I’ve mentioned a couple of times that we had “special plans” for this week that had nothing to do with Christmas. As some of you may have guessed (or knew from Facebook), those plans did have to do with our anniversary!
We went to Charleston, SC Monday and came back Wednesday afternoon. We’ve been to Charleston twice before: one weekend with a tour group in our early married life, and years later taking all the boys to Folly Beach for several days, staying in a hotel right on the beach. This time we stayed in the historic district downtown — in a historic hotel, the Mills House Hotel.
Hotel lobby:
I liked this idea of using a half wreath on either side of double doors so it looks like one big one.
This was the first time we stayed in a hotel that didn’t feel like a sterile hotel room. It was lovely.
I was wincing at how much it must cost, but Jim told me that because of the points he accrued through his traveling, we were only paying the parking fee. That was good news! Though we hate his traveling, it was good to get something back out of it, and it made me enjoy the setting that much more.
The only negative about it was that you couldn’t park your own car in the lot: they had valet parking at the hotel or you could park it in one of the downtown public areas. I didn’t like not having access to the car whenever we wanted, but with a little planning ahead we could call down to the desk and have the car brought around so it was waiting when we came down.
Also the fancier hotels seem not to offer complimentary breakfasts.
But there were scores of restaurants within walking distance. The first night we ate at Magnolia’s.
Excellent — the service, the food, the atmosphere, everything. And scores of people were walking around at night, so we felt safe exploring a little afterward. There were a couple of little restaurants close by the hotel where we had breakfast, then lunch at a little tea shop one day, and dinner Tuesday night at Hyman’s Seafood. Didn’t like that quite as well. The potato soup was the best I have ever had, and Jim said the same of his crab cakes. But everything else was just ok, and the atmosphere was really noisy. Plus the only bathrooms were up a flight of wooden stairs. But supposedly, according to a plaque at my table:
We got a package deal through the Charleston Museum to see it plus the Joseph Manigault House and the Heyward-Washington House.
We’re not really museum people per se, but there was a display based on weddings, wedding clothes in particular, that was neat to see.
The Joseph Manigault House was interesting though the tour only took about fifteen minutes.
The Heyward-Washington House was built before the Revolutionary War by Thomas Heyward, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
The first two times we came to Charleston, we did the usual touristy things — the carriage tours (in a horse-drawn carriage while a guide tells about various historical tidbits), the harbor tour, seeing the Yorktown, etc. And I think those were great ways to “do” Charleston at first, and I loved them. But this time was a lot more free-form. The museum we could browse through at our own pace; the houses had tours every half hour, so we could go to them pretty much any time. Otherwise we just drove or walked around and stopped whenever we saw anything interesting we wanted to explore. We drove around the Battery, drove past Rainbow Row, visited a few gift shops, walked out on a pier into the harbor, where we saw a whole roofline of these guys:
Overall it was a fun, relaxing time. We certainly got our exercise: if we walked like that all the time, we’d be in good shape!
It’s good to get away sometimes and just be together. This was our best anniversary yet.
Stray Thoughts 
I’m so glad you could get away together this week to celebrate your anniversary! We love to just relax and do our own thing, too. Congratulations on 30 years!
You just took what to me is a perfect vacation — a couple of things planned and lots of “where the wind blows”. I am glad you had a wonderful time enjoying Charleston and celebrating your marriage.
What a wonderful trip that had to be for you. Just do what felt was right. The pictures are beautiful my friend. Thank you for sharing these. 🙂 Merry Christmas to you and your family 🙂
Oh Barbara! That looks like it was just the PERFECT “you” getaway! I’m glad you and your hubby had the opportunity to celebrate in such a unique and wonderful way! And yea… those travel points ARE a nice little bonus!!! I wish WE had some of them!!! LOL!
Glad you had such a nice time! You saw things in Charleston that I haven’t seen yet. I’ll have to check them out. We did eat at that seafood restaurant, too, and I did not enjoy it. It was not what I was expecting. Magnolia’s sounds delightful. That wreath is beautiful! MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and your family!
You didn’t like Hyman’s? I’ve only eaten there once but really enjoyed it – especially the hush puppies.
Glad you had a nice getaway. We’re celebrating our 25th this summer and are working on plans – some more ambitious than others!
Thank you for sharing your wonderful pictures! Your trip looks just lovely. I love the look of the hotel and the city itself.
Wishing you and your family a joyous Christmas!!
Sounds lovely. So glad you got to get away together.
Merry Christmas!
Oh how I wish I lived closer to Charleston and could visit. That hotel and everything look amazing!
Merry Christmas!
Oh WOW! What a really fun trip! That all looks so charming and lovely. I’ve heard nothing but good reports from those who have had the opportunity to visit Charleston so I hope we can make it there some day.
Happy anniversary again and also – Merry Christmas!
I enjoyed your post — Charleston is on my list of places to visit.
Your Christmas family picture is indeed perfect!
*sigh* It looks and sounds like you had a wonderful, wonderful time away enjoying Charleston, Barbara. I would love to go to places like Charleston or Savannah or St. Augustine and just relax and explore. Happy Anniversary to you and Jim!!
Charleston is my favorite place to visit and we always stay in or near the historic district. The very first time we went, probably 20 years ago, we stayed in the Mills House. It was wonderful. I like walking everywhere. Whenever we travel, we carry food for breakfast and lunch just in case. We do sometimes stop and eat lunch, but we can get by with fruit, cheese and crackers and sometimes we just carry those things on our walks. Dinner is the meal we eat out. There are many wonderful places to eat in Charleston. We’ve probably tried them all.
I’m glad you had this special time away for your anniversary.
Mama Bear
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How fun to read this — and WOW about us taking a similar birds on the roof photo 🙂 We visited the same houses you mentioned — I’ll write about them later. I love the dresses you show. We didn’t see them, but looking at the brochure for the museum, I see a “textiles” room that apparently we totally missed. I am sorry, because clothing etc. sounds much more interesting to me than rooms full of pottery pieces. Your hotel looks really lovely! Thanks for directing me to this post!