Time Spent: 2 days, 3 nights

Total Expense: $1,881.06

INTRO

Charleston, South Carolina is known for his historical foundation in our country’s beginning. We had often dreamt of going; walking the cobblestone pathways, visiting historical landmarks, and breathing in the fresh air as it rolls off the coast. However, we never pictured taking the kids here. Unfortunately, the activities we had planned (walking, walking, and more walking), aren’t really on the top of our kid’s to-do lists. To put it frankly, we didn’t want to hear them complain. Not to say Charleston is not family-friendly, because it is. We just preferred to take this trip alone and when we caught a Southwest Airlines sale out of Nashville, we booked without question!

ITINERARY

Day 1: Flew out of Nashville at 7:14pm CT and arrived in Charleston at 9:28pm ET; located our Turo rental and drove to the inn.

Day 2: Complimentary breakfast, all-day exploration on foot with a little shopping, and a dinner reservation.

Day 3: Complimentary breakfast, USS Yorktown, Fort Sumter, walking downtown and dinner.

Day 4: Flew out of Charleston at 6:40am ET and arrived in Nashville at 7:08am CT.

Day 1: Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Time Spent: 6 hours (includes early arrival time at airport)

Weather was a little intense during this time as an ice storm had hit Monday night and left airlines canceling flights left and right. Thankfully, the weather adjusted itself long enough for us to get up and out of the area. To put this into perspective, we left 28° weather with extreme wind chill (not considered in temp), and walked into 71° with cloudy skies. It was exactly what we needed!

As we stepped out of the airport we immediately opened the Turo app and received the location of our rental car from our host. We took the necessary photos to record any previous dents, scratches and concerns of the vehicles prior to operation and were off to the Andrew Pinckney Inn! Side note – if you have not looked into Turo, we highly recommend it. It is always cheaper than using any other car rental place (even with discounts and affiliate codes). Plus, you can see exactly the car you’re getting and it is money going directly into another person’s wallet. I don’t know about you, but we enjoy helping others succeed.

The Andrew Pinckney Inn was about 18 miles from the airport and offered valet parking 24-7 in a private parking lot away from the downtown traffic. This was a must for us using a rental car and unsure of the foot traffic in the area. It was $25 a night (double the amount in a parking garage down the block), or pay to park along the street. We wouldn’t have minded the walk, but wanted the privacy to secure our rental returned just the way we received it. Plus, Drew (our valet) was amazing. He ensured our vehicle was clean while we stayed, even though the birds gave him quite the challenge!

Our check-in and room location took around 10 minutes. This truly speaks to the service at Andrew Pinckney (and Drew), as he was valet and front guest host for the moment. We took time to unpack, arrange outfits, check-in with family, and do some last-minute planning because, why not?!

Day 2: Thursday, February 2, 2023

Time Spent: 12 hours of walking, exploring, and eating (does not include down time in room)

The complimentary breakfast is from 7am-10am, and was not what we were expecting. Truthfully, we pictured bagels, cereal, donuts, maybe some powdered eggs and toast. Nope. Not here at Andrew Pinckney! They had all the wonderful quiches (spinach and ham, Brussels sprouts and bacon), gluten-free egg muffins, protein balanced greek yogurts, chopped fresh fruits, warm pastries, juices, coffee, iced waters, and of course, cereal. We were unable to capture the essence of this experience, but trust it is real and amazing! Our daily treat was splitting one of their amazing chocolate eclairs, and getting to visit with Cynthia. She is a real gem and we sincerely enjoyed her conversations, advice on explorations, and her real-talk.

After breakfast we skipped down one whole block (this place has perfect location) to the City Market. Here you will find local venders selling their crafts. Our best advice if you want to purchase a seagrass basket, haggle. They are priced high (fair to the work), but with so much competition (about 6 vendors), they will all wiggle on their pricing. We purchased through the Beaufort’s. Specifically, a teenage boy who was trying to buy a puppy. I have to admit, the story got me. However, after viewing the other vendors I am certain she is the most reasonably priced. See our sweetgrass purchases below. The basket retailed for $150, but she accepted $125. We also purchased a mini hanging basket to use an ornament for $15.

We dropped the goods back off at the hotel (told you it has perfect location), and began walking all over Charleston. We stopped and took pictures of cobblestone pathways, beautiful ivy, and cathedral doorways. Then, we found ourselves at the famous pineapple fountain! Had no purpose of direction, just naturally gravitated to it. The park walkways were beautiful and truly grasp what Charleston was, and still is to this day. After several stops for photos and moments of admiration, we picked back up our walk and begin exploring another side of town – cemeteries, churches, and eateries!

We landed at Hyman’s and enjoyed their famous appetizer, along with shrimp tacos (highly recommend), and their salmon croquette (don’t recommend). I typically like salmon blended with crab meat, but this just did not jive with the other elements of the taco. Either way, we had plenty of food and the service was good. It is a big tourist stop, so we got that our of our system and went back out for more adventure continuing our cemetery and street side monument tours.

Around 4pm we found ourselves making our way back to the inn for rest and to recuperate. We had a 6:30pm dinner reservation that we snagged off Groupon prior to arriving in Charleston. It sounded fun and different, so what the heck! After redressing and determining a plan of action, Drew located our car and we were off to the Tanger Outlet mall to do some quick shopping (momma needed a new wallet)! Then, we crossed the overpass to the Cowboy Brazilian Steakhouse. Again, we purchased this on Groupon with an additional discount for a total of $69.72. The concept is unlimited meats and sides, all prepared Brazilian style.

