Tim and I recently got the opportunity to go south to visit some of our (now) favorite cities - Savannah and Charleston. We drove down to Charleston first, where we stayed both with my aunt and uncle and in a sweet little campground on St James Island. We were so grateful for my aunt and uncle's generosity and that they are always willing to take us in...it was much appreciated after the long drive. We were only there 3 or 4 days (as we wanted to get onto Savannah as well), but we packed a lot in! We explored the campground where we stayed part of the time - follow the link to see pictures and get more info on it.
https://www.ccprc.com/1434/Campground
We highly recommend this campground! It was peaceful, quiet, and there way plenty to do. Here's a picture of us in front of our site.
On our first day we went to lunch with my aunt, uncle, and cousin at a yummy farm-to-table restaurant. Then we went downtown and walked the city. We started near the straw market, walked along the bay down to Battery Park, and then walked back through the city to the straw market again. Having been to Charleston before, this is one of my favorite walks!
On our second day, we started out slow and went to Patriot's Point first. This is one of my favorite things to do in Charleston and I was so excited to share this with Tim. Patriot's Point includes a large carrier ship, destroyer, submarine, and recreated Vietnam base. I love walking through these because I can actually get more of an idea of the conditions our servicemen live in and it gives me a greater appreciation of the sacrifices they make for us as a country to protect us. My uncle is a Vietnam Veteran so that is extra special as well. He gave me my first tour of Patriots Point and I only hope I gave Tim one that was half as good as the one he gave me. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from our visit to Patriot's Point:
We spent part of the next day driving to Savannah and getting set up at our next site - Fort McAlister State Park. This park was even more gorgeous! There was a fun boat ramp, dock, and area you could rent kayaks as well as hiking trails and an old fort to explore.
Since Savannah was a bit of a drive from our campsite, we decided to stay near the campground and explore it throughout the day on the day we drove there to save up our energy for walking downtown Savannah the next day. On the next day, however, when we did explore Savannah, we went all in exploring as much as we could! We chose to do a "Trolley Tour" and it was so worth it! It was wonderful because we got to see so much that would have been far to walk (and we really didn't need to get out and walk around) but wanted to see at least briefly! We took the tour around once and then went around again (you can go around as many times as you want), hopping off at the sites that peaked our interest the most. We chose to stop at: the Mercer-Williams House, Forsynthe Park, City Market, The Cathedral of St John the Baptist, and River Street. We also just hopped off and walked around some of the squares - we couldn't resist because they were so gorgeous!
The Mercer Williams House was where the story "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" took place. It was gorgeous to explore. The guide told us when the chandelier in the front left window is on the home is open for tours - but that you must always go back to the carriage house and enter through there to tour the home.
Forsynthe Park has a pretty fountain in the middle of it that is stunning to just sit and watch. The park has gorgeous homes surrounding it and a cute cafe on one side of it as well. Tim and I had gotten coffee there when we briefly stopped through Savannah on our way to Florida one year. We also visited Bonaventure Cemetary when we stopped through that time, though we didn't this time. It is about 20 minutes outside the city but worth the drive.
The City Market has a bunch of little shops around it that are fun to meander through and at times (like when we were walking through) will have street bands! We stopped and got a coffee and macaroon to share here and sat and just enjoyed the atmosphere. We also walked over to the best ice cream shop from here (gotta burn the calories off, right?). It was called Leopold's ice cream - I got banana and Tim got thin mint. I am usually dairy-free as far as my diet but this was worth the dairy!
The Cathedral of St John the Baptist was by far one of the prettiest cathedrals I have ever seen. It was stunning and worth walking in and just sitting awhile.
River Street is where the party is at! It is right along the river (duh, right?) so you can see all the ships coming and going. There are a ton of awesome restaurants and fun shops to walk into. We personally ate at The Cotton Exchange Tavern and Restaurant and loved it! We loved it so much we ate there twice - once for lunch and once for dinner. I got the BLT (green tomato) sandwich for lunch and the Shrimp and Grits for dinner (I promise we usually eat healthy!). The Savannah Candy Company is also down here and has really good sweets.
On our last day in Savannah, we went to the Wormsloe Plantation, Tybee Island and it's light house, and back into downtown Savannah to revisit anything we'd missed as well as take a "Haunted" Trolley Tour - my request on the latter, not Tim's. Wormsloe did not have a house to tour which was a little bit of a disappointment but it did have ruins, pretty grounds, a long beautiful avenue of oaks, and a gorgeous front entrance/gate. There was a home on the grounds that we drove by that was really pretty but was not able to be toured (it's a private residence). They also said the grounds/home were part of some big films, including The Last Song!
Tybee Island was also the site of some of the filming for the movie The Last Song! The pier was very recognizable when we pulled up - it was used in the movie. I'm not surprised - it's a really pretty pier. We ate lunch near the pier, walked the pier, then went over to the lighthouse and toured it. It is a long way to the lighthouse top and very windy, but worth it! They have also restored the lightkeeper's homes' and you can tour them, which I loved a lot more than Tim. :) There is also a battery across the street that is also included in the tour to explore (more Tim's cup of tea).
The last thing we did before we went home was the ghost trolley tour. We got to tour the home Juliette Gordon Low (the founder of the Girl Scouts) lived in at night, as supposedly it is haunted. We then toured a small place on River Street that was frequented by pirates and just drove around downtown Savannah as they told us ghost stories.
After all this, it was time for the long drive back home. However, we were thankful for some time away - just the two of us - and some time exploring such beautiful cities. This will definitely not be our last time in either of these cities - between the beach, history, and old homes I know we won't be able to stay away!
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