Driving into South Carolina felt like a mini homecoming of sorts for Julie and I. Shortly after getting married in October 2016 we came to Charleston for our honeymoon. We were supposed to spend a week in the area; (3 days in the city and 4 days on the beach) but, as it turned out, it was not meant to be. Hurricane Matthew was heading up the coast and on day 2 our hotel on the beach called and said due to the recent state of emergency imposed by the governor they were cancelling all reservations. We decided shortly after that call that Charleston was probably not the best place to be right then and headed out of the state the next morning. As our time in the area had been so short we had always wanted to go back and finally two years later we were getting that opportunity.
The first stop for us on the way from Savannah to Charleston was just over the border at Hilton Head Island. For people living in the northeast of the USA, Hilton Head Island is heavily advertised as a warm family friendly place to visit when we are freezing our butts off in the middle of the winter. As such, we were eager to check it out. Driving onto the island we immediately noticed how lush it was. City planners did a great job with the commercial space on this island. As we were in the south there still were the normal strip malls however, on Hilton Head these were hidden behind beautifully manicured sections of pine and palm trees with a tasteful sign near the entrance so you knew which stores were there.
As beaches cover roughly ¾ of the sides of the island finding a beach isn’t a problem. The problem comes in choosing the beach you want to see. We choose to walk down Burkes Beach as from what we had read it was just plain huge. As it turns out, it was. We walked up and down the beach, past families enjoying the waves and the sand. The people watching was pretty great here. From the beach we stopped at a grocery store before heading to our campground on the outskirts of Charleston. After settling in at the campsite we got a knock on our door and it was our new neighbors Trey & Kelly from Columbia, SC. This was a pretty normal occurrence for us in campgrounds. As far as recreational vehicles go ours isn’t what you would consider normal. In the world of motorhomes, ours is just plain tiny. As this is the case people are interested in it and want to see this. This is great for us too as it makes meeting people at campgrounds pretty easy and have made some great friends by just simply parking Bubbles.
Waking up the next morning we were excited to see our honeymoon city (as short as our time turned out to be there). As parking in an historic city isn’t always easy we left Bubbles in the campground and called an Uber into the city. First stop for us was the historic market. In Charleston one of the main draws for tourists at the market is the home made sweetgrass baskets. These baskets range in size from something that could hold a thimble to a basketball. They are super durable with beautiful patterns weaved throughout them. After searching the market Julie found just the one she wanted and we made the purchase. From the market we traced our path from our 1st day of our honeymoon walking down to the waterfront pier and along the waterfront park. From there we walked through an older residential area with some of the homes dating back to before the revolutionary war. For history buffs like us seeing these houses is pretty exciting. We then walked over to the Wentworth Mansion, which is a small hotel where we stayed during our short time in the city. It was pretty neat walking through the property thinking back to that time and our experience then (in terms of just being married, the crazy hurricane situation and working normal jobs) to what our life was like now. They still had the same guest book so we flipped back to October 2016 and saw our comments on our last day there. It was a pretty special moment.
From the Wentworth it was time to go meet up with one of Julie’s friends, Kelly and her fiancé Stephen. Julie and Kelly met as kids growing up in small town NY. As people from upstate NY generally get sick of the winter after a while Kelly moved south and chose Charleston as her landing point. We met Kelly & Stephen at Stars Rooftop Bar, which was pretty neat as it gave a great overview of the city. Julie had not seen Kelly in over 3 or 4 years. I’m sure as anyone reading this can relate, when you see a friend that you haven’t seen in a long time you’re not quite sure how it will go. Has it been so long that you’ve grown apart or will you fall right back into line and click like you used to? For Julie and Kelly it was as if they had just seen each other the day before. They didn’t miss a beat and were overjoyed to see one another again. Meanwhile I had a great time talking with Stephen and thought that Kelly and him made a great couple.
From the rooftop bar we headed over to a part of town called Shem Creek. Shem Creek is a large creek, which leads out into the Atlantic Ocean. It’s home to a marina and a large number of restaurants looking out over the water. As it was a bit busy and Kelly & Stephen had their dog with them finding a restaurant that had an open table and allowed dogs turned out to be a bit of an issue. As it turned out though we were able to eat because of the dog. We tried to eat on the patio of a restaurant called Saltwater Cowboys. As we were told that the wait was an hour + we decided to find somewhere else. As we were leaving the property the manager ran up to us and asked if we were leaving. We told him yes because of the wait and the dog. He said that dogs are usually not allowed on the inside of the building but as he had the same dog as Kelly & Stephen (A King Charles) he would made an exception for us. It was a funny turn of events and as a result we had a great meal there. After dinner Kelly & Stephen were nice enough to drop us off back at the campground. It was great seeing them and I’m sure we will see them soon in the future.
The next morning we woke up ready to go again. This time it was my turn to see friends that I had not seen in many years. I had met Marthe in London when we were both exchange students back in 2005. As she had lived in New York and the New England area in the years that followed I had seen her quite often just after that but had not seen her in about 5 years since going to her wedding where she married her husband Ryan. As she had seen our website and Instagram posts about BBQ restaurants she chose a place to eat at called Swig & Swine. Just like Julie’s time with Kelly the day before I wasn’t sure how it would go with Marthe since it had been so long. As it turned out though it was just the same. It seemed as no time had passed since their wedding day and it was amazing to see Marthe & Ryan once again. I was finally able to find out how they made it to Charleston from Boston, share some great food and see pictures of their two beautiful daughters.
From Swig & Swine we headed to Folly Beach. We were supposed to stay on the beach for 4 days of our honeymoon so it was great to finally get there. First we visited the hotel that we were supposed to stay it. We were a bit disappointed in the hurricane because the hotel was absolutely beautiful and we were sorry that we were not able stay there two years prior. From there we drove north up the beach. Just after Julie and I first started to date I had gone on a good friends bachelor party to Charleston. We had rented a beach house that we nick named the “Italian Villa”. This house was directly on the beach and was tall, skinny and white. It did not look like any of the houses around it. It was our mission to find this house. As it was so unique compared to the rest finding it was a bit easy. It had changed a bunch though. Due to either erosion or the rising ocean and since it was directly on the beach there was a bit of construction going on at the house. The front was being built up so that the ocean did not eat away at the foundation. We took a few pictures of the house then continued our walk down the beach. From here it was a bit of a ways back to our campground so we hopped back into Bubbles and hit the road back to the campground.
The next morning we woke up and hit the road once again. We hopped back onto Route 17 heading north along the coast. This was a beautiful drive passing through forests, rivers and small towns. In some parts it looked like time had stopped in 1910 and hadn’t started since. We stopped in the small town of Georgetown for lunch. Georgetown is roughly halfway between Charleston and Myrtle Beach. Julie and I both loved it. The downtown area was just what you would think of when you think of a small southern town. It was more or less Mayberry. Old houses with huge porches, magnolia trees with Spanish moss. It was great! Since the town was also on a river, and since we were in South Carolina we did see an alligator lazily floating next to a pier built over the water. It was pretty great.
From Georgetown we drove north to our stopping place for the night at Myrtle Beach. Myrtle Beach is known as a vacation and golf hot spot. As it was raining buckets when we were there however, we did not enjoy either. Myrtle Beach is 100% different than either Charleston or Georgetown. Instead of old, historic town centers you have high rises built between 1980 and today. Crowds of people would normally be everywhere enjoying Myrtle Beach’s boardwalk type atmosphere. Alas though the rain prevented this for us. We headed over to our campground for the night, rested and relaxed.
Next up…Wilmington and the Outer Banks of North Carolina!
