Honeymoon Highlights : Day 3

Day 3

On day three of our honeymoon, we headed to Folly Beach, SC for the first part of the day and then to downtown Charleston to explore the city. 

The beach was a lot of fun! David liked the ocean more than he expected to, and we enjoyed fantastic weather. The only problem was we packed too much stuff for the beach, so while one of us swam in the waves, the other stood in the shallow holding our beach bag. 

I really enjoyed walking out on the Folly Beach pier, which had a terrific view and jutted pretty far out into the Atlantic ocean. We timed our trip pretty well because some ugly clouds came in as we left the beach and it started raining...

After we cleaned up back at the Inn, we headed into the city and for a late lunch at the Hominy Grill, which Travel Channel star Adam Richman has visited. It gave us shelter from the rain, which had picked up pretty heavy by that point. I hate a vegetable plate with cornbread, and David had a chicken biscuit with gravy called the Big Nasty Biscuit. He assures me it was anything but nasty. The decor was very homey and we got the best seat in the house!

Also, we tried boiled peanuts for the first time. They were given to you free at the table like most restaurants leave a bread basket.

 My plate: 

The Big Nasty Biscuit:

After eating, we took to Downtown Charleston. We saw some of the sights from the car but it poured so hard we eventually took shelter in a parking garage on King Street. When the rain let up, we explored King Street, and then surrounding streets, and took some touristy pictures to make the best of things. 

Not quite Rainbow Row, but about a block from there. I didn't realize we were so close but we didn't want to stray too far from the car in case the rain hit hard again.

A Fort Pulaski memorial. David really wanted to do the Fort Pulaski Tour but unfortunately, our timing was off and we missed the last ferry :(

The rain looked like it was going to pick up again so we decided to head out. After sitting in traffic (which a dude told us was really out of the ordinary for Charleston), we drove through a couple feet of standing water to get out of downtown. The flooding was so bad, that after we crossed the bridge, I read on Twitter that the bridge ended up closing due to the flooding. It was an adventure. 

Honeymoon Highlights: Day 2

Day 2

After getting some Dunkin Donuts, we hit the road yet again for a four hour drive to Charleston, SC. When we arrived, we found a cool game store in Summerville called Here Be Games and Books. They had a lot of stuff I haven't seen at local game stores, and we ended up buying two games - Gloom and Zombie Dice. Around 4, we were able to check in at The Inn at Middleton Place.

The view from our room :)

The inn was wonderful. (Warning: The wifi wasn't great and the TV was small and only got a few channels, so if that's the kind of thing you're looking for, this isn't your place.) Yeah, it was rustic, but it was very clean and super relaxing and romantic. It felt like a destination, not just a place to rest your head, and was definitely a primo choice. The one downside was the distance from the beach/downtown Charleston, probably only because of the traffic on and around Ashley River Road, but otherwise it was fantastic.

The outside looks very modern, which is a contrast from the historic plantation located on the grounds (to which you get FREE admission for being a guest at the inn, a fantastic perk), but it feels right at home with surrounding nature.

We were the room on the bottom left under the stairs.  

South Carolina is known for palmetto trees. 

The lodge and common area was located not far from our room. 

Terrific view of the Ashley River. 

A walking path to the Middleton Place historic plantation



Ashley River overlook

The view from the pool!

This pool was amazing, until it started to get dark and a giant fly tried to attack us ;)

Drinks and chess at the lodge

Our bathroom with huge shower/soaking tub

Our bedroom and sitting area with floor to ceiling windows

Organic toiletries - nice!

Nice fireplace, even though it was too hot for that sort of thing. Would be terrific in the winter!

Honeymoon Highlights Day 1

Day 1

We left around 8 in the morning for our belated honeymoon. Lots of driving on day one - the goal was to get as far as Asheville, NC, although our contingency plan was to stop in Knoxville, TN if we were running low on time. Luckily we made really great time (and got really good gas mileage in our new 2013 Ford Focus). It really started to get exciting once we hit mountain country! So many pics ;)

Check out that gas mileage!

We stopped at the Holiday Inn Biltmore West for a night. The hotel was pretty nice. We didn't get a chance to swim in the pool, which was kind of unfortunate because it was both indoors and outdoors - pretty unique! We ate at a Fatz, which we later found out is a chain in that area. It was pretty good. If you're a first time visitor, they fry you some of their famous chicken strips (which are marinated for 24 hours in buttermilk) to try. We loved them. David had some more, and I had a chicken wrap. Afterward, because it was our vacation, we also took some peanut butter pie back to the hotel with us. It was amazing. So was their bread (which tasted sweet like doughnuts) and their butter :)

We got up bright and early and headed for Charleston, SC, our first destination.

Happy Father's Day!

From 2009-2011, I spent my dad's birthday weekend/the weekend before Father's Day with David on the farm in Manchester, Tenn. for Bonnaroo. Last year, we skipped the 'Roo to save for our wedding. This year, we're skipping the farm again for our belated honeymoon trip to Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA (stay tuned for pics of that next week). Anyway, we pushed the trip until after Father's Day this year, so we're here, and this is my Father's Day tribute :)

I just felt like posting some nostalgic pics for Father's Day :)