I am finally onto the next post of my 8 Perfect Days: Babymoon series. I gave you a prelude to the trip with my first post, but here I am to tell you about the first segment of our trip in more detail: Charleston!

We wanted to fly into Charleston, but unfortunately with Alaska Airlines we had to fly into Atlanta to use our companion fare (of course, they started direct flights to Charleston in November, but for us that was too late - 'tis life). So, our trip actually started with a night in a cute neighborhood of Atlanta, Inman Park. We got in late and grabbed dinner at a cool place called Krog Market. The next morning, we headed on the road to Charleston. But Inman Park was a very cute neighborhood and a good start to our trip.

Charleston was very charming and we really enjoyed our time there. Before I dive into our time in Charleston, I wanted to let you know you can see a bunch of my Charleston photos. Go to the top navigation > photos > 2015 Babymoon. Or click here!

Okay, now here's a bit about our time in Charleston:

What we Did

Waterfront Park - On our first day, we arrived mid/late afternoon, so we headed out to the Waterfront Park before dinner. It has a lovely pier with swinging benches and views of the water. You can also see Fort Sumter, for you Civil War buffs. There is also a nice path along the water to stroll with palm trees and fountains. A great introduction to the city for us!
Sole Charleston Walking Tour - This was a huge highlight of the visit or me. I got the idea to take this tour from a blogger I follow. She had a 10 Awesome Things to do in Charleston post and we were so glad we took it. We ended up having our own personal tour from Fin. Coming from a family that loves history, I really enjoyed how Fin walked us through the history of Charleston. You could really feel and share in his passionate for the city. He took the time to show us as much of downtown as possible. By the end of it, we really had a good handle of the city, it's history, and it's people. To give you an idea of the amount we fit into 2-1/2 hours, here's a list of some of what we saw: the Pink House (the oldest home in Charleston), the "four corners of law" buildings, Dock Street Theater, Nathaniel Russell House, Rainbow Row, the Huguenot church, the Newer Anglican Church, the Irish Hibernian building, and more!
City Market - Apparently, this is one of the nation's oldest public markets and it's still used today it to sell stuff. There are a bunch of stalls lined down a covered, outdoor market space. The stalls are showcase all sorts of stuff from hand-woven baskets to food items to jewelry. For me, honestly, it was a wee bit disappointing as much of the stuff was somewhat junky (in my humble opinion). Thre were a few cute stalls, though, like the spice stall. That said, it's still worth a visit while you're there. And I may be a bit soured at the experience as the basket lady told me to delete my photo when snapped a photo of their basket booth (then put up a sign that says, "no photos" then lady - sheesh! It irked me for sure).
King Street - This is one of the main streets through town with all sorts of shops - high end shops, boutiques, and local goods. I enjoyed browsing the South of Market shop, getting my baby kid at Sugar Snap Pea, tasting honey at Savannah Bee Company (yes, yes, we were in Charleston), and grabbing a popsicle to cool down from King of Pops.
Charleston Farmer's Market - This happens on Saturday mornings and we decided to stop here before heading onto our next stop. It was fun to see all the local artisans. We bought some lotions at the Charleston Soap Chef, munched on some pecans from Molly & Me, and savored some sips at Cannonborough. It was an enjoyable meander through local Charleston and another one I'd recommend if you're ever in Charleston on a Saturday morning.

Photos: Top Row: Waterfront pier, Waterfront swing, Rainbow Row. Middle Row: Heather inside the Huguenot Church, Random gate, City Market basket weavers. Bottom Row: Oldest house, Slave Market, King of Pops on King Street.

Where we Ate

Black Tap Coffee - As you probably picked up from my blog, Josh and I are coffee snobs. Maybe it has something to do with living in Seattle. Yea, probably. But anyway, this place did not disappoint us coffee snobs . It was one of our favorite coffee stops of the trip, in fact. The lavender latte was lovely along with the coffee cake muffin. Yum! We even bought a mug as a souvenir.
Husk - This place is way popular. Like way popular. As in I called at the beginning of September for dinner reservations in October, and they were booked. Crazy! So, I made lunch reservations instead and it was totally worth it. Here's what we enjoyed: Shrimp & Grits, hamburger, watermelon scrub, orange honey whey drink, and boiled jalapeños peanuts. Nom nom nom.
The Grocery - It's hard to say which our favorite restaurant of the trip was, but this was definitely a top runner. The atmosphere and flavors together made this a most memorable meal. Here's what we enjoyed: La Estrella pumpkin, romesco cauliflower, fried oysters, chicken with pears, and banana pudding ice cream.
Fig - This was our first big meal of the trip, and everything on the menu looked delicious. We ended up sharing plates in order to try more things...great idea. A idea we carried out through many meals of our trip. Here we enjoyed: Pork bolgenese ricotta gnocchi, butternut squash with fromage & honey, Carolina gold rice & peas, wreck fish, and finished it off with calvados crepes. We were pleasantly surprised at the deliciousness of the Caroline gold rice & peas. And we still talk about how great it was to this day.
Hominy Grill - If we could, I would have gone here for dinner, but there were only so many nights in the trip so we opted for breakfast. All the people we talked to, raved about this place - a true sign of a good restaurant! We went very South in this meal with cornmeal pancakes with peach yogurt butter, fried green tomatoes with ranch dressing, and a country breakfast with biscuit and gravy. Can you guess who got what? Hint: Mine was corny.

Photos: Top Row: Hominy Grill Fried Green Tomatoes, Heather at Fig, The Grocery. Middle Row: Biscuits & Gravy at Hominy Grill, Black Tap Coffee, Hominy Grill sign. Bottom Row: All at Husk - Shrimp & Grits, Boiled Jalapeño peanuts, hamburger.

Where we Stayed

We stayed at AirBnBs for (almost) our whole trip. In Charleston, we stayed at this very hip, well decorated cottage - the Historic Design Cottage. Check out the video below for a tour. We enjoyed our stay and would definitely recommend it (and stay there again). The only down side was it's distance to the historic downtown area, but we had a rental so it worked out just fine for us.