I’m relaxed enough here on this trip, that getting up between 630-730 and checking emails is the first routine of the day. Just like home. Also coffee. Must have coffee. We were all up by 9 and with breakfast done, we packed up for a couple days in Charleston, and on the road by 10am. It’s a 2-3 hr drive via back roads, not freeways, hitting a few little old towns along the way. First stop would be Magnolia Plantation.
Before we got there, we stopped for a bite to eat at the Corner House Café in Summerville, a nice little upscale bakery/coffee shop with a few sandwiches on the menu. While the plantation would have food, it wasn’t likely to be the best nor GF for Wendy. But she had a good HUGE chef salad at this café, and I had a southern style reuben. Great food, no crowd.
When we got to the plantation, It was sunny and cool and slightly breezy, but mostly comfortable enough. We spent a couple hours walking thru the gardens. Surprisingly, lots of flowers in bloom. We also took a tour thru the plantation house/mansion, but no photos or videos were allowed inside. These are remarkable grounds with tons of history. Before we left, we did some shopping in their gift shop, just enough stuff that we had them ship it home for us.
YouTube Video (10 min) https://youtu.be/ps9b1XQmpPA
There was lots of Spanish moss on the trees.
Next stop was the Tides hotel in Folly Beach, our home away from home while in Charleston, located on Folly Island, about 15 mi from Charleston. Right on the beach, it was recently reopened after hurricane repairs. It was a reasonable place to stay, but a couple things I didn’t like- 1)room access on all floors is all outdoors, not an inside hallway, 2) tile floors in the room were cold to bare feet, 3) the wall mounted heater/ac unit was extremely loud and always running – did keep us warm though.
After checking in and settling in, we walked across the street to St James Gate, an Irish pub. To start I had a double Jamieson on the rocks and some fried pickles, Wendy had a Bloody Mary and Irish Tater Tots(shredded corned beef, sauerkraut, swiss, Russian dressing – they were great – she needs to make those at home!). For dinner I had Bangers and Mash and ate every bite. Wendy had Corned Beef and Cabbage.
After dinner we drove over to James Island County Park to see the Holiday Festival of Lights. Heaven for Wendy, with lots of Christmas lights to be seen driving thru the park amongst the heavy traffic, but once parked we walked thru much more.
We ended the tour with Hot Chocolate and Kettle Corn in the fair like food area. It was a great way to end the day. I was completely whacked by the time we got back to hotel.