A Few of My Favorite Things

So for my final and last Charleston post (I promise!) I have some of my favorite things to share. I hate to go on and on but there is so much to show and tell! On Saturday mornings there is a farmers market/art show held in the park across from the Francis Marion Hotel. We wandered around and looked at everything before choosing what to have for breakfast. The fresh fruits and vegetables looked so good, if only we had access to a kitchen, Bill would have been cooking up a storm. It was fun to look anyway and there were plenty of non food items as well. We found great soaps that we brought home to everyone and a couple of other little treats.

Again, I felt like a food critic! We settled on crepes and found a spot on the lawn of the park under a tree - it was a very hot day.

The kids would have been all over these berries. This is about how much we go through in a week. But the best treat of all were these doughnuts. The little doughnut machine was so cute. You could watch the batter being poured, dipped in the fryer, and then travel along and flip over into the little bin. It is obviously popular as there was a line all the time, but for good reason. They were fabulous. I almost went back for more but restrained myself and at least tried to get something else. Which led me to the crepes where even though I got strawberries I still needed a little chocolate, yum!

A fun place to shop was what is known as the Slave Mart. We learned on our tour that it is named this because this is where the slaves would shop for food and goods for their owners homes. Now it is an open air market that has about four buildings you can spend hours wandering though looking for gifts and fun little things to bring home to your kids.

Our last night was definitely one of the best of our trip. We had pretty much hit all the great spots to eat as confirmed by the concierge. Our last dinner we headed to Charleston Grill via rickshaw. The concierge called to make sure we could get a table and let them know that we were celebrating our anniversary. We were truly spoiled. We had a great cozy little table and were treated to all kinds of samples the chef was working on. We were also treated to a special dessert bottle of wine and this adorable Happy Anniversary sign. The best part was the dark chocolate easel that it sat on and I promptly ate!

If that wasn't enough of a great romantic night it got even better. Our friend the concierge (again - he was a great guy!) recommended that we go the the Wentworth Mansion which has a restaurant and have an after dinner drink. The Mansion is now a full service hotel and you can take your drink to the top of the Mansion and enjoy it out on the cupola. Talk about romantic. We could see all of Charleston lit up under a clear starry night and we had the cupola to ourselves.

I had to take a picture of the Rickshaw drivers tattoo.

This was such a cozy little booth at Charleston Grill tucked into an alcove. I'm telling you we were seriously spoiled.

These are from the cupola. Sorry for the blur but I wanted to show the view.

Our last morning after we went to the Calhoun Mansion tour, we went to Fleet Landing for lunch. It was just what I needed before heading home. Fleet is a 1940 Navy building on the harbor. It has been refurbished into a restaurant. I needed one last dose of sea air so we sat outside and enjoyed a great lunch and our last uninterrupted meal for quite awhile! All could think about here was how we need to bring Kyle back to eat here when we go to Folly next summer.

And my last favorite thing was my company. I took this goofy little picture of us sitting in one of the gardens. It is probably my favorite. We are always running as most parents are. Every evening is filled with kid activities and Bill has a very demanding job often working 70 hours a week. Having a week alone together no matter where we went would be the most treasured gift I could ever have.

Thank you to all of our family and friends for helping us get away together. We deeply appreciate all of your time in staying with the kids, doing laundry, and driving everyone everywhere. I didn't have a care in the world because I knew everyone was in good hands.

To the best husband a bride could wish for. Thank you for great conversation filled with lots of laughter. I loved every minute we were together. Thank you for the best 15 years and to many, many more.