the hawkins family: South Carolina

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Road Trip Day 6: More of Charleston, South Carolina

On our second day in Charleston we planned to play at Folly Beach, but unfortunately it was a rainy day. Oh well! Instead, we lounged in our hotel (we don't have TV/netflix at home, so the girls really enjoyed watching some shows), swam at the pool, shopped at the outlet mall near our hotel, and then found a movie theater that had $3.00 movie tickets... unheard of in New Jersey! So we saw Zootopia and it was great.

Also on Day 2 in Charleston, I was able to check out the Redux Contemporary Art Gallery in downtown Charleston. It was such a treat to visit Blakely Little, Teil Duncan, and Lulie Wallace's art studios, which are all at Redux. These three paintings are Blakely's, from a show currently on display.

The highlight of Redux was talking with Lulie Wallace (one of my very favorite current artists) about her artwork and the challenge of balancing art and motherhood. Her cute little Edy was in the studio with her, just hanging out in her baby carrier. Lulie is an awesome role model at being a devoted mama, but also killing it in the art studio. I felt like I was meeting a celebrity :)

After Redux gallery, we hopped in the car and had a long stretch of driving from Charleston to Richmond, VA.

Road Trip Day 5: Charleston, South Carolina

Day 5 of our road trip was spent in beautiful Charleston, South Carolina. We really wanted to see a plantation while in South Carolina, so our first stop was checking out the McLeod Plantation. (We had planned on visiting the Magnolia Plantation and Gardens - which looks awesome - but we ended up switching to the McLeod Plantation since it was closer to our hotel, cheaper, and smaller grounds for our kids to walk). It was neat to learn about plantation life, to tour the main house, salve quarters, cotton house, and the beautiful grounds.

Maybe it's because we're West Coast natives, but we just couldn't get enough of all the trees and the green!

Josh loved this huge old tree.

One of the slave houses. So tiny and simple.

Their fireplace wasn't quite as grandiose as the ones in the main plantation house.

It was the perfect sunny, warm morning and the kids had such a nice time running around and playing on the grounds. There were hardly any other guests while we were there, so the kids didn't bother anyone.

Tate spent so much time in his carseat and the stroller during our road trip, so he was so happy whenever he got the chance to get out and explore. The plantation grounds were perfect for that.

This is the plantation property that went down to the Ashley River. This plantation was on a part of Charleston called James Island. The Ashley River is what separates James Island from downtown Charleston.

Bryn found a caterpillar and was smitten.

She also found this acorn/nut that had a heart mark. It was a good day for Bryn :)

I don't have many pictures with Josh or I since one of us is usually the one taking the pictures, but Bryn snapped this picture of us.

Lunch was at Boxcar Betty's and it was so, so good. One of our favorite meals of the road trip. Their chicken sandwiches were amazing. They have a yummy peach coleslaw served on top of the chicken and the buns were warm and homemade. Yum.

Tate approved.

What's this? A caterpillar crawling throughout the car!

Bryn had tried to be sneaky and keep the caterpillar in the backseat cupholder of the van. Of course he crawled out of the cupholder and wound up at the front of the car. She was scolded, but Josh and I did think it was kind of funny.

In the afternoon we went to downtown Charleston to walk around. We started out at Battery and White Point Gardens, which was a fun park right on the coast with fun canons and monuments.