Slightly belated Charleston Trip Report
Nov 9th, 2006, 06:36 AM
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Slightly belated Charleston Trip Report
The first thing I have to say about Charleston is that I LOVED it! I knew that I would and I did. The basics, we surprised my mom with a trip to celebrate her 60th to Charleston for a long weekend the 3rd weekend in October. We (my 8 mo old daughter, mom and me) travelled from ORD to Charleston airport on Friday morning and returned Monday afternoon. Although it was a bit pricier to fly direct to Charleston, it was well worth it, especially with the baby who thankfully slept the whole way.
We stayed at the Best Western King Charles Inn about which I have mixed feelings. It's a great location but undergoing a major renovation. The second floor hallway had no ceiling- just temporary lighting hanging from the sprinkler pipes and the rooms were worn, not dirty but definately in need of that renovation. The lobby area which was already renovated was nice though so after the renovation, I'm sure this property will be much better.
We had our first lunch at Jestine's Kitchen, just down the block and it was perfect. Everywhere we ate was very baby friendly and all went out of their way to make sure she was occupied and taken care of. The food was traditional southern fare and outstanding-I am still dreaming about the pecan fried chicken! After that, we walked through the market area and ended up taking a horse drawn carriage tour to get the lay of the land. The tour guide was very funny and informative and this was definately a good preview of what we wanted to see and do. More later...
We stayed at the Best Western King Charles Inn about which I have mixed feelings. It's a great location but undergoing a major renovation. The second floor hallway had no ceiling- just temporary lighting hanging from the sprinkler pipes and the rooms were worn, not dirty but definately in need of that renovation. The lobby area which was already renovated was nice though so after the renovation, I'm sure this property will be much better.
We had our first lunch at Jestine's Kitchen, just down the block and it was perfect. Everywhere we ate was very baby friendly and all went out of their way to make sure she was occupied and taken care of. The food was traditional southern fare and outstanding-I am still dreaming about the pecan fried chicken! After that, we walked through the market area and ended up taking a horse drawn carriage tour to get the lay of the land. The tour guide was very funny and informative and this was definately a good preview of what we wanted to see and do. More later...
Nov 9th, 2006, 07:56 AM
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The rest of our first day was spent wandering up King Street. One word of warning -shops close very early by most standards that I'm used to anyway. Get your shopping done early b/c most were shut down by 6 pm, at least on King St.
Saturday morning I dragged my mom (and friend who met us)to the Farmers Market against their will. I am a huge farmers market fan and make a point to go to every one I see-that's my own issue but boy were we all happy we went. This is more than just your typical Farmers Market. They have booths for crepes and omelets set up so we had a fantastic, cheap breakfast. There were also your typical fruit and vegetable vendors but probably not as many as in high season given it was mid-October. But the best part were all the artisans who had booths-everything from bakers to potters to glass blowers to jewelry. I actually managed to get some Christmas shopping done and got myself a few things from a jeweler who patterns her things after the designs on the various gates throughout the city. Lunch was at Poogan's Porch-another good spot for a more modern twist on southern fare (I had a fried green tomato blt with goat cheese-yum!)
We then took the Charleston Tea Party Walking Tour given by Marianne Wichmann. The description I read of this tour was a bit misleading because it talked of visiting private gardens which was what really drew me to the tour. Instead, this was a very good 2 hour historical tour-Wichmann is very knowledgeable on Charleston history and was very enjoyable but don't be fooled into thinking this is a garden tour. (As a side note, she did mention that there has been a tremendous change in ownership of many of the historical homes of Charleston over the past few year b/c of increasing costs in living in these homes which may account for her now knowing the homeowners to get access to the gardens.)
Saturday morning I dragged my mom (and friend who met us)to the Farmers Market against their will. I am a huge farmers market fan and make a point to go to every one I see-that's my own issue but boy were we all happy we went. This is more than just your typical Farmers Market. They have booths for crepes and omelets set up so we had a fantastic, cheap breakfast. There were also your typical fruit and vegetable vendors but probably not as many as in high season given it was mid-October. But the best part were all the artisans who had booths-everything from bakers to potters to glass blowers to jewelry. I actually managed to get some Christmas shopping done and got myself a few things from a jeweler who patterns her things after the designs on the various gates throughout the city. Lunch was at Poogan's Porch-another good spot for a more modern twist on southern fare (I had a fried green tomato blt with goat cheese-yum!)
We then took the Charleston Tea Party Walking Tour given by Marianne Wichmann. The description I read of this tour was a bit misleading because it talked of visiting private gardens which was what really drew me to the tour. Instead, this was a very good 2 hour historical tour-Wichmann is very knowledgeable on Charleston history and was very enjoyable but don't be fooled into thinking this is a garden tour. (As a side note, she did mention that there has been a tremendous change in ownership of many of the historical homes of Charleston over the past few year b/c of increasing costs in living in these homes which may account for her now knowing the homeowners to get access to the gardens.)
Nov 9th, 2006, 11:08 AM
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We headed to Vickerys in Mt. Pleasant and ate on the deck while the sun went down over the shrimp boats-a gorgeous view and ok food.
We spent our last full day at Middleton Place, a plantation about 30 mins outside Charleston, where they had a garden festival going on. The day was rather grey so the gardens were rather empty which was nice. There were great exhibit gardens scattered throughout the regular gardens and exhibitor tents as well. I can imagine the grounds are gorgeous in the spring-definately visit for the grounds and not the plantation house as it was uninteresting IMO. Overall, Middleton Place reminded me of Williamsburg in that it had demonstrations of the workings of a fully self sufficient plantation.
Later that afternoon we headed to Isle of Palms b/c we wanted to check out one of the beaches. What a gorgeous area-the homes were fantastic with a nice beach-the no see 'ems were attacking us though so our walk on the beach was cut short.
On our final morning we wandered the area south of Broad and marvelled at the homes and what life must have been like 100 years ago. All in all, I knew I'd like Charleston, but never imagined liking it as much as I did...can't wait to go back and further explore.
We spent our last full day at Middleton Place, a plantation about 30 mins outside Charleston, where they had a garden festival going on. The day was rather grey so the gardens were rather empty which was nice. There were great exhibit gardens scattered throughout the regular gardens and exhibitor tents as well. I can imagine the grounds are gorgeous in the spring-definately visit for the grounds and not the plantation house as it was uninteresting IMO. Overall, Middleton Place reminded me of Williamsburg in that it had demonstrations of the workings of a fully self sufficient plantation.
Later that afternoon we headed to Isle of Palms b/c we wanted to check out one of the beaches. What a gorgeous area-the homes were fantastic with a nice beach-the no see 'ems were attacking us though so our walk on the beach was cut short.
On our final morning we wandered the area south of Broad and marvelled at the homes and what life must have been like 100 years ago. All in all, I knew I'd like Charleston, but never imagined liking it as much as I did...can't wait to go back and further explore.
