Charleston Part 2: Eat

If you happened to miss Part 1 {Stay and Do}, you can read it here.

We've made it to the really good part of the trip! Or I could call this the part where I make you all really hungry for some good ole Southern comfort food...whichever. Sorry in advance.

Charleston isn't one of those places you should try to stay in and not go out to eat. You.must.go.out.to.eat. and OFTEN! Too many great restaurants to try and chicken and waffles to be enjoyed (my personal favorite, so says the girl that was a vegetarian for years before becoming pregnant...)

HERE WE GO!

EAT

Before leaving for any vacation, I almost always turn to you guys for tips on what to do and most importantly, where to eat. Trust me when I say I don't just ask to ask, we actually go to them! We have had some of our yummiest meals thanks to you guys-I trust your opinions! It's pretty awesome to have "friends" all around the world to steer us in the right direction. Anyway..my point with this is that it would've taken me literally two weeks to eat at all of the places that were recommend to us. We tried our best to get a good mix of different types of restaurants, and we most definitely ate our way through the city.

Brunch:

+Our favorite restaurant by far was....drumroll....Poogan's Porch. In hindsight, I could've ate there for brunch every single morning of our trip (they serve lunch as well). It was exactly what I wanted when looking for a good Southern meal. Order the chicken and waffles, fried green tomatoes, and bisquits and gravy....HEAVENLY, I tell you! All three items were our favorites here, even when trying at the other restaurants.

Note: Earlier you get there the better! It gets crowded. And if the humidity level is tolerable, request to sit on the porch! We sat inside (ahem humidity) and thought it was just about one of the cutest and most charming restaurants we've ever ate in. So either way, you can't go wrong! 

 

+Another brunch favorite of ours was Toast. We got the corned beef hash (Billy), biscuits and gravy (to split), and the Jumbo Breakfast Sandwich (me). If you like Shrimp and Grits, I heard theirs are the best (I'm not a big fan otherwise I would've). They also have some pretty awesome mimosa options that I was dying to try, so if mimosa's are your kind of thing you will love the bar and options here!

Other favorites....
+Hominy Grill (get the Big Nasty)

For Fresh Juices or Smoothies:

There were two places right by our inn, so I was pretty happy that I could get one in the mornings. They made me feel a little better about eating not so healthy the rest of the time, ha.

+We loved Whisk! The juices and smoothies were both delicious and they have some bakery items as well. Plus, the decor inside was on point! They even let Rocky sit inside at a seating area they had...he "read" the paper with Billy, can't you tell? ;)

+Freshii (on Kings St, they also had great healthy lunch options as well)

Lunch:

Most of the time, we were too stuffed from brunch that lunch often got skipped. Sorry lunch.

+When visiting Folly Beach, we loved Lost Dog Cafe! A cute little place with great food and fast service. They also serve breakfast all day (I am a HUGE fan of this concept and think more restaurants should follow along...)

the best international eggs benedict

the southern BLT (with fried green tomatoes and pimento cheese on it!)

+In Mt. Pleasant, we had a great lunch on the marina at Red's Ice House. Casual atmosphere, outside bar, live music, pet friendly, and right on the water so you can see all the boats pull up. We got lucky and saw a ton of dolphins up close!

Other favorites....
+Nick's BBQ

Dinner:

+Now, this might be hard for some of you to read so please don't hate me. I have to be honest and say we weren't that impressed with the really popular recommendation, Husk. Maybe it was just our experience, but we had better meals on our trip elsewhere. The portions were really small, we both didn't love our entrees, and it was just so-so for what you are paying. The bar, though? AWESOME! We loved that part and would definitely recommend grabbing drinks there. It was also extremely gorgeous here...there's no denying that!

 

+82 Queen (Southern food)
+California Dreaming (A little bit of everything-good salads and seafood options...pretty views!)

+Magnolia's (get the fried chicken entree! read below under dessert section)

+Fleet Landing was a great place to eat on our last night. We watched the sunset on the water here and they had a big outdoor bar area while waiting for our table. They have a pretty big menu, too. Downside? It was really crowded (with a lot of tourists like us it seemed) so be prepared to go early and wait!

Dessert:

+Kaminsky's for their pies! SO good!
+Charleston's Candy Kitchen (shown on my post yesterday)
+Magnolia's...get their Southern Pecan Pie-DELICIOUS.

 

And just like that I'm really wishing I could have some chicken and waffles or bisquits and gravy delivered to me all the way from Charleston... 

What was your favorite meal you've had in Charleston? Have you been to any of these? I hope this list will be useful for any of you planning to travel here in the future!

Happy weekend!!

Charleston Part 1: Stay and Do

When we were in Charleston we were told left and right that it's known as the Holy City (fact of the day for those of you who didn't know that-you can sleep better at night now...) I, however, would like to rename it to Holy Humidity City. I have never experienced humidity quite like it in my life...it was SOMETHING ELSE!

