When you take a trip with your sister for Spring Break it is a Chick Trip and Family Trip all mixed into one!  This year, we set our sights on some southern charm and headed to Charleston, South Carolina.  We loaded up our mini’s (all four of them) and pulled off a fun and memorable trip complete with loads of laughs!

What to do:

Carriage ride:

A great way to get your bearings for this quaint city is to take a carriage tour. We hopped over to Palmetto Carriage Works for a ride through Charleston‘s historical district. We absolutely loved our guide, Jim.  He was knowledgeable, relevant, and funny! We would highly recommend starting your trip to Charleston with this tour to understand fun spots to visit.  As women and as bloggers, we found the story about the Grimke sisters who were early advocates for abolition and women’s rights to be pertinent and interesting.  It was a refreshing reminder of women in history and a great teachable moment for our young children!  The streets of Charleston are lined with historical homes that make the city truly a place to visit!  We got lucky with a morning ride so it wasn’t too hot or too cold.

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Fort Sumter – Patriots Point

When we arrived at our hotel, our rooms weren’t ready.  In an attempt to kill some time we drove over to Patriots Point and BOY are we glad we did (literally a 12 minute drive from the historic downtown area)!  We walked over to the USS Yorktown and toured the ship.  Tickets were $22 for adults and $14 for kids.  Definitely worth it!  The boat was easy to navigate with tours that are clearly marked (audio tours are also available)!  We were traveling with 4 young kids who all found the ship’s many rooms fascinating.  Aboard the ship you see where crew ate, slept and lived life while on board.  The top of the ship was lined with fighter jets from both the navy and marines!

This is an awesome stop for both kids and adults! We went on a simulator that showed what it would be like as a pilot of a fighter jet, this helped jump start the kids imagination when we made our way to see the jets in real life (tickets were $6 per person).  I would allow about 3-4 hours to check out the ship.  Next door is Fort Sumter, of you plan to do both you would be looking at a full  day outing depending on the ages in your group.

Sullivan Island : Lighthouse and Beach

We had planned to stop at Sullivan Island during our planning for the trip.  I should warn that we went in the month of April for Spring break and the weather didn’t quite hold up for the beach.   We made a stop over at the lighthouse which we could only see as we walked past it.  Not the most picturesque lighthouse, but something to see nonetheless.  Just past the lighthouse was a  boardwalk to the beach.  The kids loved collecting shells while we basked in the spring sun.  It wasn’t quite warm enough to get in the water, so keep that in mind when planning a visit in the Spring months.  A quick mention, if you have young kids and your hopes of spending a day at the beach get ruined, there is a park with playgrounds just up the road that was a savior for us!

What to eat:

Basil

Situated right off King Street in Charleston Basil is a Thai restaurant that has absolutely delicious food!  With a blend of vegetarians and non-vegetarians in our group  this was a sure bet for dinner.  Most dishes can be substituted for tofu.  In general we are regulars to Thai food, but I must say the food here stood out!  Their Pad Ke Mow is a must try!  My kids love Panang curry…unfortunately Basil didn’t offer this but had Massuman curry which was a perfect substitution!  If you like Thai, you’ll love Basil.

Basic Kitchen

While shopping with the kids, we were looking for a lunch spot.  Upon a recommendation we ended up at Basic Kitchen.  This place was gorgeous! It had a light and airy feel and was clean and well staffed. They offered a good selection for the kids menu which made the kids…and us happy!  We tried the bbq tempeh, cauliflower wings and avocado toast…all three were so good!  This is a must stop for good clean and vegetarian eats!

Mex 1

What a fun Mexican restaurant!  You can’t miss it off the main road once you get onto Sullivan Island.  This place offered both indoor and outdoor seating, we sat indoor since it was a tad on the chilly side the day we went.  They offer an extensive menu of both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options.  It wasn’t like most Mexican restaurants with the standard quesadillas and burritos.  They had an array of salads and bowl options as well!  Come on, as people who love spicy food, they even had a hot sauce bar…my favorite was the blue agave sriracha..made in Austin, of course!  Over lunch we noshed on guacamole and chips, and even sipped on some Paloma’s….we even spotted a celebrity from the show Southern Charm…Austen!  I would definitely recommend this place.  Of course, you know the chicks at ChicksAndSalsa can’t pass up a food spot for some “chips” and salsa!

Where to stay (or not):

Hyatt Place

We waited until the last minute to book our trip so we had very few options for hotels.  We ended up at the Hyatt Place which we didn’t love.  When we pulled up they were not very helpful.  There was no one to help with our bags or even greet us.  We helped ourselves to unloading our luggage onto the cart and then again upstairs…. this made for a terrible first impression!  The room easily fit 6 of us, we had two double beds and a pull out sofa bed.  The pool was indoor and decently kept, the kids liked that the water was heated so they enjoyed their time!  Our room stay included breakfast…we thought this would be a good perk, but the food was just OK and the dining area was very crowded.

We were grateful to have something to start to the day, but truthfully we preferred to have breakfast out of the hotel.  Overall, we are grateful to have had a place to stay, but would not recommend the Hyatt place, especially if you are big on service!

All in all, the city is so unique and distinct from the Chicago and Atlanta landscape that we are used to! We loved driving on the beautiful bridges, being by the water, shopping on King Street, and of course eating in Charleston!

Another one for the books, check out our other travel posts here!

Cheers,

Rina And Sonia