There were three items on my "Charleston to-do- list." One of those was a tour of Fort Sumter, where the Civil War began. Our hotel was right in the heart of historic Charleston. We could walk to the ferry landing where our tour began. We could actually walk everywhere in Charleston which was great so we didn't have to worry about parking.
We read up a little bit on the ferry so we knew exactly what we were going to see and experience. We sat inside for most of the boat ride. Although nicer than many part of the country, you could tell is was almost December.
This is the Arthur Revenel Jr. Bridge. I have no idea who that is, but the bridge was pretty and an iconic image of Charleston.
As you can see we stopped at Starbuck's for breakfast. Did you know that between the two of us we've hit gold level members at the "bucks"? Crazy I know, but we do love our Sunday morning coffee date.
This photo is very blurry, but I still wanted to share the bridge in the background. Clearly it was a sunny day... I was not purposefully trying to look asleep.
Finally the fort came into view. It was not only a sunny day, but a windy one too. Windy as in very cold. I felt like we bundled up pretty well, but I was still freezing. I swear these last couple years living outside Iowa has spoiled us. I think going back to Iowa this Christmas will be a wake up call fos us!
We made it on the island!
After the park ranger gave an intro about the fort we had one hour to wander around and explore. I believe our first stop was the huge cannon. Many more pictures of weapons to come...
You can see Charleston through the peep hole!
Cannons and more cannons.
I thought it would be fun to show our soon-to-be child proof that they visited Fort Sumter, albeit while in the womb. I tried to get a good belly shot, but with all the layers you could hardly tell. This shot was for you baby mango!
Next on my to-do list while down south was a horse drawn carriage ride. Charleston is basically known for these and I believe there are five companies that operate the carriages there and a ton of horses. We figured it would be a cool and fun way to see some of the residential areas and architecture. Oh and I should mention these were actually mules so technically this was a mule drawn carriage ride, but that doesn't sound as romantic.
I didn't get many pictures of the tour other than the mules leading us. The good thing was we were sitting in the front row so I was able to snap these pictures. There's the ocean straight ahead!
We cruised along the ocean for a bit. Notice the palm trees. No Christmas trees here!
After our carriage ride we walked around to explore a bit more. Most people might think of beaches when they think of Charleston. In reality there are no beaches actually in Charleston, mainly just marshes like you see below. Just outside of town there are plenty of good beaches though (or so we've been told). Maybe next year we can visit there.
We saw a ton of really cool archituecture around town. Pictures were hard to take during our carriage ride, but here is one really good example of a true Charleston house.It's hard to imagine living back in the day when long full dresses and multiple layers were expected. Considering how hot Charleston gets in the summer that would be torture!
Last, but not least on our to-do list was a great meal. I swear everyone we spoke to about our trip recommended a restaurant or would comment on how good the food is in Charleston. We didn't take advantage of that for breakfast or lunch so much, but for dinner we went all out.
Multiple people had recommended Magnolia's for dinner and they didn't disappoint. Magnolia's had traditional southern dishes with lots of fresh seafood. Joe even enjoyed a local brew.
We enjoyed our time in Charleston and are so glad we finally made the trip. I'm sure we'll be back someday... and that time it won't be just the two of us!
No comments:
Post a Comment