Charleston, South Carolina

We had back-to-back out of town weddings this month. First was Brennan and Ashley's wedding in Pennsylvania. The following weekend was Phil and Holly's wedding in Charleston, South Carolina. We heard Charleston was a great city so we decided to make it a mini-vacation. Four nights! Without Lyla. This time, Mark's parents Donna and Jack came to New York to watch Lyla Grace. They stayed in our apartment in Long Beach and took Lyla on the boardwalk and the beach. We decided to split our trip into two nights in historic Charleston and two nights on Kiawah Island, a barrier island about 40 minutes outside of Charleston. We arrived in Charleston early in the morning and checked into Charleston Place. Mark had a few conference calls to take so I ventured out on my own to explore the area. This was a dangerous idea. I soon learned that our hotel was right in the middle of the best shopping district in Charleston...I came home with a few shopping bags :) I also scoped out some local lunch spots and a great coffee place, City Lights Coffee, which we ended up going to about half a dozen times in three days. At City Lights Once Mark was done with his calls, we went out to lunch and to walk around the city. The people in Charleston are really friendly and we got a ton of recommendations of places to eat and explore. We settled on Fleet Landing for lunch, with good intentions to dine al fresco. We nixed this idea right away because, one, it was really, really, really hot and humid and, two, the restaurant sits on a swamp. That was a deadly combination that would have made Mark sweat like crazy and would have made me lunch for many happy mosquitos. We enjoyed our table in the well air-conditioned indoor dining room. The view from Fleet Landing. Can you say mosquito bite? Exploring the city was awesome. The old houses are beautiful and there are so many waterfront parks. We spent some time in the Battery and White Point Gardens. We also tried to find Fort Sumter but it was pretty far away. These are houses on "Rainbow Row"... because they are colorful... Mansion Mile has a ton of old mansions that are open to the public for tours. At the end of our walk, we stopped at a local restaurant for a couple of drinks. We have a tradition whenever we go on vacation to try a local beer. This time, we tried Palmetto Beer, which is named after the South Carolina state tree. It's also on the South Carolina flag. The next day, we planned to go back to Museum Mile to tour some of the more famous mansions, but it was really hot and humid. Instead, we opted to sit by the pool and go shopping for seersucker pants :) We met up with everyone who was in town for the wedding at the Rooftop Bar at the Vendue Inn. It was great to meet Phil's family as well as the bride, Holly. Phil's family is legendary for always having a good time and they definitely lived up to their reputation that night. Phil's dad decided that shots of Jagermeister were a great idea. The men also decided that wearing their sunglasses at night was a great idea. The next couple of nights we spent on Kiawah at The Sanctuary. It was so relaxing and exactly what we needed. We sat on the beach, got massages, and did absolutely nothing but relax. It was perfect. I missed little Lyla Bell but I loved getting 9 straight hours of sleep each night. I really missed her when I saw other families, like this daddy with his little girl. Mojitos were the drinks of the weekend. The weather there was pretty wild. It was beautiful every day, but every night like clockwork a huge storm came in, lasted about an hour, and then cleared out for a beautiful night. It ruined someone's plans for an outdoor wedding ceremony. Our last night in South Carolina was for the wedding. More on that later.