• Travel & Vacation: Carriage Tour in Charleston, SC

    Our family had the opportunity to go on a Carriage Tour through Charleston one of the weeks we were traveling in that area for work. The tour was packed full of amazing history of Charleston and all of us enjoyed it (including the girls).

    Carriage horse in Charleston

    Brina having fun saying “Hi” to all the horses in the carriage barn

    Karlie relaxing while waiting for our turn to ride the carriage!

    Going on a carriage tour of Charleston.  The girls LOVED riding in the front and watching the horse as well as soaking in all the history of Charleston.  Jake and I went on one of these rides before the girls were born.  It was a lot of fun and we learned more pieces of Charleston’s history!

    Beautiful iron work outside the front doors of one of the local churches.  The history of the many buildings along the ride was really neat.

    The architecture of the churchs and homes was pretty amazing.  I didn’t want to take a bunch of pictures into peoples personal homes so I snapped more of the churches during the tour.

    See the oval sign under the light, it is a “fire insurance” sign.  After the great fires in Charleston if your house had one of these signs that specific fire company would come put out your fire.  Also, many of the Charleston homes have a “privacy” door on their porches as seen in the picture above to allow the families to cool down in privacy on their porches during the warmer months.  It wouldn’t be decent seeing a lady in her “under garments” as she cooled off on the porch therefore privacy doors became a popular addition to the homes.

    Beautiful houses in Charleston.  This house used to by at the waters edge and is now several blocks from the shore!  Charleston used to have “HAVE” and “HAVE NOT” sections of town, this house was in the “have” section. 


    On the left side of the picture you can see a brown brick building through the trees.  After the really devastating fires in Charleston many of the wealthy families built their kitchens and servants quarters in a separate building outside of the home to help prevent fires from engulfing the entire home which also allowed a little extra time for the fire company to arrive and put out the fire.

    Charleston’s old jail house.  Our guide had a lot of “interesting” stories about the old jail house.  Supposedly it is “haunted” and you can take tours during the day or a ghost tour at night through the old jail. 

    Many of the houses in Charleston are visibly leaning due to age and the variety of natural things including settling that have occurred over time.  Also, you’ll notice that a lot of the houses are narrow as you see in this picture.  Not much of a front or side yards with a street on three sides but the house has some history!

    It was beautiful and peaceful touring Charleston on a carriage.  If only I could remember ALL the cool pieces of history our guide shared with us that day!

    Daughters of Confederacy building in downtown Charleston.  This building is near the market area.

    Brina and Karlie saying goodbye, petting, and thanking the horse for the history tour of Charleston.  They really have a soft spot for animals and loved the long ride through Charleston just as much as we did.

    Jake and I were able to “surprise” the girls with this carriage tour.  I was able to get tickets at a discounted rate through Groupon, but the company we received the coupons for refused to accept the reservations because they were too “busy” that day.  Thankfully we were able to get another carriage company to basically accept their competitors coupon otherwise we would have had two very disappointed girls (and Momma). Even though it was a busy time, we had to switch carriage companies, and it was warm we had a BLAST touring the city and learning all the history.

    If you ever go to Charleston this is a wonderful activity to do with your family, just make sure to budget or plan ahead for the tour because without a coupon it could be a little pricey especially for a large family or group.  Even though the carriage rides are open pretty much year round if you are going in the summer and it gets above 94 degrees (or somewhere near that temperature) the carriage companies have to pull the horses off the street because it is too hot for them.  It was a great experience for all of us!

    The “Travel and Vacation” series is an insight into our trips together as a family and ways we relax.  Life is short and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to build memories with family and explore of of the most amazing places during our time away.  Explore with a good attitude, look for fun and it will be an awesome trip jammed packed with positive memories.  It is refreshing having some time away from the regular routine.  Make it a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet new people and learn.  You just might see or try something new that takes your breath away!

  • Travel & Vacation: Great Parks in the Charleston, SC Area

    Cool moving bridge at Center Park

    We found a cute little park on Daniel’s Island, SC with a lot of shade and water fountains (thankfully since it was over 107 and humid that day) only a couple miles down the road from where Jake was working.  This was the most entertaining part on the whole jungle gym!  It was a moving bridge!  You could get on it at one location of the jungle gym and either have someone push you across or you could stand at other side and spin a wheel that pulls you across to the other side of the jungle gym.  The girls (and Mommy) where fascinated by this cool moving bridge and it provided quite a bit of entertainment for all of us!

