Food, family, and fitness... all with a bit of style.

Friday Favorites... A Visit to Charleston

 Hey friends! This has been a wild week and I am so happy to see you Friday!! Paul had a tough fall while mountain biking last weekend & after 2 trips to the ER, he is ok but has some fractured ribs. Such a painful injury! 
I had planned to share all the fun details on our trip to Charleston this week, but it just did not happen. So I decided to just make it my Friday Favorites post because the trip was one big favorite!

   I am linking up with Andrea & Erika for a little Friday Favorites and sharing the pics from our trip along with some links to what we wore. 




So last week I shared about the first part of our college journey. If you missed that one, you can read all about here. Our last college tour on this trip brought us to The College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina. I have always wanted to visit the city, and had heard nothing but amazing reviews from friends and people I’ve met that have gone there. I will tell you they were not lying, Charleston is an amazing city filled with so many great options for dining, shopping, and beaches! It also has a beautiful college! 


We got into Charleston in the afternoon, checked into our hotel, and headed down to the pool to relax for a little bit before dinner. There are so many options for food in Charleston. Like so many! I had done some research prior to our trip and had gotten recommendations from friends. But I could probably stay for the year and not hit everything! 


We stayed about a mile and a half half outside of the city. It was a very short drive to get to downtown Charleston. On our way into, I could easily see what everyone was talking about. The buildings, the architecture, the trees, the flowers, you could just take a picture of everything. It’s just that beautiful. 

We had dinner reservations at 82 Queen. We were a little bit early, so we grabbed a drink at the bar.


We had our dinner out in the courtyard. Again, I could’ve just taken videos and pictures of how beautiful the courtyard was for dinner. It was also wild to listen to the cicadas. My kids had never heard cicadas. We don’t really have them up in New York. But we had them where we lived in Cincinnati, and it was wild to listen to the hum of of the cicadas as we ate dinner. 

Luke and I both had barbecue shrimp and grits which were amazing! Ella had a steak, and Paul had the jambalaya. We started our meal with our first experience with fried green tomatoes, which were delicious. And Paul and Luke shared a cup of their award-winning she-crab soup.

Our first meal was a winner, we went back to the hotel, full, happy, and exhausted! 

We had our tour booked for the next morning. We were up early, grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel and made our way to the College of Charleston. We had such a beautiful walking tour and this campus was stunning! Just the prettiest cobblestone walkways, landscape, and architecture. 


I fell in love and would actually like to attend the college myself! Can I get a redo on my college experience????  Some of the buildings looked historic on the outside, but inside had been modernized to some great learning labs, business centers and science labs. And while the campus is right downtown, you felt like you were in world of your own. It felt safe, as if it were it's own little pod. We had a great conversation with our tour guide, who is a rising junior. She’s also in the medical field and was able to share some great insights on her experience and what the college has done for her. 



We made our way to the bookstore for another T-shirt and some more golf balls! Luke completed his trifecta, with a set of them from each of our three visits! 




We were starving, so we made our way to grab some lunch. We we had lunch at 167 raw.

 This place was another winner. We had oysters to start and all enjoyed some sort of seafood for our lunch. We truly enjoyed all of the food at this place.

We finish the afternoon with some shopping along King Street. And oh my goodness. Every store you’re looking for is on this road! 


We needed another pick me up, so we made our way to Bitty & Beau's Coffee. We had the sweetest barista here. When we told him we were from Buffalo, he knew all about Buffalo Bills and chicken wings



We sat and enjoyed a little bit of air-conditioning and enjoyed coffee before making our way back to the hotel.


We spent some more time by the pool, reading our books and just relaxing for the rest of the day. We ended up heading out late for dinner and went to Sullivans Island. But not before a stop at Rainbow Row to see the colors & grab some pics. 







Such a beautiful little street! No pictures of the boys here with us. Their interest level in Rainbow Row was about zero, so they dropped us off and circled back around to pick us up!

We were looking for something more casual and really to check out some of the island & boating life. We ended up at a place called Red's Ice Box. Super casual place right on the We didn't love our meals here...they were just ok. 



But the bar area had nice views of the water and Paul enjoyed looking at the boats. 

Friday morning, we got up early and headed back towards the islands, and grabbed bagels for breakfast, and set up camp at Isle of Palms Beach. 



We walked the beach, road the waves and played catch on the beach. A nice and relaxing day. 



We surprised the kids after the beach by going to Cane’s chicken. Apparently this is all the rage with teen kids. They have been talking about Cane's for months. 



There is not one near us, so when I found one.I knew we had to stop. Needless to say, there were some screams in the car when we arrived! I guess for me it was fried chicken tenders... not too exciting. I would choose Chik Fil A over Cane's if given the choice. 

We had a late lunch and made our way back to the hotel and spent some more time by the pool.

After some showers & getting cleaned up, what do you know it’s time to eat again! We had reservations at Magnolias. 

We had the most amazing server, Mac. We told him that we were going to skip appetizers and just go with dessert for this dinner. And when he took our entrée orders, he guessed each of the four of us of what we were getting. We were all laughing that he got it right! Paul got the seafood bouillabase, Luke had Seafood & grits, Ella got the Fried Chicken and I had Parmesan crusted catch of the day. 

Our meals were amazing! And dessert did not disappoint! This was my deconstructed coconut cream pie. 

We stopped by for a pic at the Pineapple Fountain before heading back to the hotel. 

Ella's Skirt   My Skirt   Luke's Polo


We finished up our trip with an amazing breakfast at Miller's All Day Cafe. This place was the perfect way to end our trip. 

We had some breakfast appetizers.... a donut flight and banana bread with a hazelnut creme topping. These were both to die for and I probably could have been done after this!

But we all ordered some delicious breakfast too. Afterall, we had a long drive ahead of us and wanted to be full. 


We said our goodbyes to Charleston and headed out on our adventure home.

I do love this sights of a good road trip!


Charleston....we sure loved you and will definitely be back!!!!


Wishing you all the best weekend!!  See you back here on Monday, there's always room for one more at our family table. 

xoxo

Genevieve






































































We had our tour booked for the next morning. We were up early, grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel and made our way to the college of Charleston. We had such a beautiful walking tour, this campus was stunning! Just the prettiest cobblestone walkways and trees and architecture. 


I fell in love and would actually like to attend the college myself! Some of the buildings were and old, the insides had been modernized to some great learning, labs and business centers and science labs. And while the campus is right downtown, you felt like you were in world of your own. It felt safe and like it pod. we had a great conversation with our tour guide, who is a rising junior. She’s also in the medical field and was able to share some great insights on her experience and what the college has done for her. 



We made our way to the bookstore for another T-shirt and some balls! Luke completed his trifecta, with a set of them from each of our three visits! 


















 


3 comments on "Friday Favorites... A Visit to Charleston"
  1. I have been to Charleston a number of times and love it all. We live in SC, but in the Upstate, not the coast. It's not a far drive though and we enjoy visiting. The food options are endless but my hubs will order shrimp and grits everywhere we go. Glad you had a great trip!

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  2. Ouch! I hope Paul is doing OK now.
    It sounds like you had a great trip. Charleston sounds like an amazing city. All of the food looks and sounds so good and the college is beautiful!

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  3. I've only been to Charleston once but it left quite an impression on me! It sounds like you had a great trip (and I am going to have to look into that college for my junior!). I hope Paul is doing better.

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