Charleston

After Christmas we went to Charleston for a mini vacation.  The city was, as always, gorgeous and so is my baby girl. 

We stayed right downtown within walking distance of everything.  In fact, we took a walking tour.  While we have taken many tours of Charleston, we had never done the architectural tour.  It was wonderful and I learned so much.  We took the stroller but Tessa hardly used it, she preferred to walk like the adults.

Our tour took us all around the historic district, into a secret garden, and through an old house turned art gallery.  Somehow the history just sounds better when told by someone with an authentic Charleston accent.  This particular house wins my prize for best Christmas decorations, his flowers were gorgeous.  

We drove out to James Island to see the holiday lights.  I love this light version of Rainbow Row.

The weather was gorgeous with bright sun and fairly mild temperatures.  I was the only one who was cold but that's because I have no tolerance for anything below 65 degrees.  Shopping is always on our agenda and so I treated myself to a new coat.  No, it didn't matter that I had brought my almost brand new coat on the trip, I needed this one with it's cute ruffles.  Notice Tessa is mid air in this picture, she has so much energy!

We walked along the battery where the most beautiful of all Charleston homes face the water.

And in that bright winter sun, we tried to take a picture by the pineapple fountain and pretty much blinded ourselves. 

Lunch at S.N.O.B. was dee-lish.  The name is a tongue-in-cheek reference to Charleston geography.  The most desirable addresses are at the tip of the peninsula, south of Broad Street.  Therefore, only in in Charleston is it a compliment to be labeled S.O.B (south of Broad).  This restaurant is just across Broad Street, hence the name Slightly North of Broad or S.N.O.B.  With fresh seafood and specialty house drinks we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves here.

We crossed the new Cooper River bridge to Mount Pleasant for a harbor tour.  We bundled up, boarded a speed boat and took off.  Our tour guide gave us the run down of Charleston holiday traditions while we skimmed across the water.  Tessa thought the speed boat was awesome and asked the captain to make it go even faster.  He got a kick out of that.     

After our tour we ate more fresh seafood and watched the sun set.  Goodnight Charleston.