Charleston | Westward Bound

Fifth Stop: CHARLESTON

Now, lets talk about my love of Historic Preservation!
Charleston is full of historic buildings, cobblestone streets, and well maintained plantation homes. That being said, it was also quite obvious that this city has many low-income and poverty stricken individuals. Driving in this was easy to spot right away, however, walking around took a little more time... I digress.

I began my day in Charleston with lunch at Husk (which was recommended by my friend from Columbia, SC) where I ordered the gulf classic 'shrimp-n'-grits + a local beer. This restaurant is mid-priced and celebrates heirloom ingredients that are locally sourced. My not being a grits expert, I found this dish to be well compiled and generous on the quantity + quality of the shrimp, well balanced with the chorizo + veggies. I only ate half of my lunch, and took the other half with me for dinner later.

After lunch I decided to stroll around town, made my way to the Battery, waterfront, old town, city hall, and countless random stores; before making my way to Black Tap Coffee, for a shortbread cookie and a soy gibraltar (its the same as a cortado). The coffee was good, which seems to be a trend throughout my trip, and the cookie was the perfect size for an afternoon treat. Black Tap was located across the street from public housing structures; I find places like this to be quite intriguing. Artisan coffee across the street from people who wouldn't be able to enjoy it, tis the modern movement I suppose. Anyhow, it was noteworthy to see how this city has developed and how close the proximity is between the high-income plantation like homes are to the low-income public housing units.

My last walkable destination was the Historic King Street Shopping destination, cluttered with high-end products and services that I for one could never afford. This street was equivalent to Fifth Avenue in New York City, and quite sterile in my opinion. Eventually I made my way back to the car, passing the horse-drawn carriage tours, and some fun and funky Charleston accessory stores.

As a whole Charleston is a very walkable city! I was able to see the majority of downtown in a matter of 4 hours, and I don't feel like I missed out on any sites. However, the food.... I am sad to say I was not able to consume more food products while I was traveling through. I guess I'll just have to make that into another trip.

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Savannah | Southern Charm

One of my favorite things to do is to explore new places, and with my semi-recent graduation I have had the travel bug sitting on my shoulder for awhile now yet I couldn't decide where I wanted to go. That is, until Jet Blue graciously emailed me their list of inexpensive flights, and like that I was gone!

I have always wanted to visit Savannah, Georgia for many-a-reason the first of which is that no other city in the world is planned like it. So I, being a city planner + architect, had to see it. I was also looking for a city in the South so I could convince one of my favorite people to tag along with me on this journey, and sure enough it worked!

I called up Mel and said: "Hey, do you want to go on vacation with me?" 

She replied: "yes."

I said: "Savannah or Charlotte?"

She said: "Savannah."

I said: "Done!"

Within 24 hours she and I had a trip to Savannah planned; airfare, hotel, and a few tours lined up.

We arrived in Savannah on a Monday, upon landing I could not help but notice that Savannah Hilton Head airport was by far the cutest airport I had ever seen! The food court + shopping area were done up to look like they belonged in town, and outside of the airport were rocking chairs (yes, rocking chairs!). Mel drove and picked me up, we immediately went to the bed and breakfast we were staying at, Los Robles, where we were greeted by the owners Richard + Robin with nothing but warmth. We dropped our bags and quickly headed downtown for some lunch and sight seeing before our tour.

Me, being the foodie I am, had a laundry list of places we had to eat while in Savannah starting with B.Matthew's Eatery. Here we had one of my 'had to eat dishes' the shrimp and grits, we also had a quiche they had on special that day. Both were delicious and generous portions. Neither Mel or I finished this meal, which would become par for the course on this trip. After lunch we meandered near the waterfront a few of the squares before taking off for Bonaventure Cemetery. Mel had booked a tour for us, which was both informative and educational. If it were left to me I would have simply wandered through the cemetery tour-less. Afterwards we returned to our B+B to freshen up and put on some warmer clothes, it was cooler than either of us had anticipated. Our hosts recommend we walk down Bull Street, through Forsyth Park, toward the water. This was a beautiful walk, and one I would recommend for anyone visiting the city; and if you could do it in the late afternoon that would be even better. We ended up at City Market at sunset, stopped by Byrd's to sample some cookies, grabbed a georgia sangria + sat outside listening to live music, before heading into Planters Tavern, attached to Olde Pink House which was one of my foodie spots. She + I lucked out with seats at the bar, but you have to be a hawk to get one of these. This place was crowded on a Monday night, given they did have a live piano player but that is besides the point. We had fried green tomatoes with creamed corn + I had some Georgia Peach Brandy which I was slightly afraid to try, but turned out to be my new favorite thing! We strolled ourselves back home and slept in the warm comfy king sized bed.

Day Two was less crazy, but perhaps that was because we had already gotten the lay of the land so no fear of getting lost, but nevertheless. We decided to go on a hop-on-hop-off 90 minute trolly ride around the city. It was informative (luckily both Mel and I love to learn + love history) and nice to be able to hop on and off; one down side is that it is slow if you're not interested in listening to the conductor anymore... Anywho! We got the package which included admission to 4 museums (and saved $1.50, whoop whoop!), but all joking aside I would recommend it. The museums were small but fun, and held my attention. We also strolled through the squares more on this day, and I cannot tell you how nice the people were. After the tours we grabbed a mushroom burger + salad from Green Truck, which typically has a line out the door so show up early, before our now nightly, rest + redress sesion at the B+B. We then walked back into the Historic District for a Mead Tasting at the Savannah Bee Co. This activity comes highly recommended from yours truly! Neither of us had tried mead before, but now that I have I think it should be enjoyed by the masses! This brings us to 8pm, and two 20-something ladies could not feasibly head back to bed quite yet, so after a failed success at finding live music, we stumbled upon a bar that had 'trivia night.' Trivia (we learned) was a great way to meet people so if you're in town on a Tuesday evening stop by Congress Street Social Club + play the locals at random trivia, grab a craft beer, and maybe make a new buddy.

Chocolat by Adam

Our last day in beautiful Savannah was only a half day. We went to the Massie Heritage Center which was by far our favorite of the museums. This exhibit focused on the architecture and planning of Savannah (which I loved), was located in an old school house (which she loved), was interactive, and simply well done. Upstairs is a test to see if you are smarter than an 8th grader. Sadly neither of us were. It just goes to show you the difference between what is taught in schools today vs. what was taught in yesteryear. I highly recommend this for all tourists + particularly if you are traveling with children! For our last meal we went on a Barbecue Hunt (when in Rome) and while our first choice (Wall's) was closed, we ended up at Angel's BBQ which was as to be expected. BBQ pulled pork - oh the meaty goodness, and a little bit of crazy sitting next to me.
Mel + I split paths that afternoon; I went to a Foxy Loxy's sister coffee shop The Coffee Fox for some tea + conversation with my new buddy, while she headed home to her family.

All in all Savannah was a wonderful city + a fun 3 day vacation with one of my favorite ladies. If you're looking for a weekend get away, you like history, or you just want to get down with the locals I'd say it is a definite must see. I love to walk, so if you're into walking, ghosts, + drinking in public you should definitely check out Savannah Tour Walks. Plus if you live in NYC (like me) Jet Blue now flies there for a whopping $75 each way!

So go get yourself a little Southern Hospitality and stroll your heart out.

Savannah, you were quite lovely indeed!

Until we meet again.

Nelli