In mid-June Shay and I went to Charleston, SC for a long weekend. Neither of us had ever been before, and after just a few days of exploring the city we were already joking about retiring there someday. I really believe Charleston is the perfect balance of beach life and city life. It also has that little-big town feel to it with lots of hip bars and restaurants as well as rows and rows of colorful southern homes. Shay and I usually like to kick-off our vacations with some sort of tour. Most cities offer free walking tours, which helps give us a good starting point for our trip. We get to know the history of the city and the basics on how to get around. Our tour guide usually gives good advice about where to eat, shop, and how to blend in with the locals. We did a Civil War Walking Tour and really enjoyed it! Our tour guide was extremely knowledgable. He gave us some “not in the books” history lessons and told us some interesting stories that have been passed down through generations by some of the original families who settled there.

Charleston’s food scene is no joke. We had some amazing low country southern cookin’. The fried chicken sandwich at Poogan's Porch was to die for. The lobster roll at 167 Raw was worth every penny. If you go there, be sure to sit at the prep bar. You can make small talk with the chefs and see everything they make. I’m pretty sure I was drooling through most of my meal. We also had the most amazing asian food at Xiao Bao Biscuit. I know that seems weird. Who goes to Charleston for their asian food? I’m telling you, it might have been the best meal of my life. We had the okonomiyaki with pork candy and an egg (don’t ask questions, just do it). We also had some unique grilled oysters at Leon's, which was a recommendation from a bartender at the Craftsmen (who has a ligit happy hour by the way). The last place I would highly recommend is Kudu. Shay and I went there twice. Kudu is a coffee shop with 20 beers on tap. That may seem a little aggressive, but the atmosphere is chill, the people are nice, and they have a great outdoor space.

I could go on and on about all of the places we went, but I’ll let some of the pictures speak for themselves. Per usual, I put together a guide to Charleston where I pinned all of the places we went as well as some places I wish we had time to go to. So, for next time… or when we retire there ;) Jump to the bottom of this post for the map and check back soon for more photos from our trip!