Charleston

The Mr. and I just got back from a long weekend in Charleston. I'd heard great things about the city and have been wanting to go for a while. So naturally, I turned it into a Christmas present for my better half, who kind of hates travelling...he was ecstatic. 

We had two tickets on Southwest that were about to expire so we decided to use them and fly south. We left on Thursday and arrived in Charleston around 4:30. After grabbing a rental car we checked into our hotel for the night. 

For the last two nights of our trip we used Hilton Honors points that the Mr. has amassed from traveling for work, but I wanted to stay in the historic downtown area for one night so we did that Thursday night. We stayed in the heart of downtown at the Mills House and it was beautiful.

We dropped our bags off at the hotel and walked a few blocks to the Vendue Hotel. This hotel is about a block from the water and has a rooftop bar with great views of the city. We got there after dark and so it was too dark to see many of the views but it was still a fun place to grab a pre-dinner drink. I'd love to go back in the summer time when it stays light longer. During the cooler months they have kerosene heaters all over the rooftop which made things cozy.

From there we walked down to the Marina for dinner at a restaurant called Fleet Landing. It was right on the water and located in an old US Navy building. The food was great, especially their homemade honey butter and biscuits.

The next morning we had breakfast at the Bakehouse. It's a little coffee shop with muffins, quiche, croissants and ... coffee. After breakfast we headed out of the downtown area to the Magnolia Plantation. We spent a few hours learning about the history of the plantation and touring the gardens. I'm sure this would also be beautiful in the Spring as well.  The signs said to watch out for alligators but I was kind of disappointed that we didn't see any...

We left the plantation and drove to Folley Beach...about a 30 minute drive from downtown Charleston. It reminded me a little of Hatteras but on a larger scale and we spent a few hours walking the little town and checking out the pier (2nd largest on the East Coast!) We ate lunch at the Lost Dog Cafe (fried green tomato sandwich!)

After Folley beach we checked into our hotel (new one no longer downtown) and then went to see a movie. (Passengers-I highly recommend it!) 

The next day we drove back downtown and spent a few hours walking the streets. It's such a beautiful area! You could probably spend a week walking the downtown area and still not see everything. There are a ton of neat restaurants and boutiques tucked in.

Since it was New Years Eve we wanted to do something special for dinner so we made a reservation at Eli's Table in downtown. Our reservation wasn't until 7:15 so we grabbed some coffee at Toast while we were waiting (pictured below). I would love to go back to Toast for a meal...they aren't too pricey but have a unique variety...or like us, you can just grab a coffee and people watch. 

After we sat down and placed our drink orders at Eli's Table we were informed that there was a special menu that night in honor of NYE...and it was $69 a person! WHAT!! Well, since we didn't really have an option at that point we stayed and the food was great but I'm not sure it was quite worth $69... we had crab bisque, ceasar salad, seared scallops and an amazing dessert that I didn't get the name of but loved.

All in all it was a great getaway and we are so thankful to my parents who watched our girls while we were gone. We've never been away from our kids for that long and we were missing them by the time we got back. They had colds while we were gone but still had a wonderful time with Grandma and Grandpa (no surprise). 

I highly recommend the Charleston area for a vacation but would probably go back in the Spring if we ever went again. 

P.S. We also stopped by The Citadel and did some thrift store shopping (because that's how we roll)