This trip was basically our babymoon…yes, it’s a thing. But we also had our anniversary the week prior and celebrated Josh’s birthday on the trip. In other words, much to celebrate plus one last hurrah before the ‘lil one arrives. It was a much needed trip for us; we’ve both been working hard and we hadn’t had a vacation in a while. Also, it had been a few years since we did a Josh & Heather only trip.
We had a wonderful time and many great memories. I have so much to share especially in the way of photos, so I’m going to break this down into three posts - one for each city. I’ll be sure to share what we did, what we ate, and where we stayed. Get ready for it!!
To get you excited, I’m going to share some thoughts on the trip as a whole.
As I mentioned, we visited 3 cities and each was quite unique. We thought the progression South was the perfect tour. Here’s how our trip flowed:
- Charleston, SC - We felt this was the largest of the cities, the most cosmopolitain. It hummed with city life - business people, a street with high end stores - but yet easy to navigate and history woven into the town.
- Savannah, GA - While it you could see similarities to Charleston, it was definitely it’s own town. It was smaller and we felt more approachable. This was probably our favorite place, but only by a sliver. We felt it was the best integration of history and city living together.
- St. Augustine, FL - This was the smallest of the cities, and was less of a living city with history and more history preserved in time. It was distant from Charleston and Savannah in that it felt more tropical and likely due to the Spanish rather than British origins.
As with all trips, there were things we liked or surprised us and then a few “eh” things about it. The highlights include:
- Friendly people - I think it’s true, Southerners are very friendly people. If you were just walking down the street, people would say hello. Or launch into conversations if they sat at the table next to you.
- Crickets - So there might have been other bugs, but at night with the warmth of the day softened, the cropping of the crickets was so pleasant.
- Architecture - We loved all the houses, porches, gates, and buildings; just too cool.
- Food - We ate a lot of good food on the trip, but more on that later.
- Trees - I was surprised (although it made sense when I thought through it) that there were palm trees. The mix of palm and oak trees fascinating.
- Spanish Moss - The Spanish Moss lent a very atmospheric tone to the areas. It’s just what I imagined.
- History - It was so interesting to learn the history of each city, and these cities were full of it!
And, then there were some things that were just “eh, not so much”:
- Mosquitos - Gawh! Bug bites are the worst. Itchy itchy is no good. Josh got one on the bottom of his foot (crazy guy).
- Humidity - I just wilt in humidity. It wasn’t too bad since it’s fall, but there was one day that just felt so thick.
- Charleston Basket Weavers: I took a photo and the lady told me to delete my photo. Grrr. That just irked me.
- The End - I hate that the trip had to come to an end so soon. Reality bites.
Now, let’s talk about food. I’ll share where we ate and all that jazz in my city-specific posts, but we did get a taste of the good ole South. Here’s some Southern food we enjoyed: fried green tomatoes, pimento cheese, Carolina rice, shrimp & grits, po’ boys, biscuits & gravy, sweet tea, and peach cider, boiled peanuts, key lime pie, and local fish.
Sigh, I wish I was back there now, sitting on the patio on a warm, fall evening with crickets and some banana pudding. I look forward to reliving the trip through the upcoming posts with you.
