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Oct 9, 2017

Family Trip with Kid to South Carolina and Georgia


Family Combo Trip with Flight and Road Trip


Recently we took advantage of some holidays and made our way down south. We visited Charleston in South Carolina and Savannah in Georgia.


We flew into Charleston, instead of driving. The drive would have been very long and we wanted to spend time at the destination versus driving 12 hours.

Downtown Charleston

We arrived towards the latter half of the day. The plan for the evening was to check out some of the downtown and restaurants.

The Battery
First stop after renting a car and car seat, was the Battery. It is a large park at the edge of the town on the water with lots of greenery and cannons. The weather was great that evening and we got to see a nice sunset, walk around the park, and check out some birds we have not encountered before and very large private houses.






*Enterprise - not a good rental company. Have not changed their tactics one bit in years. Blamed quite a bit on the storm to give cheap unkempt cars for a lot more money than it was worth. We ended up with Chevy Cruz, even though during a conversation before arrival we were promised a deal and an upgrade that comes with that deal. The car had no windshield fluid, dirty on the outside and inside, made noise while driving. But it did get us from point A to point B.
They did remit the situation, however, after we contacted Customer Service.

Magnolias restaurant

After the park, we were all hungry and we drove over to Magnolias restaurant. We made reservations here ahead of time as we heard it gets busy in the evenings. There was no wait for three of us. At the tables, there were a lot of couples and what looked like business dinners. There were a few families with kids as well.


Pier, fountain, and swings
Driving to the restaurant we noticed a fountain between buildings. And after dinner, we wandered over to it. Beyond the fountain, we discovered a pier. Walking up to it, or rather running as we were playing pretend, we saw benches. But not your regular wooden benches, these were swings. They were all taken at first, but we saw one being freed and rushed over. It was awesome to sit there in the evening looking over the water with lights flickering and swinging back and forth. The name of the place is Waterfront Park.


First full day in Charleston we had a full itinerary

Magnolias plantation
  • Zoo with free roaming animals - there was a deer, quite a few ducks, geese, chickens, and peacocks. All of them were walking and flying around the semi-enclosed area. There were friendly for the most part, especially if you have treats for them
  • Train ride - to get a view of the large plantation we took a ride on a trolly with a tour guide. The tour was very interesting and the guide was funny, nice, and informative. However, there were many many mosquitos. Most of the ride we were fanning them off and still got all bitten quite a bit. 





Back in downtown Charleston, we were aiming to have lunch at Husk. Though when we got there it turned out there was no space, not even on the waiting list. Instead, we went next door to Poogan's Porch and had a great brunch.
Finding parking in Charleston is tough, especially during the day. We ended up parking in a makeshift paid parking lot that was only a few feet from Husk and even closer to Poogan's Porch.

City Market
After lunch, we walked over to the City Market, which was a partially closed bazaar with many different vendors. The covered portions housed several more robust stores.

Schooner Pride
In the late afternoon, we booke a ride on Schooner Pride. It was a great experience and great finish to a busy day. We got to enjoy the views on the water, had a nice breeze flowing, and got a demonstration of how the sails are raised up. There was even a dog along for the ride and he seemed to enjoy the breeze and warm sunshine as well. Toward the end of the sailing, our kiddo got to even drive the schooner with the captain by her side and telling her which way to turn the wheel.


Following day...

Pit stop: 500-year-old Oak Tree


Beach at Kiawah Island
This beach is known as one of the kid-friendly beaches in South Carolina. While the beach itself is very small, there was a lot of wet sand area for kids to run around and splash in shallow waters. Though during our visit the waves were very strong, most likely due to recent storms. We could not swim in the ocean, but we did plenty fun in the surf splashing, jumping, and sand castle building.



After the beach, we had lunch at Jasmin restaurant, within the golf resort on Kiawah Island. Our meal, however, was not to par with the rest of the resort. The soup was over salted, turkey wrap filled with very cheap turkey, the grilled chicken was amazing though. Management of the restaurant was gracious and attentive to feedback about it and made the experience much better.



Walked around a bit. Saw preparations for a wedding and washed away beach similar to what we saw earlier in the day. Kiddo fell asleep in the carriage after lunch and was napping soundly throughout our self-guided tour.
Speaking of the carriage, the one we have used for several of our trips now is the Summer Infant 3D-one Convenience Stroller. It is a great travel stroller. Sturdy, yet light and compact. We also had the JL Childress Gate Check Bag, which was very helpful when boarding the plane and checking in the stroller at the gate.

Drove back to hotel area
Since we didn't get dessert earlier, we decided to get some ice cream. Kid woke up just in time for us to get out of the car and go to Marble Slab Ice Cream.
After went back to the room, changed, and went to the pool for a bit. The water was warm and we had the entire pool to ourselves. It got a bit chilly as the sun went down. We showered, changed and went out to eat some southern style BBQ at Swig & Swine. There we got a beef brisket, smoked wings, and mac and cheese. Everything was delicious. We finished off with blueberry cobbler which was very good. A great recommendation from our Uber driver.



Next day we were on the way to Savannah 

It was going to be almost a two-hour drive, so we broke it up a bit.  Pitstop one - old church ruins.


Beaufort pit spot
Great small town. Forest Gump was filmed here. Turtles come to hatch.
We stopped by the Chocolate Tree, a chocolate shop with a variety of chocolate confections and Tom Hanks visited the shop during the filming.


Had great late lunch at Panini place. The restaurant is located in what used to be an old bank. It had interesting and cool (temperature wise) decor.



Tipped it off with ice cream on swings overlooking the river.


Drove to Savannah ...

Continued on Page 2 - Savannah

Tips From Our Trips:
» If you plan on driving at your destination within the U.S, bring along your EZ-pass tag, it will save you dollars, hassle, and time

» Bring a GPS or a phone holder. I have the iOttie Easy One Touch Car Mount Holder and love it. It was very useful on the trip.

» Check with your insurance and credit card company ahead of time to save $$ on liability insurance with rental company

» Always bring your external battery pack and cable





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