Well, we arrived and it was not a fancy as we thought it was (cough – overdressed – cough), and they were extremely low staffed, which is not their fault. The food was mediocre and we just did not have the room in our stomachs for everything after eating such a big lunch at Hyman’s. Oops! When the ticket came, we had to pay tax on the original price (about $50 per person), and tip was automatically included at their determined rate. We had to pay an additional $36 making the total for dinner $105.72. It was an experience, but we will not be visiting that establishment again.

We arrived back at the inn around 8pm, grabbed some brochures and began planning tomorrow’s activities.

Day 3: Thursday, February 3, 2023

Time Spent: 16 hours of walking, climbing flights of stairs and eating (does not include down time in room)

We woke to another fantastic breakfast and a calm morning overlooking the chapels and buildings in the area through the Pinckney Atrium (dining hall). Today was more casual as the USS Yorktown didn’t open until 10am. The trip from the inn to the museum was about 15 minutes and we were able to browse the gift shop as it opened thirty minutes prior to the exhibits. The temperate this morning had dropped so we were bundled up thick and tight as parts of the exhibits are outside, especially the ferry ride to Fort Sumter. We purchased our passes through their online website and used our teacher status to gain a discount – always nice!

We started the moment they opened and found ourselves face-to-face with these wonderful volunteers. They were enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and so friendly. Part of the joy from our trips is getting to meet people who we will remember forever, and these men certainly made the cut! We even shared with them some film we found at an auction and developed to discover nose art from war planes. The men ooh’d and ahh’d over the photos, and my husband got the satisfaction of knowing there are people like him out there – weirdly attached to beautifully historic things.

We immediately entered the fighter pilot simulator and to our surprise, it was very family-friendly. I think we (as big kids) were hoping for something more full motion, but this was a gentle swaying with some slight sliding. It is safe for all ages except those with health concerns. For $7 each, it is an affordable experience to start the tour and get your blood pumping. As always, the volunteer operating the machine was funny, engaging, and happy to be there.

The ferry to Fort Sumter left at 1pm, and they request an arrival of 12:30 to ensure departure is smooth. Therefore, we were able to complete Tour 1, Medal of Honor Museum, Tour 3, and the Vietnam experience prior to loading the ferry in 2.5 hours. I should state that we love history, but do not stop and read everything single plaque, nor do we take part in the movie theatre moments. We walk at a slow-and-steady pace, but take time where needed to use the restroom, fill water bottles, and take pictures.

At 1pm the ferry left and started for Fort Sumter. The volunteer who lead the tour was (per protocol) fantastic! He provided tidbits of information along the ride and prepared us well for the journey ahead. As we arrived, park rangers greeted us and gave us a quick 10 minute intro of the history behind Fort Sumter. Then, we were allowed to roam and visit the site as we pleased. This site does offer a Junior Park Ranger task where anyone can complete the informational packet as they gather details from sites, submit it and swear in. Ask us how we know. See gallery.

The Fort Sumter experience took about 1.5 hours and we returned to the USS Yorktown around 3pm. We completed Tour 2 (flight deck) and Tour 4 around 4:30 and quickly toured the USS Laffey. This ship is pretty much in its original state. Meaning, it has not been fully converted into a museum and doesn’t have much dedicated area to touring. Which worked out in our favor as we needed to get to gift shop and buy items for our kiddos.

We skated out the door at exactly 5pm and drove to The Battery. We did not find it beneficial to our experience to get out and walk around. This is a very hot and happening area with lots of people picnicking, so we decided to park on the side, enjoy the view, and create the next plan of action. Which ended up being, “Let’s go back to the inn, set stuff down, and regroup.” We arrived back at 5:30pm and enjoyed an hour just being lazy and realizing we hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. So, we searched online for nearby places but came up short with ideas. The downtown area is full of places, but we had no desire to choose – you know the feeling. So, we decided to walk around until something smelled good.

We walked and walked for about 2 hours and finally landed at T-Bonz Steakhouse. It was about as American as you could get, which was fine with us. A delicious salad, fancy burger, and grilled chicken dinner hit the spot! Service was friendly and quick – hard to beat. Afterwards, we trekked back to the hotel lobby (yellow building across the street) and favored some of their coffee and conversation. Brittany (at the desk) and Drew (valet) were always so welcoming and helpful, we decided to venture down to the macaroon shop and purchase some sweets for ourselves (and them), before we left.

After our jaunt there and back, we accompanied them for a while and then headed back upstairs to pre-pack and rest.

Day 4: Saturday, February 4, 2023

We had an early morning flight that had us packing up and valeting the car at 4:30am. The 18 minute drive to the airport was brisk, like the weather. It seemed as though the cold front was sweeping through the moment we decided to leave – time well spent in the sunshine! We parked our rental car, followed instructions given to us by the Turo host, and boarded our flight for home.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

A lot of people suggested that we visit plantations, the Slave Mart, and the tea factory. While these are all items on our list, they did not fit the timeframe or focus on this trip. For us, we enjoy history. More specifically, war history. The USS Yorktown and Fort Sumter were exactly what we came to do and we left feeling accomplished. We could have split our first day of walking and sightseeing with a trip to a plantation and it would have worked out perfectly. For future reference, we had selected Boone’s as the planation of choice, although there are plenty to choose from!

All in all, Charleston is a must see and we will be back!