Spring Break on the Road

There are so many places that Cameron and I want to visit in the world. Heck, there are so many places that we want to visit here in the United States. We both feel that we have done a pretty good job exploring the areas surrounding our home(s) over the years, but with him being in school we weren't satisfied with our efforts to explore the Carolinas. Spring break offered us the perfect opportunity to fix that problem.

During my orientation (remember that Partners had a separate orientation from the students) there was a few slides that addressed weekend trips, getaways, and places to visit while living here. Essentially it boils down to the mountains and the coast. As you may recall, we visited the mountains (Asheville, Blue Ridge Parkway, etc.) for my birthday last year (click here to view that blog post). We did visit the coast with friends over fall break, but it was a quick, quiet trip and we didn't actually explore any of the towns that define the North Carolina coast. Also, we knew we needed to get down to South Carolina while we're so close. Combine those desires with our recent membership to AAA and we knew that we could design a killer road trip for spring break.

The first Monday of spring break we packed up the car, grabbed our AAA maps and guidebooks, and set out for the coast. First stop, Wilmington. Wilmington is considered the Hollywood of the east. Many famous TV shows have been filmed there including, Dawson's Creek and One Tree Hill. It also has a very rich history and was the site of the state capital for a short time in the 1700's. We decided to check off two towns at once by staying on the beach in Wrightsville at the Blockade Runner. You could not beat the view:

In Wilmington saw a lot of historic sights, including the U.S.S. North Carolina Battleship:

My dream mixer

That night we decided that there were too many great options for dinner, and since we only had one night in Wilmington, it only made sense to do our own food tour. We started out with appetizers at Caffe Phoenix, wandered toward the river front to have a drink at Caprice Bistro, couldn't stop ourselves from meandering into Kilwins Chocolate shop, needed more food so we went to Deluxe for more appetizers then ended our tour at Front Street Brewery for some house-brewed pints.

The next morning we checked out of our hotel and headed back to Wilmington to hit the sights we didn't have time for on Monday; the Riverwalk and Bellamy Mansion.

After our whirlwind day and a half in Wilmington we headed south toward our next destination, Charleston, SC. Recognizing that half of the fun of a road trip is being on the road, we took the scenic route and drove down to Carolina Beach for lunch at Shuckin' Shack then on to Fort Fisher to catch the car ferry to Southport. Rosie's first time on a ferry!

When we got off the ferry we explored Southport a bit then headed down Route 17. Route 17 follows the coast line of North and South Carolina so there were plenty of opportunities to jump off the main road and explore the little (and big) coastal towns including North Myrtle Beach, Myrtle Beach, Murrell's Inlet, Georgetown, and McClellanville. Route 17 leads all the way to Charleston, but once again we were checking off two places at once by staying just outside of town in Mt. Pleasant.

For Tuesday and Wednesday night we selected an adorable Inn that is anchored by a restaurant called the Old Village Post House. It is a Maverick restaurant and we were familiar with their downtown Charleston sister restaurant, SNOB (Slightly North of Broad), so we figured we couldn't go wrong. We couldn't have been more right. The staff was super friendly and helpful, the food was superb (so superb that we ate dinner there Tues. and then had appetizers there on Wed.), and the location was just right.

We spent the full day Wednesday and Thursday exploring historic Charleston starting with a quick visit to the Gibbes Art Museum followed by an amazing lunch at Husk. I could write a whole blog post about Husk, but you can read all about how wonderful it is online or in the New York Times, or Bon Appetit, or... you get the point. We shared a couple of appetizers including the BBQ pig ear lettuce wraps and a classic southern dish, fried green tomatoes with pimento cheese dip. YUM!

After lunch we were ready to explore, and I can't recommend the AAA guidebooks enough when it came to navigating this magnificent city. There were tours-galore from horse-drawn carriages to Segways, but, our guidebook had two self-guided walking tours that were wonderful. We went at our own pace, read the facts about each sight, and were generally satisfied and felt as though we saw everything we wanted to see. Plus, that meant we had extra money in our pockets for all of the wonderful restaurants that friends and colleagues had recommended. 

By four o'clock on Wednesday we were ready for our second self-guided food tour of the trip. This time we were determined to take advantage of the happy hour specials that the bars and restaurants along East Bay Street offer. We started out at Pearlz Oyster Bar for, you guessed it, oysters, then headed to Social where they had ridiculous $3 happy hour food and drink specials. Next we had to hit up a highly recommended bar, named after my favorite spirit, The Gin Joint. Finally, we wanted to catch the sunset so we headed to The Library Rooftop Bar at The Vendue Inn.

Oyster shooter, there's a first time for everything...

Despite our marathon day Wednesday, we drove back to Mt. Pleasant determined to continue exploring. We were staying in the Old Village so we checked that off of the list, but there was also a riverfront area with a couple of restaurants that we thought we should check out. We ended up at Red's for a low country boil (not the best I've ever had) and mason jars with mystery punch. It was a fun place, and we could easily see how it would be a party-scene in the summertime, but the food was nothing special. Hence, our return to the restaurant at our Inn on Wednesday night.

Thursday we awoke early, checked out of our Inn, grabbed lunch from the local bakery and headed to the beach on Isle of Palms.

When we were finished with our lunch we went to the Boone Hall Plantation. Boone Hall Plantation is best known for its row of 200+ year-old oaks leading up to the house. Many movies and television shows were (and continue to be) filmed here including scenes from The Notebook, North and South, and Army Wives.

After exploring Boone Hall we went back to Charleston to continue exploring. When we planned our road trip we weren't sure where we would stay Thursday night. We didn't know whether we would need more time in Charleston or if we would drive off to explore somewhere else. People that have been to Charleston are probably reading that and thinking, of course you had to stay in Charleston longer. And we did. A quick call to our AAA agent and we had a lovely historic Inn booked for Thursday night that was walking distance to a couple of downtown restaurants that we had yet to dine at.

Prior to dinner we happily stumbled upon The Cocktail Club. It was on the second floor of a historic building and they were mixing up prohibition era craft cocktails. We love stumbling on new places like that! Generally there are only 3 meals in a day, but Cameron and I try to pack as many meals into a day as we can. So Thursdays dining included The MacIntosh, which is Charleston's hottest new restaurant and Fig. We probably should have switched the order, but the reservations were tight. We enjoyed both places, but The MacIntosh stole the show.

Friday we had two more Charleston sights to see and one more place we had to eat at before we left town; The Battery, Calhoun Mansion and Hominy Grill.

Bill Neal's Shrimp and Grits

The last leg of our trip was somewhat uneventful. We drove through Charlotte on our way home and spent the night downtown hoping to explore one more city. Whether it was a lack of energy or a lack of sights, we basically ate dinner, got a good night's sleep and then hit the road early Saturday morning.

What a trip!