Charleston, SC

While the Mettler family was visiting us, Lareasa planned another surprise by having friends from Nashville meet them in Charleston for a couple days.  We tagged along as well since Will is fortunate enough to have time off work and doesn't report until the Nov 28th.  Charleston is only a 2 hr drive for us from Richmond Hill so after our trip to Hilton Head, we arrived in Charleston late afternoon on Monday.  We let Eric and Lareasa have the evening with their friends to catch up while we went downtown for dinner and to walk around.  One neat feature we found walking around downtown was that a lot of the buildings/homes had lanterns by their front doors like usual.  However, many of these were lit by a flame and not electric which we haven't noticed around Savannah yet.  On Tuesday, we walked around downtown.  We walked through City Market which reminded me of a Pike's Place atmosphere.  While Pikes Place Market in Seattle is built on the side of a hill and is 3 stories tall, Charleston City Market is about 3 or 4 city blocks long.  It has lots of tables however that vendors set up daily to sell different things.  Many vendors sold jewelry, clothes, or baskets woven out of the palm branches.  No fish market like Pikes Place Market has :)

After walking around City Market, we decided to take a carriage ride.  This is something Eric has always wanted to do and thankfully Grayson did MUCH better on this tour than he did with the trolley ride in Savannah!  We were able to see much more of the homes in downtown Charleston on this tour and found it much more informative than the trolley tour we took in Savannah.  It probably helped that our tour guide seemed to be carrying on a conversation rather than just talking from a memorized script like we experienced with our guide in Savannah.  I loved all the red doors buildings and houses had like the picture of the church below, along with all the historical houses and architecture.  Charleston has done a wonderful job preserving the historic feel of the city and not letting home owners change the outside appearance of homes.  

The oldest grocery store in the city

After the tour, we were all ready to eat and we ate an Irish Pub near City Market.  The food was good and the kids were thrilled to get balloons from the waitress when we were ready to leave.  Give Grayson a balloon, and he'll be happy for a good hour!  Needless to say, he was NOT happy when mommy tied the balloon away from him so he would stop playing with it and take a little nap while we walked along King Street which is the "shopping district" of Charleston.  

Before heading back to the hotel and having dinner, we stopped on John's Island to see the Angel Oak Tree.  It is a live oak tree which are all around Charleston, but the oldest live oak found to date.  It is at least 1400 years old and quite impressive!  

It was a fun day discovering Charleston!  I love Savannah for the fact that it has lots of little parks/squares all throughout downtown.  However, there seemed to be a lot of historical things within/around Charleston.  Will and I are already talking about other things we would love to go back and see some other time.  If anyone wants to come visit and stay a weekend with the boys,  you're more than welcome and we'll take a weekend away to Charleston! ;)