Babymoon in Charleston

Last weekend, David and I snuck away for a three day getaway to Charleston.  Okay, there was very little sneaking and a lot more squealing out of the parking lot after we'd dropped Audrey off with his parents.  We peeled down the road blaring our music and talking about things we wanted to talk about without being interrupted and not worrying about anyone's bladders but our own.  While I usually dread long drives and don't consider the vacation as having started until we arrive, the five hour drive up and back was actually enjoyable.  We talked, sang, and listened to one whole chapter of a parenting book on CD before deciding we just aren't that those amazing kind of parents and turned on Journey instead.


After only one pit stop for me, we arrived around 2pm and hit the Charleston Market.  The weather was amazing - sunny and warm with a great breeze blowing in off the water.  We walked up and down rows of food, arts, and crafts and split a pretzel while admiring the overpriced souvenirs.  We walked back to our hotel, checked in, and napped until getting dressed for our 5:30 dinner reservations at Magnolia's (yes, 5:30.  It was that or 9:30 and we aren't that cool.)  


When we got to the highly-recommended and well-rated restaurant, we stared at the weird sauces menu and wondered if we'd made a mistake.  You have to understand that David and I are about as far from being cultured foodies as you can get.  Our three favorite types of food are American, Italian, and Mexican.  And we only like the last two types if they're Americanized.  We don't do much seafood, strange sauces stress us out, and even though David has eaten all kinds of cuisine from all over the world, he much prefers a burger to most anything.  So, we selected the least odd courses we could find (pecan crusted flounder for David, filet of beef with pimento cheese sauce for me.)  It was delicious!  I had to give up on my filet of beef before finishing it because their version of "medium-well" was a bit too medium for this preggo momma, but I had plenty to fill me up.  We drove back to the hotel, I exchanged my heels for flats, and we walked back down to the market area.  When it began to sprinkle, we stopped at Kaminksy's Dessert Cafe.  David got a slice of peanut butter pie, I got a piece of chocolate mountain cake with ice cream and a decaf coffee.  Magnolia's couldn't touch that deliciousness.  We did an admirable job of finishing as much as we could and then rolled ourselves back to the hotel.  We were in bed by 8:30, snuggled up, and watched Courageous on iTunes.  Ahhhhh.


I awoke the next morning at 6am (why that always happens when we don't have Audrey, I don't know.) I laid there in the dark feeling Luke move until I couldn't be still anymore and got in the shower at 7am.  We got ready and headed down the street for breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts.  We people-watched and mapped out our day, enjoying the fact that we didn't have to account for specific meal times, planned bathroom stops, nap time, or toys/activities needed in case of boredom or crankiness.  We walked down to a carriage tour company and bought tickets for a horse-drawn tour around the city.  In Charleston, the city assigns each carriage a route as they pull up to a certain intersection.  This eliminates street congestion and traffic jams.  So, we weren't exactly sure where we were going or what we were going to see, but we were excited nonetheless.  We boarded the 14-passenger carriage, driven by a guide named Eric and pulled by a horse named Bill.  We got our assigned route and headed into a more residential area.  I was excited because personal history always fascinates me way more than political, military, or war tales.  We passed by gorgeous old mansions and listened as Eric told us the names and secrets of families that lived there hundreds of years earlier.  We went down by the Battery and waterfront park area before clip-clopping our way back to the stables.  As we neared our last turn, Bill decided he wasn't ready to go home.  He began backing up, rearing up, and twisting and turning.  Just as I began plotting our jump-off point, another guide ran over and grabbed his reigns, trying to get him under control.  Two other employees joined him and once we'd come to an abrupt halt under a tree Bill almost ran us into, Eric decided to ask for a ladder and calmly explained we'd be concluding our ride right there in the middle of the street.  We couldn't have agreed more.  What an exciting end to a fun ride!


After we stopped in a few more stores and purchased our traditional travel Christmas ornament, we walked up to the popular King Street to poke around before settling in at the famous Hyman's Seafood for lunch.  It's full of autographed pictures, plates, and table markers of all the celebrities that have dined there.  The generous portions were tasty (crab cakes for me, shrimp and grits, fried shrimp, and fried flounder for David) and the hush puppies were definitely among the best I've ever had.  Once again, we rolled ourselves out the door and mustered the energy to make it up to our room for a nap.  When we woke up, we drove down to the Battery and waterfront park we'd seen from a distance on our earlier tour.  The wind was incredibly strong as we walked all around that area, along the water down to Rainbow Row (a famous row of beautiful, colorful old houses), over to another park, and back.  I don't know how many miles we logged that day and the previous one, but it had to have been at least half a cake slice worth.  Of course, when I say "walked", I mean meandered.  Eight month pregnant women hardly walk themselves anywhere.


We took a scenic drive back to the hotel and changed clothes before heading out to a local pizza spot back on King Street.  We paid a ridiculous fee for parking (I was SO done walking for the day) and found the quaint little Monza Pizza Restaurant.  We ordered off the race-themed menu and watched the rain begin to fall from our cozy corner table by the window.  Sticking with our usual stuff-yourself-silly vacation MO, we paid the bill, grabbed the umbrella and walked 1/2 mile down to a local frozen yogurt shop we'd heard about (okay, so I thought I was done walking.  Aren't you supposed to start an exercise regimen late in your pregnancy?  Surely that's what they recommend...)  Anyway, we enjoyed our yogurt despite being very wet and chilly.  When David offered to go get the car and come pick me up, it didn't even bother me that he probably did so because he knew it was the only way we'd get back to the hotel before midnight.  Uncomfy shoes + being very pregnant + lots of rain = a very dangerous and slow person to try and share an umbrella with.  I gladly accepted and waited while he hiked back in the rain.  Once again, we were in bed early and selected Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant's Charade to watch.  Adorable little movie.  


On Sunday, I slept in until a very late 7:15am and we showered and packed up.  We drove over to another local eatery (SO proud of us for all these wild and crazy food adventures!) called Hominy Grill.  This place had been featured on several Food Network shows and we were dying to try their breakfast menu.  The service was great and the place was cute, but it just wasn't for our taste buds.  The biscuit and gravy I ordered was not your typical southern style.  It had peppers and oddly flavored sausage in it that was good, but just not what I like. David felt the same way about his "Nasty Biscuit" (I'm not sure who is the bigger fool - the person that named a menu item that or the person who ordered it. :) )  We paid and started the drive home in dry but very foggy weather.  


On the way back, we stopped at the outlet mall in Commerce.  Audrey racked up on winter clearance stuff, Luke racked up on adorable "I-still-can't-believe-we're-having-a-boy-and-look-at-all-this-blue" stuff, and David got two shirts and some socks.  I got reminded that I cannot wait to start wearing regular clothes again.  


Three hours and plenty more walking later, we left for our Cracker Barrel meeting point.  We got there early and sat by the warm fire playing checkers until his parents and our Baby Girl came in.  Immediately I fell back into momma routine and took her to the bathroom, helped her with her dinner, and reminded her of her manners.  She had come down with a cold over the weekend, so while David and I felt relaxed and refreshed, the three of them were tired for sure!  We threw all of her gear and suitcase into the van and drove home, so happy to have gone and so happy to be back.  


We had a wonderful trip and greatly appreciate David's parents taking care of Audrey so we were able to take that time for ourselves.  Assuming I'm able to and decide to nurse Luke as long as I did Audrey, it'll be at least a year before we do anything like that just the two of us again.  It was great to have a "last hoorah" before our upcoming hooray. ;)


Be sure to check out pictures in the gallery!