If You Visit One Place in South Carolina…

Photo by Cameron Stewart on Unsplash

If you know, you know–Charleston, SC is one of the most beautiful and historic places to visit period. But it’s a sin to visit SC and not go to Charleston. We decided to celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary with an overnight stay in what is usually one of our favorite day-trip destinations.

While this city is hands down my absolute #1 recommendation for anyone coming to SC, there are so many, many ways to do Charleston. Here’s what we did on our recent anni-trip!

Where We Stayed

Using some banked hotel points, we stayed at the Hampton Inn in the Historic District for one night. The room wasn’t anything fancy, but they did have a continental breakfast, a comfy bed, and the location was amazing.

We were smack dab in the middle of the city! Who knew that 11 years of parenting would finally rob me–I mean grace me with the ability to wake up all on my own at 6 a.m. every day without even needing an alarm clock. Such a cool trick! Ha!

I guess waking up early isn’t so bad when you have one of the most historic cities in the U.S. to explore! I’ll break it all down below so maybe you can start planning your own Charleston trip.

Where We Ate

We did a fancy dinner date at the Swamp Fox on Friday night. But a word to the wise–book reservations early. We tried to get reservations at Husk, SNOB, and Acme Low Country Kitchen the week of our trip with no luck. Maybe because it was the weekend? But honestly? I wasn’t disappointed at all with our Swamp Fox feast: warm rolls with butter, she crab soup, heirloom SC tomato salad with cornbread croutons (my fave), medium-rare ribeye, and butter cake for dessert (think sugar cookie and pound cake had a baby). Plus the restaurant has been around since 1924!!

Saturday morning, after selecting a quick grab-n-go breakfast from the hotel lobby, we stopped in La Patisserie Charleston (in the Hotel Bennet) for a latte to enjoy on our stroll through the city. We walked through the retail section of the city, then on through some residential streets (houses I only dream of affording) with the most gorgeous landscaping + gardens, to the battery (hello hot, sticky, humid SC), looped through the Charleston City Market, and ended our 3-4 mile stroll in the Charleston Farmer’s Market with a peach lemonade from Lowcountry Lemonade. By the time lunch rolled around, we snagged tasty tacos from Papi’s Taqueria–short, lovely menu, awesome chill, beachy-chic vibe with indoor and outdoor seating. I had the Fishin’ in the Dark taco with street corn and Ben chowed down on the Gotta Go Gringo taco.

What We Did

Okay, so you kinda already know that we spent the first three hours of our morning exploring the city. Well, because we started so early, we still had time to stick our toes in the sand! The beach was crowded midday Saturday but since we just had our towels, water jug, and a couple books in tow, we were just fine. Found a great spot right in the middle of a sand sculpting competition right on our favorite Charleston beach, Isle of Palms, which I’ve been visiting since early childhood. What I love about it: clean, beautiful beach, good parking options (there’s a State Park with bathrooms and concessions for a daily rate, hourly street parking, and also at least one other daily rate parking lot), a few good restaurants (like Papi’s and Acme Lowcountry Kitchen), and a couple of ice cream shops as well. We waded in the waves, read our books, took a little siesta (well, at least I did), toured all the sand sculptures, and meandered down the beach.

This little mini-trip reminded me of what I loved so much about our SoCal honeymoon 12 years ago–a little of this, a little of that, lots of good food, and one-on-one time with my favorite person. So, tell me, what’s been your favorite mini-vacay? What’s your favorite way to celebrate an anniversary?

Photo by Kelsey Schisler on Unsplash