Our Trip To Charleston South Carolina

In our ten years of marriage, my wife and I had never gone on a vacation by ourselves.  That’s unless you count our honeymoon.  So for this special occasion, my wife said that we should go to Charleston, South Carolina.  This wasn’t on my list of places to visit.  But she went there in her college years and loved it.  

I didn’t know what to expect, but I decided to not experience this trip on the internet and just experience it as it happened.  My wife knows how to plan a vacation,  so I didn’t worry about the details.  All I could think of was no kids!  Don’t get me wrong, I love our vacations with our children, but a getaway for just the two of us was long overdue.

Before really seeing Charleston, we wanted to get a little bit of the beach experience.  So once our flight landed, we rented a car and headed out to the Isle of Palms.  It’s a city on the slender barrier island of the same name.  We stayed at the Seaside Inn, right on the Atlantic coast.  It was perfect for our two-night stay on the ocean.   There was a boardwalk that went out right on to the beach.  We found some nice restaurants and shopping areas.  It pretty much could have been a vacation on its own. The Isle of Palms was a great start to our getaway.  

After a couple days of the beach life, we took a drive over to Charleston.  Even though it’s only 45-minutes away, it was like going on a completely different vacation.  I was caught off guard on how different it was than most cities.  At times, it felt like I was in a European town.  It is the oldest city in the state of South Carolina which was founded in 1670.  So if you are a history buff, this is the city for you.

Charleston City Market

Our first stop was the Charleston City Market in the heart of downtown Charleston.  Lindsey loved all of the shops from the local vendors.  One of the vendors had oysters that you could purchase that had a pearl inside.  And inside was either a white, black or pink pearl.  Lindsey bought one and when we opened the oyster, it had a pink pearl inside.  She was able to pick a necklace that the pearl could be set in.  She picked the mermaid.  

As we strolled through the streets of the downtown area, there were so many amazing colonial style homes and cobblestone roads with narrow alley ways covered with ivy.  It was really a cool experience.

The next evening Lindsey had booked us to go on a haunted tour that takes you through the downtown streets.  Part of the tour is that you get to go into a dungeon where they imprisoned pirates.  And they say that even today, some of those pirates haunt the dungeon.  It was pretty scary.

Lindsey’s favorite movie of all time is the Notebook.  And she kept telling me that when we went to Charleston, we had to visit the Boone Hall Plantation where part of the movie was filmed.  After a few days of our vacation, we headed out to Mount, Pleasant to see this historic site. 

One of the first things you notice is the huge, beautiful trees.  Most of them are over 300 years old.  It truly is a sight to behold.  

As you passed the trees, you are introduced to the reality that comes with the history of this plantation.  The slave quarters lined one side of the property.  It was a somber moment for us to see this in contrast to the large home just ahead.

We did a tour through the first floor of the two story Boone Hall Mansion.

We were taken back by all of the amazing sights and history that Charleston had to offer.   I know it isn’t considered a hot spot destination, but I could visit this city again and again.  If you ever get the chance go see Charleston, South Carolina!

Have you been to Charleston?