Charming Charleston

My boyfriend J had to go to Charleston recently for work, so we decided to turn the trip into a mini-vacation by staying a few extra days. Neither of us had been to the city before, so we weren't sure what to expect, but Charleston is very charming! A lot of the architecture dates back to the 1700s, and the city is well preserved. We loved wandering around the Historic District and admiring all of the pretty houses.

Rainbow Row

Because Charleston is surrounded by water, it offers a diverse range of experiences. We were able to do both "city things" (e.g. wine and dine at amazing bars and restaurants, go shopping at the city market, etc.) and "nature-y things" (e.g. go to the beach, bird watch, etc.).

Pineapple Fountain

We lucked out and got an Airbnb that was centrally located and reasonably priced, so we were able to walk to most of the attractions and restaurants. And boy did we walk a lot! My feet were sore by the end of the trip, even though I wore comfortable sneakers every day. Something I noticed about Charleston is that it has a number of cute manicured parks with plenty of benches to sit on. One morning we got our breakfast to go just so we could sit in one of those parks and enjoy the fresh air plus people watch.

USS Yorktown

J and I are both history nerds, so we had to go on a historical walking tour of Charleston, which I highly recommend. It provides context for why the city is the way it is today. We're also tech nerds, so we visited the USS Yorktown, an aircraft carrier built during World War II. It was extremely interesting! I have toured smaller ships and a submarine before, but the sheer size of the USS Yorktown was unbelievable (hard to tell from this picture but look at the jets on it for scale). It's bigger than many buildings!

Spanish moss

As a nature lover, I really enjoyed all the local flora and fauna. Walking around the city, you'll find beautiful spanish moss casually draped over live oak trees. Down by the water, you'll find a ton of birds (egrets, herons, pelicans to name just a few)! When we visited Magnolia Plantations, we also saw some alligators and turtles.

Jacket: Mackage (old, similar, similar)
Cardigan: J.Crew (old)
Tank: Everlane (old, similar)
 Jeans: Hudson (old, same cut)
Shoes: Vans (exact)
Bag: Rebecca Minkoff (exact)

The weather was a bit cool when we first arrived in Charleston, but it got to be mid 80s by the time we left. Here I am wearing my leather jacket on the first day of our trip when it was kind of chilly. By the last day, I was just walking around in a t-shirt.

Lewis Barbecue

I consider myself a foodie, and even by my standards, the food scene in Charleston was amazing! Be warned: the hottest restaurants get so busy that you need to make reservations several weeks in advance. Unfortunately we didn't find out about that until a few days before our trip, so we could only get into my second choice places. Oh well. That just means we'll have to go back another time. Above is the food we got at Lewis Barbecue. I had the most tender and delicious brisket I have ever had in my life! It literally melts in your mouth. The house-made pickles and sauces were good too.

Anyway, these were some of the highlights from our trip. I hope you enjoyed following along. All in all, we had a great time in Charleston, and it was a much needed break for both of us. Hopefully we'll be back in the future!

Have you ever been to Charleston? If so, what were your favorite spots?