Have no fear, the humidity didn't really stop us from doing anything and you could catch a good breeze/shade in some areas, it just sort of destroyed any chance I had with having a good hair day. Those days were definitely non-existent, which is why you see many pictures of Billy and not a lot of pictures of myself. He's better looking anyways.

Let's get into the specifics...where we stayed...what we did...where we ate (more like where DIDN'T we eat). You know, all the good stuff that make up travel posts. Let's all just mentally take a trip to Charleston for the next 5 minutes or so during my post and pretend we're there..

STAY

In the heart of downtown, at Kings Courtyard Inn. You know what they say...location, location, location. Kings Courtyard is a historic bed and breakfast in the center of everything downtown. It's literally on Kings Street (all the shopping you'd ever want), next to all the great restaurants (Husk, 82 Queen, Poogan's Porch, Toast...to name a few) and City Market, and has beautiful rooms and amenities.

We absolutely loved staying here (Rocky included-it's pet friendly!) as we could literally walk anywhere in a short amount of time.

*Kings Courtyard also offers a complimentary breakfast and a wine/cheese tasting everyday from 5-6! Double bonus.

 so charming, isn't it?

 I wonder how many times I'll use that word in this recap...

our beautiful room

 

dress from here

#rockyapproved

We would go back to stay here in a heartbeat and highly recommend it to all of you!

THINGS TO DO

There's a large number of things to do in Charleston...the options are literally endless! We stayed for 4.5 days (3 full days with no traveling) and felt the 3 days was a good amount of time to see everything the city had to offer. Of course you could extend your stay and find plenty to do, but if you are looking for a long weekend type of trip like we were, this amount of time was perfect!

This list could get lengthy so I'm just going to list our favorites and most importantly, share all the gorgeous pictures!

+Take a carriage ride 
.....$20/person. A guide will give you the history of the city and it's a great way to get out of the heat for a bit or take a break from walking)

+Walk to see Rainbow Row and The Battery
....you know, where all those charming million dollar estates are that you can drool over. We loved getting up in the mornings and taking a long walk in this area. It's on the harbor and is so pretty! You can also tour some of the estates (for a fee) so look into that if you're interested.

+Explore Charleston's City Market 
....where vendors set up and sell different goods! There are shops and restaurants on both sides of the market to see as well. We spent a lot of time in this area because it was right around the corner from our inn, so it was just a short walk away.

+Relax and get some sun at Folly Beach or Isle of the Palms! (Also visit Sullivan's Island while you're at it!)
....we actually liked the Isle of the Palms beach much more than Folly Beach. IOP had a bigger area to walk around and some really gorgeous homes on the water and to drive by. Folly Beach we weren't that impressed with, but I mean it's a beach so it's better than most things. :) 

his "what is this wave going to do me" face...

 

{one of the only pics I took at Folly Beach}

+Take a ghost tour!

 ....$20/person, but if you check Groupon they have deals! I got ours for half price. We took one on our first night there and it was actually really cool! They have tours during the day but we didn't think they would be as good, so I'd definitely recommend the night ones.

+Eat many pounds of salt water taffy from Charleston's Candy Kitchen almost every night

(oh wait, that was just me but this place was candy heaven...so says the pregnant chick)

+Walk around downtown and explore! 
...you don't need a set plan, just start walking around and you'll find plenty to do from breweries, touring the Old Exchange and Dungeon (pictured below with Billy standing in front of it), looking at all the charming (second time now) homes, go sit by the water, and of course go stand on George Washington's carriage stoop in front of the house where he once lived!

Note: East Bay St was one of our favorite streets to walk on and explore.

the neapolitan houses (cute, right?)

+Visit Boone Plantation! 
....about a 15-20 min drive from downtown Charleston, highly recommend doing this if you like history and you know, want to see where some of The Notebook was filmed ;) the grounds are stunning and you could easily spend half a day here (I recommend going when they open in the morning for less of a crowd!)

+Shop on King St!
...from high end stores to boutiques they've got you pretty much covered.

+Go to the rooftop of the Market Pavillion Hotel for drinks and great views of the city!
...They have an awesome bar up here and since I'm on the topic, this trip was really the first time this entire pregnancy that I've missed being able to have a drink. I was really wanting to have a nice glass of wine or a cold beer on some of the days and just seeing Billy being able to was a little torturous (just being honest...)

If you want to get out of downtown, Mt. Pleasant is a great area to spend a day (or half a day) at. Lots of restaurants in a marina area and you can kayak, paddle board, etc!

I'm sure I'm missing many things to do, but these are just what we did and really enjoyed.

I bet you're wondering WHERE in the world are all the food pictures and restaurant info?! Charleston's food scene deserves a post on it's own, so come back tomorrow for that goodness. Literally. You'll want to. :)