July 4th!

This has been a super busy week at work, but I decided to take a minute to try to compile the pictures from our most recent 'sparatical-sabbatical'!

We made a last minute decision last week to take a trip, since July 3rd was considered a holiday at UGA. We weren't sure where we wanted to go (or..where we could afford to go!) but we knew we wanted to get away for a day or two. We both got lucky and were granted Wednesday and Thursday off (Thanks, Boss!) and Brandon had a friend who was willing to check in on our dogs. As a last minute decision, we booked a hotel on the river in Charleston, SC and packed our bags!

Charleston is the one place (other than Vegas..) that we have always said we wanted to visit but never have. We are such fans of the beach and love the historic charm, so we always thought this would be a place we'd love. WE WERE RIGHT!

We left Athens around 8am Wednesday morning and made it to our hotel in less than 4 hours. Since we arrived before our room was ready, we decided to visit one of the historic forts while waiting. We told our GPS system to take us to Fort Sumter, and were confused when we arrived at Fort Moultrie. Turns out you cant actually DRIVE to Fort Sumter since it sits on an island in the middle of the water. Lesson learned.

When we checked in later that day, we learned we had been upgraded to a suite with a balcony and a wonderful view. Since we we trying to make it an inexpensive vacation, we had only booked a standard room so being upgraded to the most expensive room type at no additional charge was a great surprise!

Our hotel offered a free shuttle to/from Downtown Charleston at multiple times throughout the evening, so we took advantage of that both nights. The first night we had a few drinks, ate dinner, did some shopping and walked along the river.

The next day, we went to Folly Beach and had such a good time! The water was the perfect temperature and there was a nice breeze all day, so it didn't feel hot at all. Of course I got a sunburn as usual but we had a really fun time playing in the ocean. The waves were really big!

We made a friend, Marty the Seagull.

After spending all day on the beach, we drove around and looked at all of the huge houses with big porches and docks...just the way I imagined Charleston would be! We stopped at an Open House for some VERY nice townhouses on the water. If we had $500,000 in our pocket, we would've purchased one then and there!

That night we went back downtown and ate the Bubba Gump Shrimp Factory. Brandon doesn't eat seafood so he had a burger. I ordered off of the kids' menu (anyone who knows me knows this isn't a big surprise) and my food arrived in an adorable little boat! I even got a cup of blue jello!!

We walked thru the 'shopping district' where all of the highend stores were and just started roaming through the neighborhoods. We passed the storefront for "Trademark Properties"- there used to be a tv show I loved called Flip This House and it was all about the people who own this company. In one episode they renovated their new store in Charleston; the very store we walked past! It looked just like it did on tv!



The thing we loved most about Charleston (other than the beach, of course) was the character and charm. It seemed as if every time we turned a corner, we discovered a new courtyard or 'secret garden'..there were fountains and benches everywhere. We would wander down a little alley and end up in a beautiful area with flowers, exposed brick walls, slate tiles on the ground, etc. We loved it!


We spent time on the pier, watching the cargo ships go by and the sailboats float around. We saw a dolphin and a man that was fishing from the pier kept catching shark! We were both exhausted but, before heading back to the hotel, we stopped at one of the old fashion candy shops and got some goodies.

Friday morning we headed back to Athens (I made us miss the continental breakfast because I got confused about what day of the week it was) just in time to avoid all of the 4th of July traffic. We stopped before we got back into Georgia and purchased some fireworks so Brandon could shoot them off after the cookout at his mom's house.

While we had an excellent time, there just wasn't enough time to do everything we wanted to do. We would have loved to stay longer so we could visit the other beaches and see some more of the forts/historical sites. There's always next time, I guess.