The Hoffman's: Augusta, Charles Towne Landing, and Mount Pleasant

So.....we are home! I'm happy to be home where I can enjoy the rest of my vacation but I do miss relaxing on the beach reading my books :-) My family had the condo from Saturday to Saturday, however because of Adam's work we couldn't stay that long. So we improvised and left a couple days early and drove halfway Thursday night, and drove into Charleston Friday and spent Friday night there and met up with my family on Saturday.

Now, I'm all for paying for a decent hotel, don't get me wrong; but since these were only stop overs I didn't want to pay too much. So I started checking online. I found quite a few hotels that were ridiculously overpriced. I'm sorry, I can understand some prices and the hotel locations but some were just plain ridiculous. I finally found hotwire. Through them we ended up staying at a Baymont Inn, with free wifi, cable (WAHOOO), and breakfast. The cost? $14. Yeah, that's right, $14. So I talked it over with Adam and read the CUSTOMER reviews (which were all pretty good) so I decided to chance it and book. Here is a pic of our awesome room. Oh did I mention the mini fridge and microwave?

King Size!

Awesome tv and fridge/microwave unit

So the next morning we got up and drove into Charleston, I guess I should say West Charleston? We decided to go over to Charles Towne Landing. This is a park where the original settlement was and they have rebuilt things and brought other items in so that once you enter, what you see is what the English would have seen 400 years ago. They had an animal section with Bison, deer, wild turkeys, etc...There was a replica ship, a crop garden, a plantation home and of course the ever beautiful Live Oaks with Spanish Moss.

Live Oak with Spanish Moss

Small Crop Garden

So after we finished there, it was still a little too early for us to check into our hotel, but we had no desire to go into the city with the girls just yet. So we drove down to Folly Beach and went to see the Morris Island Lighthouse. Very cool history there! The downside is that you can't actually see the lighthouse from just anywhere. Because it is out in the ocean, you have to drive to the end of Folly Beach, park your car, and walk about 1/4 mile to the very tip of the beach where you can have a clear view of the lighthouse. I did not walk the entire way. We couldn't find a good parking spot, so Adam stayed in the van with the girls and A/C and dropped me off so I could go see it and take pics of it. The walk wasn't bad at all, very easy in fact. It was H.O.T.! So after I walked about 2/3 of the way and got the view of it that I had I decided to go ahead and get some shots. I didn't want Adam to run into any trouble, plus I didn't want the girls to get cranky and he would have to deal with them.

Morris Island Lighthouse

So at that point, we decided it was time to go to the hotel and just order some pizza and chill out. We had had fun, but were hot and tired and ready to just lay down for a while! We stayed a nice hotel in North Charleston. I got a great rate through hotwire again, but since it wasn't as great of a deal as the $14 room, I'm not going to go too much into it. We had had planned to go into Charleston Saturday morning, get a quick bite to eat, then head over to Boone Hall Plantation which is in Mount Pleasant on our way to Isle of Palms. To our surprise Gran and Granddad were almost to Charleston! So we 'scratched' our plans and got a late start into the city, walked around Market Street for a while, then we met Mom and Dad at a place called Fleet's Landing. WOW. Great food! It looks like a little dump, but be rest assured it is excellent food!! After lunch, we went over to Boone Hall with my parents. Boone Hall is probably one of the prettiest places I've ever been too. It is one of the most photographed plantations, and has been used for the location of many different tv specials and programs. The Avenue of Oaks is just breathtaking.

They have a butterfly emporium on site as well so we took the girls in there and let them play with the butterflies, then walked around the grounds some, went on an open air carriage tour of the grounds, and had a blast! To end our day, Dad and Adam went on to the condo to check in and unpack. Mom and I took the girls and went to the grocery store to get what we needed. When we got to the condo, guess who pulled in the same time as us? Katie and Dave of course! So those are our first couple days of vacation, enjoy the photos and know that we had a blast!