Family Fun - Vacation in Charleston

We made it safe and sound to Charleston.  Not a bad drive especially since I read magazines and got a row of knitting done.  We got here about 3:00, checked into the hotel and went for a walk down to the water.  We were having a nice stroll when a huge rain cloud came through with torrents of rain.  We cowered for a while and then headed back to the hotel.  We're staying at Charleston Place and it is very nice.

Sunday night we had dinner at Blossom and had a very good dinner.  Our waiter was okay, he started out strong and then faded, but the food was good.  We were tired after the drive so we headed back to get rested for Monday.

Since I've been back from New Orleans, I've been very busy so my vacation planning was not as done as I would have liked.  I had made time to get a AAA tourbook so we reviewed that Monday morning and made some plans.  Monday was casual touring day.  There were two walking tours described in the AAA book so we took those pages and set out.  We saw churches, houses, water, trees, and had a wonderful time.  We tend to walk lots while vactioning so we put in about 5 hours before we went back to the hotel to rest.

As you can see the rain was gone and we had sunny, breezy weather.  Perfect for all the walking we did.  Monday night we asked the concierge for a restaurant suggestion and he suggested Hanks.  I had heard good things about it so that was the plan.  It was excellent.  I thought Sunday's dinner was good but this was better.  I remembered the camera, I had forgotten it Sunday.

We had early reservations, about 7, because we had scheduled a ghost/graveyard walking tour for 9:30.  After walking all day that might not have been the best plan, but we had tickets so off we went.  The guide did a good job but since I don't believe in ghosts I was too logical minded to be scared or expect to get pictures.  It was a nice evening, we learned some history and we got back to get some sleep about 11:30.  A long day.  But good.

Tuesday we planned to take a little drive and look at plantations.  There were three in the AAA tourbook and we decided on 2, we try and stay reasonable.  It doesn't always work.  We decided on Drayton Hall first and had a wonderful time.  The house has not been renovated, has no furnishings and was beautiful to see.  Our tour guide Leslie did a wonderful job and after the house tour we took a self guided marsh tour.  We decided that we could skip the river walk since we had another place to visit. 

Again, wonderful sunny weather.  We left Drayton Hall to go a couple miles to Middleton Place.  We took a house tour which was furnished, I love to see period furnishing, and then did a self guided walk of the grounds.  As I said we walk a lot on vacation and this took us about 3 hours.  There are formal gardens, informal gardens, a cypress lake, huge live oaks, a rose garden, bamboo groves, benches for resting, and markers to follow.  We had a great time.  I highly recommend the garden tour.  We also saw various displays of what was needed to be done for everyday - the potter, the spinning, the carriages, the animals and the blacksmith.  He was probably my favorite.  He does things the old fashioned way and talked us through the process and loved his job.  We headed to the hotel tired but happy.

We had reservations Tuesday night at the hotel at the Charleston Grill.  Oh my.  The food and service are excellent.  Not inexpensive but perfect.  We had a relaxing, almost 2 hour dinner with perfect food and wine.  I highly suggest trying this if you are in Charleston.  Plan for it and enjoy the experience.

Today we are headed to the swamp and hopefully the abbey.  I excect there will be more walking but that helps with the eating.  We are having a wonderful time.  I've taken many, many pictures but try to be sensible working on the laptop.