Charleston - In Nature

My last blog post about our trip to Charleston, SC covered the downtown activities and our top food recommendations. My guide map is also included in that post, so if you ever travel to Charleston be sure to check it out! Shay and I spent about half of our trip exploring the downtown area and the other part exploring the outskirts. We rented a car for the days we ventured outside of downtown. I highly recommend doing this. A rental car for 1.5 days only cost us $73. This was definitely cheaper than taking cabs outside of the city.

The morning we picked up the car we drove to James Island and went on a 2 hour kayaking tour. This was our favorite part of the entire trip! We saw several dolphins throughout that 2 hour stretch. Some of them swam right up to our kayak. It’s safe to say I was squealing like a little girl! We also saw a stingray, a turtle, and various birds. Our tour guide was very knowledgable about the marine wildlife system, and was passionate about his job - which made the whole experience very entertaining. After the tour we went to Folly Beach and relaxed for the afternoon - which was exactly what we both needed!

The next day we woke up early and drove the car out to the Magnolia Plantation & Gardens. We did the Slavery to Freedom tour and walked the Swamp Garden. Our Slavery to Freedom tour was so informational. We learned a lot about the families that lived on the plantation, and were amazed that some of the families are still heavily involved with the upkeep of the plantation to this day. The Swamp Garden was strangely beautiful. We walked on bridges and trails through the middle of the swamp. It was scary how close we were to some of the alligators, It was like we were walking right through their living room.

Below are pictures from the 2nd half of our trip. We really enjoyed our time in Charleston, and I have a feeling we will be back someday. If only only retirement wasn't so far away...