Charleston

Daniel took (and totally rocked) Step 1 on June 15, so we celebrated with a little trip to Charleston, SC, aka one of my favorite places ever. Since I'm rooting for a residency in the Southeast, I want to show Daniel how awesome the area is every chance I get! We flew from O'Hare to Charlotte on a Thursday and drove down to Charleston from there. I did one of those "it's a really good price but you won't find out the brand/company until after you pay" things on Hotwire and we were partnered up with Hertz. I don't have anything against Hertz, but I was a little disappointed they didn't upgrade our car when they saw how tall Daniel is. We usually reserve a compact because they're the cheapest, and other car companies have done the whole "Well, let me see what else we have available" slick move and gotten us an economy car instead. The Hertz guy offered to upgrade us, but not without paying up. It wasn't a huge deal, but it would've made Daniel more comfortable and (obviously) more likely to pick Emory or UNC for residency.

When we got our car, I called Jordan to ask her about some good radio stations in the area. Turns out she and Jillian were in Charlotte picking up her wedding dress! Daniel was craving Bojangles', so we met up in Waxhaw. It was so great to see them and we stayed a lot longer than we intended to, oops :)

Sisters

Daniel very much enjoyed his biscuits!

We made the drive to Charleston after our stop at Bojangles'. My coworker told me about this website, airbnb.com, where you can rent houses or apartments instead of staying in a hotel. Daniel and I booked this cute place and it was fantastic! On the way down, we stopped in Orangeburg, SC for seriously delicious milkshakes from Cook-Out. It was nice to have a little taste of home!

Can you tell it was a long day for both of us?

We were tired of traveling (why is that? You sit on a plane or in a car and it wipes you out!) so we picked up wings from The Kickin' Chicken and spent the evening cheering on the Spurs in Game 7. Daniel went to bed grumpy because the Heat won, so I wanted to make sure Friday was extra special. We spent the morning at the Confederate Museum, and it was pretty cool. We looked at Civil War-era medical tools (um, no thank you) and also met another visitor who lived in Brookfield for 25 years before moving to NC.

Pregame show and wings

Can we just take a second and admire how picturesque Charleston is? Doesn't it look like Daniel's standing in front of a painting?

After the Museum, we went to lunch at Dave's, a little hole-in-the-wall place that got great reviews on Yelp. We got our food to go and ate at the house while waiting for Dad and Jacob to arrive. When they got there, we turned around and headed out to Fort Sumter. The ferry only goes out to the Fort a few times a day, so we checked out the Clamagore and USS Yorktown in the meantime. We rode over to Fort Sumter and learned about the battles fought and the people involved, I also tried not to think about how much the boat was rocking. We had almost an hour at the Fort, so there was plenty of time to check out all the cool things there.

Lunch from Dave's (it was tastier than it looks)

The Clamagore. If you aren't claustrophobic, 20 minutes in there will do the trick

Hanging out in a fighter jet on the Yorktown, no big deal

Fort Sumter from atop the ferry

Proof that it's a National Monument

A whole bunch of flags

What all the flags mean

After Fort Sumter we drove downtown for dinner. We walked up and down Bay Street before settling on the Noisy Oyster. We sat at a table right by the open windows and people watched while we ate. Daniel and Dad shared a seafood steampot, earning Daniel the #1 son-in-law spot (at the time though, he was still the only son-in-law, but still pretty high accolades coming from my dad). Afterwards, we walked all over Market Street, Meeting Street, and King Street. We checked out the old Citadel, the fire station, and some pretty gardens. Then it got dark and creepy and suddenly everyone was drunk and I was ready to get out of there!

Food from the Noisy Oyster

On Saturday we spent the morning at Folly Beach. Jacob surfed, Dad hiked to the pier and back, Daniel searched for shells, and I (successfully!) worked on my tan. We stopped at Publix on the way back and picked up some frozen pizzas and snacks for lunch, then we watched Sky High and cycled through the bathroom and got ready for the afternoon. We drove to Rainbow Row and took some pictures, then we went to Waterfront Park, home of the giant pineapple fountain! After that we walked down to White Point Garden and decided we wanted ice cream, so we went to the Haagen-Dazs on Market Street. Dad and Jacob left after that, and Daniel and I were tired from walking so much, so we spent the night finishing the Publix snacks and watching Pitch Perfect (Daniel confessed it was much funnier than he thought it would be!).

These aren't that great, I promise it's gorgeous in real life!

Take 1

Take 2

Ladies, he's single

Hazy ice cream afternoon

We left on Sunday morning and made one last stop at Market Street. I bought a spoon for Janey's collection and my very own bottle of Gator Sauce. We also checked out the MUSC campus and I secretly scoped out places to meet up for lunch with Daniel when he matches there!

I was impressed with the communal veggie garden!

Maybe we'll take another picture like this in a couple of years!

Then we drove back through Columbia and stopped at the temple there. Once we made it to Charlotte, we took a quick trip to Crayton Drive and the speedway.

This is exactly what the Raleigh and Minneapolis temples look like too

Our old house

Daniel didn't understand my excitement

We got to the airport super early, so we walked around all the terminals before heading to our gate. I found a Jamba Juice!

Strawberry Surf Rider 4 lyfe

Our flight was fine and our car was parked where we left it and even though we were tired when we got back to Milwaukee, it was a good tired. Luckily I took the next day off, so we were able to sleep in some.

Overall, it was a great trip! If you ever get the chance to go to Charleston, SC, DO IT! It's amazing and wonderful and everyone will want to come visit you. We can't wait to go back!

-Jenn