A Classy Long Weekend (Part 3)

June 26th - June 29th

Saturday was our last full day and we planned to make the most of it. We had gone through all the brochures that were left for us at the house and found a place off the beaten trail that sounded fun, the Audubon Center at Beidler Forest. What intrigued us about this place was being able to go kayaking/canoeing through the forest so we hopped in the car and headed out. This place was in the middle of no where. There were a few times that we started to wonder if we were going on a wild goose chase. We did finally find it and we immediately started to question our decision to go but we figured that we had driven this far, so we should at least go check it out even if we were the only people there.

As we walked in, we immediately asked about canoeing. They looked at us like we had lost our minds. Clearly the brochure was wrong or we had all read it incorrectly. The Audubon was a 1.75 mile self guided tour through the heart of the swamp. We had come this far so we decided to check it out. Then we realized that we were in a swamp and there are TONS of bugs so before we hopped back in the car to head out the lady was nice enough to let us use there bug stray. We asked her if the bugs were bad and her response, "They will bit your face off.", great, this should be interesting. So after applying plenty of bug spray we headed off down the boardwalk.

It was definitely a neat walk and something I am not sure I have ever really seen before. It was considerably cooler with all the tree cover but there were a TON of bugs. Everyone continually got eaten as we spent a while enjoying all the signs and sounds in the swamp.

When we got back from our tour, we noticed "pet" snakes. When they saw us looking at them, they quickly came over to take them out for us for Jed & Audrey to hold them.

We were starving by the end of our time at the Audubon and since it was in the middle of no where we had to drive all the way back to Charleston to get food but it was definitely worth it when we found Bon Bahn Mi. It was a great Vietnamese Sandwich shop and it was really good.

After a late lunch, Audrey, Jed & I hit the hot streets again to explore some more of Charleston. Jed had heard that there was a gum post some where in the city. After verifying were some friends, we found them, kind of...

Apparently Charleston doesn't embrace this the same way Seattle & San Luis Obispo. I think Jed was pretty disappointed but he didn't let that stop us for continuing to find fun stuff in the city.

And we couldn't help but stop at Sugar Bake Shop again while out and about. That place was pretty addicting!

That evening we headed out to find dinner and found a pretty cool Italian place called Pane e Vino. We had a great time just hanging out and enjoying our last night together. After dinner we were not ready to head home so we wondered around downtown and remembered a bar that had been recommended to us. We spent the rest of the night at the Gin Joint relaxing, people watching, and getting wet in the rain.

Our last morning in Charleston we walked back downtown to a place called Toast. It was quite a popular place with a really long line for a table but we were committed and waiting in the early morning heat for a table. The food and atmosphere was good and I think we were all glad we waited.

As we were slowly making our way back to the house to get packed up and take Eric & Audrey back to the airport we ended up getting stuck in two huge down pours. It was so funny as we tried to find shelter under different awnings during the first big rain, at a gas station for the next down pour before we just decided we were already wet and had no other option but to just walk in the rain the rest of the way.

We made it back to the house, got cleaned up, took a family picture before heading out to the car where we ended up getting stuck in another down pour before getting to the car. It was all a pretty funny way to end a fantastic weekend with great friends. Can't wait for our next adventure!

Picture Courtesy of Eric Blumber

A Classy Long Weekend (Part 2)

June 26th - June 29th

Friday morning we took our time getting up and out. Audrey, Jed & I headed out to The Bagel Shop to grab some breakfast for the rest of the weekend. On our way back we stopped at a bake shop that was just around the corner for our house. This place had amazing cupcakes & cookies that we decided to get to pack in our lunches and for dessert that night. The place was called Sugar and it was GREAT!

Once we finished breakfast and packed our lunches, we headed out to check out Boone Hall Plantation. I would HIGHLY recommend this plantation. It was great. There was so much to check out. We started at the butterfly pavilion.

 After the butterfly pavilion we headed over to the highlight of Boone Hall Plantation, the Gullah Theater. By far the best thing on the plantation. It was a great way to tell the story of what life was like working on the plantation.

Our next stop was the tour of the main home on the plantation. They allowed us to walk through the bottom floor and spent time telling us about life in the main house. This home is still in use today. The current owners come and vacation and work there a few times a year and live on the second floor of the main house. It was neat to see that it was still in use.

Our next stop was the Plantation Coach Tour, we hoped on a little opened air bus and they drove us around the plantation showing us crops, old movie sets and telling us many stories about Charleston, the plantation and even the Civil War. It was a surprise to see how they are continuing to use so much of the property for so many different things.

Once the tour ended we quickly made our way to the dock area. Now a days this area that is right on the water is used for parties, celebrations and weddings. It is quite a destination area, this is the very place that Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds got married not too long ago.

Before we left the plantation, we spent some time walking around the flower gardens and trying to capture the beauty of the Live Oaks that lined the drive way.

We really enjoyed Boone Hall Plantation even if we wanted to melt from the heat.

As we left Boone Hall, we made a quick stop at the local Farmers Market that the plantation sells a lot of there produce for some refreshing ice cream before heading down to the water front.

It had been raining on and off the entire time we have been is Charleston so we didn't come down to the beach with the intention of swimming but we were hot and too close to the beach to not stop and check it out.

We made it back to our place, got cleaned up and headed off to dinner & ended our evening at D'Allesandro's Pizza. It was a fun hole in the wall pizza place. We definitely felt like locals eating here.

A Classy Long Weekend (Part One)

June 26th - June 29th

This weekend Jed and I headed down to Charleston, SC. We met up with Eric and Audrey. We were very hopeful that David & Amy could make the trip too but unfortunately, they weren't able to make it.We all met at our super posh place Rutledge Avenue Inn before heading across the street for dinner and catching up at Fuel. We had a great night of catching up and just hanging out.

On Thursday morning, we started our day off the right way. We walked across the street to Hominy Grill for a big breakfast.

After our breakfast, we decided to go wander the street of Charleston. Our first stop was the Nathaniel Russell House Museum.

We had heard great things about this place but we definitely hit it on a bad day. It was a pretty bad tour. The only thing this house had going for it was the elliptical spiral staircase. Our tour guide was a pretty big turn off for both the house and the city. It was not a good first impression at all.

After a disappointing house tour, we decided to skip any other tours and explore on our own. We were much more successful with that. On our way down to the Battery, we found Rainbow Row, and the City Market.

It was super hot outside and started to look like rain so we decided to head to lunch and see what happened with the weather. Kilby recommended Poogan's Porch. This place was FANTASTIC! Oh my gosh! We sat, laughed and ate while the rain storm passed over. By the time we were done, the rain had stopped and it was a little cooler outside so we continued to explore this city.

After a full day of walking and sweating around the city, we decided to venture out to Sullivan's Island for dinner at Home Team BBQ. It was no Poogan's Porch, but it was good. There was a ton of night life in the area but after a while we decided to just grab a movie, Mental, from Red Box and head back to our way nice house for the weekend. (Side note, if you want the movie, be sure to turn on the subtitles, it is a lot easier to understand.) Eric, Audrey, Jed and I have a long history of watching bad movies together. None of them are on purpose, it just always happens that way. And this time wasn't any different. It was a unique movie but we all decided it might be the best of the weird, bad movies we have seen together.

After the movie, it was time to call it a night, we had plenty more to explore the next few days and it was time to get some rest.