Thursday, January 3, 2019

Southern Charm in Downtown Charleston

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Hey y'all! If you follow me over on Instagram, then you know that we did some adventuring in downtown Charleston last Friday and earlier this week. My husband and I got away on our own for a day date and then we had to take the girls back because they wanted to see some of the same things that we got to see. My father-in-law lives less than 45 minutes from downtown Charleston so we love to go explore the area when we are visiting him. Most of our adventures on these two trips to downtown Charleston were cost free. Yes, you can go to downtown Charleston, spend a few hours, and spend very little money. I am a super budget conscious person so before we go anywhere, I always Google things to do in the area that are free or low cost. I can almost always find a great comprehensive list of free/cheap things to do in pretty much any city! You can totally travel and experience new things on a small budget. 

W A T E R F R O N T  P A R K
We always park in a public parking garage close to Waterfront Park. It's so much easier than worrying about the metered parking on the street and it's pretty inexpensive. It's a dollar per half hour. During both visits, we went to Waterfront Park first to see the fountains and walk on the pier. There's even swings on the pier to enjoy. My kids loved this area and didn't want to leave! It was super foggy when we took the girls there and we couldn't even see the giant Carnival Cruise ship that was parked right by the pier until we got really close to it. It's such a fun area to take children... and it's free! We are planning to bring the girls back during the summertime to play in the fountains.

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north carolina blogger, what to do in charleston, charleston sc, budget friendly travel, charleston travel guide

S O U T H E R N  C H A R M
You don't have to look very hard to find all of the Southern charm that Charleston has to offer. Just simply look around and you'll see it! We start our adventures to check out the amazing architecture and historical stops on Rainbow Row (check out this link for more about this area; such great information for your own free, self-guided tour). Since we were being budget conscious, we did our own walking tour but can get guided tours in a horse drawn carriage! We plan to come back and do that on when the weather is better (it was super cloudy and foggy during our visits). They also have ghost tours as well and we did one of those awhile back.

You can tell by the photos below that I loved the pink buildings! The flower boxes were gorgeous and I love all of the intricate details of the homes. So beautiful! Charlestons has so much Southern charm!

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north carolina blogger, what to do in charleston, charleston sc, budget friendly travel, charleston travel guide

north carolina blogger, what to do in charleston, charleston sc, budget friendly travel, charleston travel guide

north carolina blogger, what to do in charleston, charleston sc, budget friendly travel, charleston travel guide

north carolina blogger, what to do in charleston, charleston sc, budget friendly travel, charleston travel guide

north carolina blogger, what to do in charleston, charleston sc, budget friendly travel, charleston travel guide

north carolina blogger, what to do in charleston, charleston sc, budget friendly travel, charleston travel guide

F O O D, D R I N K S, and S H O P P I N G
Our day date did cost a little bit of money because we got drinks and lunch during our visit. But, we are always smart about dining out. We almost always share a plate, especially when we are traveling. Sharing allows us to not get overly full, we don't have to worry about wasting food (I absolutely cannot deal with wasting anything, especially food), and it's so much cheaper! Sometimes, we will get two appetizers instead a regular entree to try different things, especially if it's a restaurant that we have never been to before. 

Our first stop after exploring the historical area, was to get a drink at The Skinny Dip. It was a pretty warm December day and after walking 25 minutes to get there, I was craving frosé! This place was seriously so Instagrammable. There's a store downstairs and upstairs is a coffee and wine bar (plus beer). We loved everything about it! For lunch, we tried a restaurant called The Rarebit on King Street, which was just a few blocks down the street from The Skinny Dip. We found out about this restaurant by chatting with the barista at The Skinny Dip. Asking locals where to go eat, is often how we find the best places! She told us that they are famous for their Moscow Mules so of course, we had to try one (my first ever) and it was delicious! We shared a crab cake sandwich, fries, and a side of mac and cheese. All of our food was amazing and I would definitely recommend The Rarebit!

 As far as shopping goes, I really didn't do any at all, just a little window shopping as we passed by stores. But really, anything you are looking for, you can find it on King Street! So many great stores from Free People to small shops. If you are looking to do some serious shopping (and eating/drinking, Charleston is the place for you.

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north carolina blogger, what to do in charleston, charleston sc, budget friendly travel, charleston travel guide

north carolina blogger, what to do in charleston, charleston sc, budget friendly travel, charleston travel guide

north carolina blogger, what to do in charleston, charleston sc, budget friendly travel, charleston travel guide

north carolina blogger, what to do in charleston, charleston sc, budget friendly travel, charleston travel guide

Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful day!

S H O P  T H  E  P O S T:

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