Welcome to Charleston, South Carolina! This city hands down has been my favorite place to visit. From the moment my mom and I drove past the “Welcome to Charleston” sign, I felt a sense of comfort and happiness. South Carolina is known to be one of the friendliest and happiest of towns and now I understand why! Its beauty and charm is breathtaking! As I edited these photographs, I kept falling in love over and over again!

Our beautiful hotel the Francis Marion, is one of the tallest buildings in Charleston. Established in 1924, its named for General Francis Marion, also known as the “Swamp Fox” of the American Revolution. This hotel was beautiful, elegant and charming. When choosing hotels for this vacation, I wanted to pick ones that would give us the full experience of the cities we were staying. This one was perfect, it had been fully refurbished without it losing its historic ambiance.

The room was a decent size, but the bathroom was super tiny. We didn’t expect a huge bathroom in a hotel built in the 1920s, so this wasn’t a big deal for us. The beds were super comfortable and the hotel was very clean. Overall, I would defiantly stay at the Francis Marion again! Later on in the blog I have more photographs of the hotel.

We arrived at our hotel around dinner time. After checking in, we got ready and decided to walk along the streets to find some place to eat. My mom and I were starving by this point and chose the first restaurant we saw. It was called Halls Chophouse and boy did we hit the jackpot on that pick! Little did we know when we walked in, but Halls is the #1 rated restaurant in Charleston according to tripadvisor.com. It was an incredible dinner! The entire experience at Halls was the perfect start to our vacation! The staff, service and food were all five stars! I ordered the filet mignon which ended up being the best filet i’ve ever tasted! It was cooked perfect and was melt in your mouth buttery goodness. I still haven’t stopped thinking about that steak. My mom wanted the full charleston experience, so she ordered the shrimp and grits, which she loved! She also ordered a side of the broccolini that was to die for. Yes, Stacey Elaine, who hates vegetables, tried the broccolini and LOVED it! The broccolini was doused in a garlic, butter sauce which was delicious. This restaurant is a must try if you ever visit Charleston! The owner came by our table a few times to check and make sure everything was perfect, he even hugged us goodbye! I’m telling you, the people there are so friendly and nice, you feel like you are family! I wish I had gotten a picture of the restaurant and the food. The restaurant was super dark and a fire broke out in the building across the street so I didn’t get a chance to snap a photo. Overall a great first night in Charleston!

The next morning we got up early and went out to explore beautiful downtown historic Charleston!

For lunch, we stopped for a quick bite at this restaurant called “Kickin Chicken.” It was located right on one of Charleston’s main streets downtown called King Street. The chicken was very good, it reminded me of the fast food place Chick-fil-A.

All along the streets of Charleston between the buildings, you see these alleyways that lead to apartments up above. I thought they would make for some awesome interesting artistic photographs, you don’t see these here in South Florida. Well, at least not historic cool looking ones. 

Almost every building I saw while walking the streets caught my eye, I became trigger happy with my camera. The old southern style architecture is just beautiful.

After a few hours of walking around Charleston, our feet were killing us, so we decided to take a carriage tour. This was a great way to see Charleston and learn about some of its history from our tour guide!

After our carriage tour, we wanted to go check out what the locals call “Battery Park.” We hopped on a bicycle taxi and headed for the battery!

They call this street above “Rainbow Row” for obvious reasons!

Below begins the photos from White Point Garden, aka Battery Park. This park was so beautiful and relaxing that we spent about three hours here just hanging out. 

I even got my mom to take over the camera so I could be in a few photos! She usually is afraid to even take photos on her iPhone but by the end of this vacation, she got more comfortable with it. Of course, I had to set the camera up with all the settings for her! These locations were too beautiful to not turn into mini photo shoots! Once a model, always a model! 

We then went back to the hotel to shower and change for dinner. 

The above two photos are of the view from our hotel window!

We drove over the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge to Mount Pleasant to have dinner at the “Fish House” restaurant. This restaurant is known to have the most amazing view of the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, Yorktown and the USS Yorktown ship. 

Below are some final photos I took around the Francis Marion Hotel.

If you have never been to Charleston, South Carolina, I highly recommend you consider it for a future vacation. I have truly fallen in love with this beautiful city and I know you will too!

Next stop Raleigh, North Carolina!