Hello friends! I'm here today to share my recent trip to Charleston, South Carolina. This was my first visit but I hope not my last! I am only about 5-6 hours away from this delightful, historical city. The hubby and I, along with Miranda took a short but sweet trip up there a couple weeks ago. We had a wonderful time. We left on Monday and returned Thursday evening but we packed a lot of fun into our trip. We will begin with our first evening in Charleston. We stayed on King Street which is a really popular street in historic Charleston. We looked up places to eat supper within walking distance and came upon this gem.
Yep, a bowling alley! Not your typical bowling alley fare served here though. Check out this amazing burger I had. I always go for something I've never had...typically with lots of unique ingredients and flavors. I love flavor filled food. This was the Vermont burger. It was a beef patty topped with Vermont white cheddar, thinly sliced Granny Smith apple, bacon, maple mayo, and arugula. It was amazing! I plan to recreate it here at home someday!
After we ate, we walked around a bit. In fact, we walked everywhere we went in downtown and put in about 7 miles per day! I missed my workouts this week but we walked so much and I hit the gym in the hotel one morning to make up for it.
The firehouse was so pretty!
We got up early the next morning and started walking with no particular destination in mind. We explored most of the historic area that day. There are so many pretty buildings up and down King Street which house stores, businesses, restaurants and such.
This bookstore was very nice. The front room housed books about SC and Charleston as well as books written by authors from SC.
It was one of the most dog friendly places I have been. Check out the fountain for adults, children, and dogs. :) Many of the businesses keep bowls of water on the sidewalk for dogs as well. So neat!
We saw pretty parks and fountains.....
amazing old architecture.....
check out that skinny little building with the burgundy awning!
We ate a Greek restaurant for lunch but I had shrimp and grits. I like to try them at different places. None compare to the shrimp and grits from Jonah's (in Thomasville, Ga.) though!
We found City Market and walked through all of the buildings. I believe there were 4 or 5. They are lung buildings with vendors set up along the sides.
I bought two Christmas ornaments at the market.
I forgot to take a picture when we went in the first building, but this is the last one.
We walked down to the water in search of the pineapple fountain....
and found it! The pineapple is the symbol of hospitality and this city did not lack in that area.
I was amazed that people were allowed to play in the water. That is usually a no-no.
We sat on a bench in this lovely park where the fountain was located and took a break before we headed back to our hotel. We had walked 3 or 4 miles in 9 degree heat and humidity! The heat index was over 100! I was kind of wishing I had brought my swimsuit for the fountain....lol!
These huge window boxes were gorgeous and overflowing!
More pretty architecture.
Loved this vine covered building!
We stopped in at Woofgang Bakery and bought Sadie and Rooster a treat to take home.
We were pretty exhausted from all the walking and heat so we ordered pizza in the hotel that night and were lazy!
The next day we headed out on foot again to take a historical coat tour of the harbor. I got a phone call while we were sitting in front of the Aquarium saying the tour had been canceled due to lack of participation. Bummer! But, since we were in front of the aquarium, we decided to go there. Here is a picture from the outside.
There were many different sea creatures inside as well as many SC native animals.
Here's my favorite marine animal.
And here I am touching some type of little shark.
After we left the aquarium, we walked next door to the Fort Sumter Museum and toured inside.
After we left the museum, we headed back to our hotel to rest for a bit before heading out to North Charleston to see a movie and eat at Boxcar Betty's. We saw The Secret Life of Pets....it was super cute. After the movie, we went to Boxcar Betty's to try one of the famous chicken sandwiches. I chose to add lettuce, tomato, and pimiento cheese to mine. Oh my, it was delicious! I am so glad we drove across town to try it.
We returned back to the hotel with full tummies for our last night.
We got up the following morning, got ready and packed to head out to Magnolia Plantation. this is one of the oldest plantations in the US. It is home to the oldest garden and is the place where camellias and azaleas were first introduced to the US.
While waiting for our trolley tour, we visited the petting zoo. There were a variety of animals to look at and pet. This lazy guy never did come all the way out...:)
A turkey and deer were drinking from the same trough. LOL!
A tiny alligator...about a foot long.
A funny goat!
And a sweet deer who liked to nuzzle your ears.
There are a variety of flowers and there were several types blooming while we we there.
This is actually a pond covered in something called duck weed. The small platform you see has two small gators sunning on it.
Our trolley tour guide had fun playing with this huge, horned beetle that crawled across a boys foot while we were on board. He stopped and got out to tell us about it.
Here is the plantation house....so pretty!
My favorite part of the plantation was this beautiful bridge.
A nice lady offered to take our picture together.
My beautiful daughter, Miranda.
Another bridge shot...love the reflection.
And one of me before we walked across.
We enjoyed our tour of the plantation but after three days of extreme heat and about 15 miles of walking, we were pretty tired and ready to head home.
We had to stop at the most adorable little country store on the way. I had seen it when we were driving in on Monday and told myself I would stop on the way home. It was the cutest thing!
And, since I had not had any special sweet treat while we were gone, I bought a praline and a Cheerwine for the ride home. It was delicious!
We had a wonderful few days and made lots of new memories. I do hope you are doing well and enjoying your summer. Mine is quickly coming to a close. I officially go back to work on August 3rd! We go back early this year due to some changes in our district calendar for the coming year. I am not thrilled about it but I do enjoy having more routine in my life, and I had a great summer so I can't complain. Thank you for visiting, and as always.....
