Vacation Part III: Charleston, SC

Friday after lunch we got in the car and headed towards Charleston, South Carolina where our friends Dan and Caitlin live! From the looks of this picture I bet you can guess what happened on our way up there...

Yup...traffic. We hit traffic in Jacksonville and also once we hit SC...there was a huge wreck on the highway. I make the worst mad faces. I'm always trying not to laugh and I wind up looking weird. I tell people it's because I'm so sweet I always looks happy :) haha

We finally made it to Charleston and met Dan, Caitlin, and two of Dan's Air Force friends (another couple who were so nice!) at the Charleston Crab House which was so yummy. I got the stuffed tilapia which was stuffed with crab...it was so good! Zach got coconut shrimp which he really liked also.

Then we walked over to Rooftop, a rooftop bar (if you couldn't guess from the name). It was so fun to catch up with Caitlin and chit chat while we had an amazing view of the city at night!

Zach and Dan. Boys are silly.

The steeple of St. Philip's Church...it looked gorgeous with the moonlight

View of the city

Me on the rooftop!

Zach and I on the rooftop

I loved how Charleston had white Christmas lights everywhere at night...it was SO pretty and reminded me a lot of St. Augustine

The outside of the Rooftop

We stopped by the Southend Brewery but they were closed. I was able to sneak in a quick picture though!

Zach is being goofy...but the inside was so cool how you could see the fermenters and columns, etc.

Gorgeous building for a bar! We learned later on that it used to be a cotton warehouse and had ocean-front offices on the top floor before it became a bar.

We went to an Irish pub and then Dan, Caitlin, and their friends ate HUGE pieces of pizza before we went back to Dan and Caitlin's house at THREE THIRTY am! If you know me, you know I go to bed at like...midnight. Maybe one on a weekend. I am a morning person not a late night person so it was crazy for me to be up so late! I had a lot of fun though and enjoyed seeing Charleston at night.

Saturday morning when I could finally get the crack-of-noon risers up and ready, Zach, Caitlin and I went to Isle of Palms! We had a yummy lunch on the deck of Banana Cabana and then walked out on the beach. It was rainy when we first got there, but stopped raining shortly after, even though the sky was overcast most of the day.

This guy washed up just a few feet away from where we were collecting shells! Yuck...creatures.

Caitlin and me! Pardon the squinty eyes/wet hair look haha

Zach and me!

After the beach we went to a few of the beach shops, then stopped by Whole Foods to pick up a few things (including Caitlin's birthday cake!) on our way back to the house. There isn't a Whole Foods near us in MS so I was thrilled to be able to get some blueberry scones (AMAZING) from the bakery and Zach liked picking out a few of the local beers to try (not so amazing haha)

We had to travel back to the house in a huge rainstorm (gotta love the South in the summer!) but once we made it back, we got ready and ate yummy barbeque for supper, and then hung out at Dan and Caitlin's and talked. We called it an early night on Saturday night! We were wiped.

Sunday was Caitlin's birthday! Zach and I got up and got ready and went to a few stores while Dan and Caitlin got ready and also went to a few stores and had lunch (since Dan just got back from deployment and they have had visitors the past week I figured they might want some Dan and Caitlin time on her birthday). We went to World Market, which I love to pieces, PetSmart (for some Zoe birthday gifts), Target, and the best store of them all-Palmetto Moon.

If y'all are ever in Summerville, SC...you HAVE to go to Palmetto Moon. I fell in LOVE with this store. They have everything from South Carolina gifts, to Southern gifts, to Clemson, USC, The Citadel...all sorts of stuff. I think I'll do a whole post on what I got there!

We ate lunch at a little place called the Sweetgrass Cafe which was cute and the perfect lunch, then met back up with Dan and Caitlin so we could have some birthday cake!

Happy Birthday Caitlin!!

She had picked out a chocolate and peanut butter cake and it was so delicious!

After hanging out a while longer, Zach and I got packed up and headed to Charleston.

We wished Dan and Caitlin could have come but they had to get ready for work on Monday.

First, Zach and I went to Battery Park. It was SO PRETTY. It had cannons, monuments, a gorgeous gazebo, a park, shaded by mossy oaks and palm trees, surrounded by antebellum homes and colorful houses, all on the water! Easily one of my favorite places I saw in Charleston.

Me with the water

Zach with one of the cannons

One of the monuments in the park.

Some of the pretty colorful houses we saw.

After a little while at the Battery, we drove down by the water into the city, parked, and walked around looking at all the pretty houses/buildings and Charleston charm.

I loved this little side street with its palm trees, lantern style street lights, yellow building and cobblestone.

I love cobblestone streets! They remind me of places I love like St. Augustine, Newport, and Boston.

And I also loved my yellow bow sandals...happy birthday to me! haha

Walking towards Waterfront Park

There were these unique maps of Charleston that looked like they were made of copper because of the blue/green color.

The infamous pineapple fountain...I love that Charleston picked a pineapple since it's the symbol of Southern Hospitality!

Zach and I at Waterfront Park

After leaving Waterfront Park, we walked to the same pizza place with the huge slices and ate some for supper...

They were so yummy, inexpensive, and HUGE!

Then we walked to Southend Brewery and had some dessert while we waited for our ghost tour to start.

We love going on these ghost tours (judge away) because it's a fun way to learn the history of the city you're visiting. And Charleston is so pretty at night!

This is the same church I took a picture of the first night, just much closer!

This hotel is haunted by Civil War soldiers

This graveyard is the site where one of the most famous "ghost" pictures has ever been taken. A man captured a picture of a woman carrying a basket.

There is a woman who gave birth to a stillborn son. Since he was stillborn, the church wouldn't allow him a baptism or to be given a name. The woman died a couple days later from childbirth complications (and grief). Despite the family's wishes, mother and son were not buried together because the baby wasn't baptized. He was buried next to his mother in a sweetgrass basket. The woman in the picture is the mother carrying a sweetgrass basket on the day of her son's birth. Sweet and creepy at the same time.