Charleston, SC

We started our drive down to Charleston on Wednesday night through one of the worst storms ever. I simply closed my eyes while Craig sped through the storm. Yikes! We got about half way that night and found a Marriott to stay at. We should have just driven through since neither of us got any real sleep in the crappy highway hotel.
We finally get there on Thursday mid day and head out for some lunch. We ended up going to Nick and Jakes (or something like that) for some BBQ. OMG was it good. I had a pulled pork sandwich and Craig had half a rack of ribs - the warm cheesy cornbread muffins shown above were amazing!! We were thrilled to start off our tour of eating with some good BBQ. We spent the rest of Thursday just walking around and getting our barrings. 

 
On Friday we took a Historic Charleston Carriage tour through the city and learned some fun facts but mostly just smelled the horse's behind that was pulling our carriage - I wish I would have gotten a picture. Phew! 

The above picture is of us at the Middleton Place - an old Rice Plantation that we toured. It was pretty amazing but not much was left. After the Union troops stormed the place - they burnt it to the ground and then there was this big earthquake that leveled all the rubble.  But some parts of the plantation had been restored and it was pretty cool to see. 
On our last day we took a Civil War walking tour which was very informative and quite interesting. Since being born and raised in PA I never thought much about the history I had learned but it was definitely a "Northern Perspective". Our tour guide shed a whole new light on the war for me - I thought I would be bored to death but I actually really enjoyed it. Then as if we hadn't had  enough walking we got on a ferry and headed out to Fort Sumter. I took some picture but I just look like a cow in my shorts, tank top, and really cool trainers so they wont be posted. 

Here we are at the end of our long day enjoying the nice warm breeze off the river and getting eaten by mosquitoes! 

We had a really great time, ate some amazing southern comfort food, and learned a lot about Southern History. We loved it- but the next vacation better be on a beach!!!