I'm back!

Charleston was so, so fabulous. We stayed at a great hotel. It was a couple buildings from the water - not the Battery, which is at the south point of Charleston (where all the massive fancy homes are) but along the eastern part of town. We were in the French Quarter, staying on Vendue Range. I found it funny that one hotel on the street was the Inn at Vendue and another was the Vendue Inn. Confusion much?



It couldn't have been a more perfect spot because we had restaurants within a half-block of us, and the main shopping street wasn't too far, either. Best of all, at the end of our street was Waterfront Park, which had about a bunch of swings and beautiful views.



We hung out there two nights after dinner just enjoying the sea breezes on the swings.



We took a few hours each day to check out the gorgeous old houses along the Battery.





This was my favorite:



It was just massive. Its roof reminded me of variegated yarn (of course):




There was lots of pretty wrought iron. There is one ironworker responsible for about 500 pieces around Charleston - I kept wondering if we were passing by his work.





Josh loved the laptop backpack I got him, I was so glad. He got me "The Office: Season 3," flowers (yet to be delivered!) and bought me yarn at a store in Charleston (yarn pics to come). Such awesome gifts!

Of course the food was amazing. We had great meals everywhere we went. We ate at the Southend Brewery and Smokehouse our first night because it was really close to our hotel. They had a great blonde ale called the Southend Blonde, and we ate smoked chicken wings. They were very different from typical wings but really tasty. It was in this cool building, too:



On our final night there, we went out to a really nice dinner. But first we had drinks at a rooftop bar across the street from our hotel (I wore my ridiculous high heels, I wasn't planning on walking very far, but that would soon change, haha.) The moon was full and we had gorgeous views of the harbor and all the rooftops around Charleston. I wish I had taken some pictures, but it was pretty dark out. Then we walked down Queen Street, this alley-type street with lots of art galleries. We had spotted a place with a great menu on Queen Street the night before but didn't take note of its location. Of course I walked about five blocks in my ridiculous shoes and kept saying "just one more block! Just one more!" We finally found it and we weren't disappointed.



They had lots of little nooks and crannies for dining spots, inside and out. We sat in the courtyard with little lights. And the food was sooooo good. I had (this is a direct quote from the menu) "Sautéed Rock Shrimp,Sea Scallops & Jumbo Lump Crab Meat with Shiitake Mushrooms, Baby Spinach and Sunburst Squash tossed in a Mozzarella Cream with Cilantro-Lime Pappardelle Pasta." It was delicious. Josh had a lemon herb chicken breast with basil pasta and feta cheese. We split a great bottle of wine, a Jekel Riesling. The service was a little slow - it was a Tuesday night and there weren't many tables, but that's no excuse. Anyhow, the food made up for it. I would definitely recommend the place if you want a really nice meal out. One downside of eating outside, my legs are all bit-up and itchy now but it was worth it.

OK that's all I've got on Charleston ... a post on the good stuff - recent stash enhancement - will come later but for now I've got to bake brownies for tonight!