Vacation for two: Charleston

David and I planned a vacation sans kids for the first time in, well, a long time. We went to New Orleans for a Saints game almost three years ago, so it has been a while. The problem is we have three kids and both sets of grandparents max out at two. So, we divided the kids evenly (just kidding--didn't cut Benton in half) and sent L&B to Tupelo and Kate to Germantown, then we headed to Charleston. Or so we thought. Delta Airlines had other plans. I have had three days to cool down from our experience with them Wednesday, so the short and sweet version goes like this:
10:00 arrive at airport for 11:40 flight

11:30ish still not boarding plane, no explanation, although David heard someone say "maintenance"
11:40 let us know that they are having some maintenance work on the plane and we will not be able to take off for a couple of hours; anyone whose connection is affected (that would be us) needs to talk to an agent
11:41 David bolts to the Delta desk; second in line to talk to Twilla, the agent
12:20 Twilla finishes dealing with the first person in line
12:30 Twilla informs us the only option we have is to take a 2:00 flight to Charlotte then connect to Charleston on a US Air flight; Twilla sends us to gate across the airport and obviously clocks out quickly because she has a feeling we will come back to hunt her down soon
2:00 flight leaves for Charlotte with our luggage but without us because Twilla neglected to check to see if there were two seats available.
2:01 Michael, Delta "red coat" (red coat means supervisor, but just like in the Revolutionary War, the redcoats are hated and incompetent), gets us two first class seats on our original plane
4:00 we get back to original gate, where the plane is still parked with the engine on the ground. Plane is clearly not leaving Memphis airport anytime soon. We are sure Michael has joined Twilla on a smoke break at this point and they are both laughing at our naivety.
4:10 first competent person we have dealt with all day books us on 7:00 flight out of Memphis and gives us our third $6 voucher for a meal at the airport. How generous those Delta agents are!
12:00 midnight we finally land in Charleston. Our bags had a better fate and had been there for hours.

Thursday we had planned a day of sightseeing. We had a tour on a horse-drawn carriage that was quaint and historic as we learned interesting heritage of Charleston. We walked through the Market, which is unlike any shopping experience I have had. Then we ate lunch at SNOB, a unique and delicious restaurant. Full and happy, we headed down to the Battery, walked around the park, walked by Rainbow Row, and walked up Museum Mile. The temperature was at least 100 with 100% humidity, so at this point I needed a nap. After resting up, we went to dinner at Peninsula Grill, which we had been told by every website available was the best restaurant in the area. Sadly, we didn't think it lived up to its hype. However, what did live up to the hype was Kamisky's, which had the most amazing desserts. I am a little embarrassed to admit what we did after dinner. Because it makes us sound a wee bit pathetic. Ok, here goes. We went to see a movie. Bridesmaids, to be exact. David and I never get a babysitter to just go to a movie, so we decided to go since we were kidless. In fact, the last movie we saw in a theater together was The Hangover, on our vacation in Hawaii. Pathetic, I know.

Friday we went to Mt. Pleasant to Boone Plantation. We had not planned to do any of the plantation tours because it's not really our thing, but we kept reading about it and decided when in Rome we must do as the Romans do. Boone Plantation was gorgeous, but we actually skipped the house tour and walked around the grounds instead because we learned the house was built in the 1930s, and that is well past plantation era and made us feel a little jipped. After the plantation we drove to Johns Island and went to the Firefly distillery. This is where they make Firefly vodka. We did a vodka tasting, and much to David's relief we did not have to drink six shots at the tasting (he was very worried about the tasting affecting his golf game). On site there was also a winery, so we visited it too. Our next stop was Kiawah, where David had scheduled a round of golf at the Ocean Course. For the first time in our nine years of marriage, I planned to ride in the cart as he golfed. I brought a school book, a fun book, my camera, and my iPad, because I thought I would have five hours of boredom. However, I was pretty entertained just watching golf. And counting alligators (we saw three). We ended up meeting a fun couple on the course in our same situation (wife riding, husband golfing) and had a good day of golf.

We came home Saturday and luckily did not have to deal with disfunctional Delta. David was afraid of the scene I would cause if any red coat told me I would be delayed on my way to see my kids. Because despite the nice relaxing trip we had, we were so ready to see all three of our kiddos. We did check in with them constantly, and it was obvious we would have to do some grandparent detox when we got home (a stranger in the airport called it "the grandparent hangover" when kids come home from grandparents' houses). Kate is too young to tell us her preference, but Benton and Lindsey let us know they would like to stay in Tupelo. We are so grateful for our parents keeping our children, and we hope they will be up for it again...in another nine years!

There were lots of old beautiful churches in Charelston. Its nickname is the Holy City, but I think plenty of small towns in Mississippi have more churches. But they aren't this pretty.

 

Oaks line the path up to Boone Plantation. This tree-lined entry has been used in movies, most notably The Patriot and The Notebook. The original owner's son planted these in the 1700s. I told David it's a shame he never got to see how beautiful they turned out.

We took this picture for Benton, who has a book about an old red tractor named Otis who is replaced by a big green tractor.

This was a slave street at Boone Plantation. These slave houses were in front of the house instead of the typical placement behind it, presumedly to show off the owner's wealth or skills in building. The houses were made of brick and had details and designs not common for slave houses

This was a good restaurant, SNOB. Broad street divides the city, so people either live slightly north of broad (SNOB) or south of broad (SOB). Our tour guide joked it's the only place people like to be called snobs and SOBs.

Battery Park had lots of statues, cannon balls, and cannons. It was a gorgeous park. We decided it is second to the Grove as the prettiest park we have seen.

The houses were beautiful. Charleston has a law that anything older than 75 years can not be torn down. It can be repaired but not replaced. This house is actually wider than most; they mostly are in the one-room wide style that was popular hundreds of years ago

Notice the carriage step on the sidewalk. These were originally built so the ladies would have a step to stand on as they got out of their carriages. Since they are more than 75 years old, they can not be removed.