Charleston, SC

I cannot tell you how excited I was to show Charleston to my children! It’s the city where my dad was raised, my parents met and married, and where we took many family trips to visit my grandparents. 

Our first stop on day one was Patriot’s Point where we toured the USS Yorktown, an aircraft carrier, and the USS Clamagore, a submarine.

Ready to get his teeth cleaned!

Sleeping on the job

The next day we visited historic downtown.  We took a long walking tour of the places my grandparents lived, the Battery, and Rainbow Row.

My grandparents lived the longest at 13 Meeting Street, a carriage house built in the 1800’s and eventually turned into a home  Unfortunately, the gate at the top of the driveway was closed, or I would have been sorely tempted to trespass!

The house on East Bay Street where my dad lived during elementary school. 
His family lived on one floor, and they rented out the other two.

The quintessential Charleston experience is a carriage ride!  It was the perfect way to rest our feet after all that walking and see some more of the city.  Of course, the kids were thrilled!

"I can’t believe we’re really doing this!”

Our horse, Blake, who allowed the children to stroke his nose.

As we wound down our second day, we strolled through the Joe C. Riley Waterfront Park.  A man dressed as a pirate with three parrots offered to let each child have a turn with a parrot on their shoulder.

 

We enjoyed sharing three meals with Mark and Ne’Kia.  Our first dinner was at Saffron Restaurant and Bakery. We used to go to this restaurant every time we visited my grandmother.  I was pleased to see that very little had changed!  Even the seasoned fries were the same. They have a huge dessert case, and we surprised the kids by letting them each pick their own dessert. We were in a vacation state of mind!  

For lunch on day two, we chose an Irish pub because none of us remembered that it was the Saturday before St. Patrick’s Day. The food was good, and the children got quite an education on how to really celebrate this holiday. It looked a little different than our way! Ha!

Our last dinner was at Fleet Landing. The seafood was fresh and delicious. I was so proud of the kids’ eagerness to try grilled fish. They inhaled it! A perfect ending to our weekend.

I must say we have reached a stage where traveling is exponentially easier. For the first time we all slept in the same hotel room. While the first night was rough, we tweaked the sleeping arrangements on night two, and it worked well. There were no awkward diaper changes, highchairs/booster seats, bottles/sippy cups, pacing outside the restaurant with a fussy baby/toddler, or (public) temper tantrums. Bathroom stops on the road now take 5 minutes flat, instead of 15-20.

We were so glad we could squeeze this long-planned trip in before the world shut down. I have always loved travel, but now I can say that I love travel with kids, too!