Weddingbee Blog

After making the difficult decision to head home a day early, we were inspired to make the most of what abbreviated time we had remaining, so we headed into Charleston for an afternoon full of sightseeing.

Miraculously, it was a perfect 75 degrees as we spent the hottest hours of the day traipsing around the city! We took our second carriage ride of the trip, this time using a group tour to get a more complete understanding of the city’s architecture and history.

We saw the city’s landmark church, that tilts a bit due to a 19th century earthquake,

and old-fashioned architecture with buildings that are only one room wide,

and weaponry left over from the Civil War.

For anyone who visits Charleston, I highly recommend doing a historical carriage ride through the city; it was one of the highlights of our trip. The guide was very knowledgeable and personable, making it a really pleasant way to spend an hour while learning about your surroundings.

Before coming to South Carolina, we had decided that we wanted to invest in a piece of art as our premiere souvenir, rather than collecting knick-knacks all over the place. Without any rhyme or reason, we decided to pop into the Gordon Wheeler gallery that we stumbled upon. We immediately fell in love with his style of art and how “Charleston-y” it looked to us. It didn’t take us long to decide on a winner that fell in a price range we were comfortable with.

“On Meeting” by Gordon Wheeler

After getting robbed a day by Irene, we were really, really excited to find a piece of art that we both loved and would be a treasured keepsake in our home for years to come, always reminding us of our fantastic trip to Charleston.

Finally, to cap off our lovely day in the downtown area, we enjoyed some martinis at Squeeze, a tiny but trendy bar, before eating our weight in seafood (yet again) at High Cotton. We noshed on fried oysters, surf and turf, and shrimp and grits before waving our stomach’s white flags of surrender. For what started off as a cruddy morning, the day resurrected itself beautifully.

The following day, to appease Mr. Snow Cone’s drive for outdoor adventure, we took a private three-hour sailing lesson with OnDeck, an international sailing company with a branch in Charleston. Mr. Snow Cone got tasked with steering while I working the ropes while we tacked. We spent a lot of time learning basic sailing jargon and technique while we scooted around Charleston Harbor. Unfortunately for us, with Irene’s impending arrival, a lot of the winds had been sucked out to sea to join the brewing hurricane, so the air was a little still, resulting in some slow goings on the sailing front. Nevertheless, we made the best of it, using the most of every little breeze we could. Even when we were sitting instead of sailing, we had some great scenery all around us, like gorgeous blue water and the USS Yorktown.

Even though the wind shortage didn’t necessarily make for an action-packed sailing adventure, I think Mr. Snow Cone’s thirst for vacation activity was still satisfied. Just look at that grin!

After a sunny three hours and lots of sailing education, we returned to land. We ate at Red’s Ice House, a local joint with some awesome seafood, pulled right from the water the restaurant overlooks. All that sailing helped us build up quite the appetite; we managed to polish off a hearty amount of shrimp, crab legs, and fried oysters without breaking much of a sweat.

What was the most memorable experience of your honeymoon - finding a treasured souvenir or trying a new activity, like us, or something entirely different?

(all photos personal unless otherwise noted)