph's and they had the best creamy tomato and crab soup - yum! We also got sandwiches to go with our soup...Rhett got one with pastrami and I got a fancy grilled cheese sandwich that was seriously the best grilled cheese I've ever had. Oh my word, it was so good and went perfectly with the soup! It was on sour dough bread with sharp and white cheddar cheeses, plum tomatoes (which I picked off b/c they were too thick for my liking), and fresh basil. I want to try to recreate it at home, but with thinner tomato slices. Oh, and we had fried green tomatoes for an appetizer. Maybe this is a true "southern" dish because we saw it on every menu in Charleston. They were really good! After eating, we went back to the carriage barn and we were told to come back (again) at 1:55pm. Apparently they were super busy that day despite the rain.
Joseph's Restaurant
Fried Green Tomatoes - YUM!
About this time, it really came a downpour. Very thankful for the umbrella and jackets we brought, but I did not bring the right shoes - mine were soaked right through! We needed to kill some time so we went to walk around the Market, which is an open-air flea market kind of place (luckily it has a roof!). Apparently this is a big touristy thing to do. We weren't really all that impressed b/c we thought it was mostly junk (not old junk, but just...junk). We did find a Charleston fridge magnet and bought that since we get a magnet on all of our trips. One thing that is really big in Charleston is the hand-woven sweetgrass baskets. There were lots of vendors selling these, but oh.my.word. they are expensive! A "normal" sized basket (like the size of a small-medium serving bowl) was at least $75! And forget it if you want to get one large enough to put magazines or something like that in.....$150 and up! So, we settled for a trivet and paid $25. That was the best thing we could get in that price range. The only other choice would have been a tiny basket so small you couldn't fit anything useful in it (maybe a few coins, but what's the use in that?). We also hit up a few nearby shops, including a sweet shop (where we got some fudge and some amazing pecan pralines) and a Christmas store (where we got a Charleston ornament, which we also get on all our trips).
The Charleston City Market (there was a row of like 5 or 6 of these buildings)
trivet made from sweetgrass
Market Street Sweets (this place originated in Savannah, GA. they have the BEST pralines I've ever had!)
After shopping, we headed back to the carriage barn for the 3rd time and were able to get on a tour around 2pm. The rain let up for a little while...maybe for the first 20 minutes of the ride...but then it started back up again (at least it was only sprinkling) and we got a little wet. Luckily the carriage has a canopy top so we were mostly shielded. The tour lasted for one hour and it was very interesting. Definitely a "must do" if you go to Charleston. I did not take any pictures while on the tour because the view from my seat wouldn't have made for very good pictures.
Palmetto Carriage Tours
If it looks like my teeth are clenched and I'm shivering, it's because they are...and I was! I was freezing! The mule behind us is named Republican. :)
By the time the tour was over, we were ready to go back to our room to warm up and dry off! We relaxed for a bit and decided that we would live life on the wild side and go see a movie for the second night in a row!! We're not big on "night life" and I can't drink anything anyway, so the only thing to really do at night is to go see a movie. We had dinner early again at 5pm and went to another seafood restaurant. There are A LOT of seafood restaurants in Charleston! This time we walked to Hyman's Seafood just a block down the street from the inn. Again, since we were eating so early we just kinda ate light. The best thing we tried there was the buffalo shrimp appetizer. They were really good. Rhett got a shrimp po-boy and I had a caesar salad and gumbo. Their gumbo has a different flavor than what we are used to (it had okra in it) but it wasn't bad. This restaurant is apparently a really popular one in Charleston and each table had little plaques on them showing what celebrities had eaten at that table. Hootie and the Blowfish, Phish, and John McCain had all eaten at our table. After dinner, we went to see The King's Speech...and had MORE popcorn and candy! The movie was very good and I definitely recommend it!
Tuesday was the day we were to fly back to Houston, but since our flight wasn't until 5:40pm, we had half the day to kill. We got up and ate breakfast at the inn and then killed a little more time walking around. We actually went back to the Market b/c I had seen some smocked dresses there the day before that I wanted to check out. Turns out they were made in the Philippines and not in Charleston so I decided to pass on them (I was looking for something handmade locally for Aubrey). We did happen upon a vendor who was selling the cutest hand-knitted kids' items and bought two cute little hats and a bunny lovey. The lady who makes them is actually Peruvian, but she lives and sells her items in Charleston so we thought that was something unique to buy.
Aubrey's cute little hats. I picked out the blue (surprise) and Rhett picked out the purple. You can take the bows off and interchange them if you want.
Rhett picked out the lovey. We figured a little pink was ok. :) (the other choice was yellow and I'm not crazy about yellow, either)
After that, we headed to the maritime center for our harbor tour at 11am. Thank goodness the rain was gone and the sun was out! It was still in the 40's but at least it wasn't raining. The harbor tour lasted 90 minutes and was also very interesting. It was nice to be out on the water. The only thing that wasn't so nice is that I ended up with a sunburn on my chest in the shape of my shirt's neckline! Since it was cold, I still had my jacket on and wore pants so my arms and legs didn't get burned. I'm not going to complain, though because anything was better than the rain we were in on Monday!
boats in Charleston Harbor
yay for sunshine!
the tour boat, The Carolina Belle (Charleston Harbor Tours)
Fort Sumter
Fort Moultrie
USS Yorktown
Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge (apparently a cool bridge, says the engineer husband)
After the harbor tour, we ate lunch at a place called T-Bonz. We had some amazing potato skin/steak fry type things as an appetizer and then split an awesome burger! We actually liked everywhere we ate on this trip, so that was a plus. After lunch, we walked back to the car and drove to see the famous Rainbow Row, which is a row of colorful historic houses near the harbor. It actually wasn't as bright and colorful as we'd imagined, but still neat. After that, we hopped back in the car and made our way to the airport to fly back to Houston, back to Caleb, and back to reality!
Rainbow Row (and this is what the carriage we rode on looks like)
Charleston was a really neat city and we would like to go back someday and see some things we didn't have time to see. There are lots of museums, historic houses, and plantations...plenty to see and do there! Despite the nasty weather on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday of our trip, we did have a good time and it was nice to get away for a bit. I will admit that I missed Caleb a lot and was kinda down about it, especially on Sunday and Monday when it was so dreary, cold and wet. I had moments where I was thinking "I'd rather be at home with my sweet boy than here in this freezing, wet, nasty weather!" but overall, I did have a great time and was so glad we were able to go. Actually, once we got back and Caleb threw fits all day on Wednesday...I kinda wanted to go back to Charleston, LOL!
Oh, and I forgot to mention that we finalized Aubrey's name on this trip and mentally made a to do list of things we need to get done before she is born! :)
I will do a separate post with some pictures from Caleb's stay with Mimi and G-Dad! If you've made it this far, you must really love me because this turned into a long post! :)
1 comment:
Sounds like an awesome trip!!!! You’re pictures are great. I miss the wonderful fried green tomatoes from back home; you’re right, they are sooo delicious :-)
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