CHARLESTON

I am always seeking my next adventure, and the holidays usually give everybody more free time to do so. Luckily, I had the weekend off during New Years’ this past year, so John and I decided to travel to a new city! John is a huge history buff and Charleston not only has that southern charm I’ve always wanted to experience, but the city is FULL of history.

When I travel, I like to stay in the middle of the action, so I found the perfect place that did just that. We stayed at the Andrew Pinckney Inn, which was walking distance from shops, restaurants, and the ferry tour we went on. The location could not have been better.

Charleston is different than any city I have ever visited. There are historical cobble street roads, palm trees, and you’re right the harbor. It’s similar to New Orleans, but classier and prettier (No offense, NOLA).

Day 1:

• Explore downtown Charleston: E Bay Street is the main street downtown. First stop was Rainbow row. Bright blues, pinks, and purples everywhere you look, hence the name. The buildings have so much character and it was fun to walk along the main road and just admire the colors around us. We walked along the water at Waterfront Park and visited the famous Pineapple fountain.
• Lunch: High Cotton. A southern restaurant (shocker). Their fried green tomatoes and grits were to die for. And I don’t even like tomatoes. Or grits.
• More walking around Charleston and walked to the beach. e didn’t have any set plans the first day, so we just explored. Sometimes, those are the best days.
• Henrys House: fun bar with live music
• Dinner: Pearlz Oyster Bar. I couldn’t come to Charleston without getting some seafood. Their crab legs…you must order.

Day 2 (New Years’ Eve):

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Fort Sumter Tour. We took a ferry to Fort Sumter and good thing the boat had an indoor area because it was FREEZING outside. The ride was about 30 minutes each way. We were able to explore around the fort for about an hour before heading back. Really cool experience!
• Magnolia Plantation and Garden: Charleston has many plantations to choose from, so it was hard to choose just one for our short trip here. We took an uber about 20 minutes to this plantation site and it was so worth it. If you love places like the Arboretum, you will love this. This plantation has been open to the public since 1870 and is full of beautifulgardens, bridges, and it even had a petting zoo (may or may not have been the reason I chose this one).
• Back to downtown to grab a bite at the Rooftop bar at Vendue
• Went back to the hotel to change/get ready for the night. It was New Years’ Eve, and we didn’t really do any research on popular places to party that night. We ended up going to Henry’s Bar, which we had been to the previous day. They had a NYE party upstairs with live music and they were handing out hats, glasses, and other party favors. It ended up being a lot of fun and I’m glad we decided to go here! Not to mention it was right across from our hotel, so walking in my high heels was a piece of cake.

Day 3:

• Carriage Ride: We took a horse drawn carriage ride around the Historic district using Old South Carriage Company. The ride is about an hour long and took us around to see places we had missed the first day. The guide was very knowledgeable about the city and shared tons of fun facts. Would do this again!
• Lunch: We had an afternoon flight out, and we couldn’t leave this city without trying the famous restaurant, SNOB (Slightly North of Broad). Again, great southern food and had a coffee mixed with Bailey’s to end the trip the right way.

So glad we were able to visit this charming city. There were so many places we weren’t able to go to of course, but that just gives me an excuse to come back, right?