A quick trip to Folly Beach and Charleston.

 We had a really nice weekend in South Carolina.

We were on the road a little before 9:00 on Friday morning.  It was cloudy and rainy most of the way and when we arrived in Charleston many of the side streets were flooded.  We slowly and cautiously made our way into the historic district and parked our car.

We grabbed a late lunch at Ruru's Tacos and then headed to the City Market.  Sarah was excited because she got a ring there the last time we visited.  Since it had been raining all morning and had stopped while we were eating lunch, the vendors were slowly starting to come out. 

 

The shops inside (in the blessed air conditioning) were all open as normal but the ones on the outside were open but you could only access them from the side windows.  This was in an effort to keep crowds out of the center aisles.  Sarah found a great ring vendor and chose two rings which I am happy to say, she bought with her own money!

 

After visiting the market, we took a carriage ride.  I think this was our (mine and Dan's) 9th visit to Charleston and we ALWAYS take the carriage ride.

Here are some scenes from the ride:

 After the carriage ride we walked through the campus of the College of Charleston.  Sarah has decided she thinks it would be great to attend college near the ocean.  They are actually doing in-person tours but the tour started at 12:00 and we didn't get to Charleston until 1:00 so we just did our own little tour.

This was a nice way to get a quick view of the campus but we didn't really get to learn anything about it. Sarah saw enough that she decided she would like to go back for a formal tour and I saw enough to wish that I was 18 again and could go there myself!

It was such a neat campus.  As many times as we've been to Charleston, we've never set foot in this part of town.  It was very near the historic district and the whole campus (or at least the part we were in) felt like the middle of Charleston.  It was very cool.

Here are some pictures:

After our busy afternoon in Charleston we headed to Folly Beach and checked in to our hotel.

We relaxed for a little and then we

And then we took a walk on the pier. It was lightening and I managed to catch a couple of good shots!

Then the kids went back to the hotel room and Dan and I grabbed a drink and listened to some live music on the outside deck at The Wash Out.

 

 

The next morning we headed to The Cypress Gardens and visited the butterfly house and took a little boat ride through the swamp.

Then we headed back to Folly Beach for a little beach time.

Then we got ready for Mass because there just so happened to be the cutest little catholic church just a few minutes walk from our hotel.

When we got back from Mass we were able to watch a wedding on the beach right outside of our hotel:

It all seems very romantic until you realize that there's a beach volley ball game going on to the left, a bunch of random beach walkers all around and in general Saturday evening beach activites happening.

Then we went to dinner, watched the NC State football game on the hotel bar tv and that was the end of our Saturday.

Because we went to mass Saturday night, we slept in on Sunday.  I got up before everyone else and grabbed a cup of coffee and took a walk on the beach.

Then we packed up, grabbed breakfast and checked out right at 11:00 (check out time) on the nose.  No sense in leaving even one minute before we have to!

We had a great weekend and are already wishing we were back there!