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fourkids4us

Mtnrd and Sueb, are you still planning trip to Charleston?

fourkids4us
10 years ago

I think you both mentioned a while ago that you were planning trips to that area. Dh and I took our kids over Christmas break and had a fantastic time. I was a bit worried whether our kids would enjoy it as they were hoping for a warm weather/beach getaway, but we just couldn't swing it. To my surprise, they all (14 y/o dd, 13 y/o ds, 10 y/o ds and 8 y/o dd) LOVED it. We had actually planned 3 days in Charleston and 2 days in Savannah, but ended up canceling our reservation in Savannah and stayed in Charleston the whole time.

Highlights of the trip:

Carriage tour around historic Charleston/shopping on Market Street
Evening ghost tour around historic Charleston
day at Middleton Plantation
day trip to Beaufort, Old Sheldon Church ruins and Hunting Island State Park

We also did some other things that they enjoyed - dh took the younger three to the Univ of Charleston vs. Citadel basketball game (our friend is head coach of Charleston) while oldest and I went for lunch and shopped. Dh also took the youngest three golfing one afternoon while dd worked on a research paper and we went to lunch/shopped again. We also toured the Patriot Point Naval and Maritime Museum (USS Yorktown aircraft carrier is there). I wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy that but dh went to the Naval Academy/was officer in Navy so he actually gave us a pretty good tour of what we were seeing on the self-guided tour. Ended up being pretty interesting.

The only thing we all agreed was a waste of time and money was the Fort Sumter tour. I'd actually read mixed reviews about it but we went anyway and wish we hadn't bothered. Perhaps on a nicer day (was cold and windy when we were there) the boat ride itself would be a nice diversion, but for the price, the "tour" was completely a waste of time. We'd have better spent that time just walking around the free museum at the pier that had quite a bit of interesting historic panels and displays.

We stopped at Middleton Plantation (about 30 minutes outside Charleston) on our way home and could have spent an entire day there. It was our worst weather day (cold and rainy) but despite that, very interesting and engaging for the kids. We did several of the guided walking tours, but the kids' favorite place was the stable area. One of the exhibits was a woman making pottery - we were the only ones there, she explained the entire process while she demonstrated making a clay bowl. It was fun to see her creation take shape. All the guides were very informative and kept the kids very engaged. If we hadn't been on our way home (stopping overnight to visit with friends) and if the weather had been better, we could have easily spent the entire day there, though it's worth a half day if that's all that can be spared.

I want to go back alone with dh or my girlfriends for a long weekend - there were other things I wanted to do that I didn't have the chance to. And one of the things I wanted to do with the kids but couldn't b/c it wasn't open when we were there was the Center for Birds of Prey which is outside of Charleston.

If you are still planning to go and have any questions, let me know.

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