    Karlie sitting on the wall!

    Karlie thought this wall in the park was awesome!  She would climb up, sit for a few minutes watching everyone and talk anyone nearby then get down.  I think she liked being up higher and over looking the park!

    Brina coming through the blue tunnel at Center Park.

    She thought it was hilarious going through the random tunnels and would giggle when she “caught” me watching at her!  So sneaky!

    Brina saying "hi" to her new friend

    These bubble blowers were such a HUGE hit!  It was so cute seeing Brina just checking out it’s face, it really was a bug friend to her!

    So....when I blew through here bubbles come out?!

    I tried to find these again this year but they must have sold out.  When you blow through the tail of the dragon fly the silver wings spin and a lot of bubbles come out of the dragon fly’s mouth.

    Mommy's about to get blasted with dragonfly bubbles

    This was shortly before a wave of bubbles came my way.  Brina thought it was awesome blowing dragonfly bubbles my direction!

    Karlie on the run at Waterfront Park under the Arthur Ravenel Bridge

    The Waterfront Park under the Arthur Ravenel Bridge is one of our favorite parks to hang out at in Charleston.  It always has shade from the bridge and has very clean restrooms and a cold water fountain.

    Brina playing at Waterfront Park in Mt Pleasant / Charleston, SC

    The Waterfront park is a great place to hang out before going into Downtown Charleston.  You can play in the park, walk on the pier, enjoy ice cream from the snack shop or watch free movies in the evenings during the summer months.

    Sitting on the slide at Waterfront Park

    Brina and Karlie taking a few minutes to cool down and talk while sitting on the slide.  They thought it was such a cool place to sit!

    Karlie relaxing on the boat's railing

    Karlie content to relax for a few moments against the boat’s railing.  This little park is in front of the Information Center for Daniel’s Island right next to a pier.  The girls really liked this park even though it did not have a lot of shade, a restroom or water fountain they still requested to go to this park to walk the pier and “pet” their turtle friends.

    Karlie and Brina driving the little white boat

    The girls thought it was very cool having the boat in the park.

    Hanging out with Daddy on the boat.

    Karlie is laughing at Daddy, while Brina and Daddy look at the camera.  The girls thought this park was so much fun that they had to take Daddy by to check it out too!

    Talking about the boat.

    An inside shot of the boat.  The girls and Daddy were having a fun decision about boats by the time I got their.  Jake had to be melting that day, it was well over 100 degrees and he was in pants and a long sleeved shirt.  Thankfully he was okay going to the “turtle park” to have a picnic with his girls over lunch despite the heat.

    One of the turtles

    They named each turtle and every time we go back they catch on their friends.

    My two little monkeys on top of the jungle gym!

    Karlie and Brina on the top for the jungle gym at a park across from one of the Daniel Island schools.  I was thankful for the higher railings at the top since they one was a good distance up.  They thought it was so funny how little Mommy looked from WAY up high!  It was over 108 degrees that day and no one else was brave enough to play on the jungle gym (or maybe they were smart enough to stay inside).  This park had really nice restaurants but the water fountain was broken.

    Brina bringing their flip-flops over

    This is the Mt. Pleasant Palmetto Islands County Park.  It has a wide area with the rubber padding.  The girls loved playing at this park.  You could also rent paddle boats, go to a Water Park or go on a hike.

    Caught Karlie sneaking down the long slide.

    The girls loved being “big” enough to climb up to the top of the tallest jungle gym and go down the long slide.  It took them several tries to work up enough courage to get up the climbing wall or pole but it was well worth it!

    Spinning in the yellow tire swing.

    The girls liked spinning and spinning in the yellow tire swing.  It made me sick just spinning and watching them after a few minutes.  They thought it was hilarious to jump off and run across the playground after spinning for several minutes!

    Karlie riding on another one of the spinning items at the park.

    She could spin herself but her preference was to have me stand beside her and spin until she said that was good.

    They literally wore out their flip-flops on this Charleston trip.  Since we were staying in a different location we were able to visit several parks and they girls played hard.  We tried to meet Daddy over lunch most days to take him on a picnic to one of the cool parks the girls have discovered, if we didn’t get a chance to go with him over lunch they would insist he check out the parks after dinner in the evening.  The girls were very good despite the heat during our visit to Charleston that week!  Although they would crash by the time we got back to the hotel at night, they were ready to head back out at the break of dawn!  What amazing memories we made during our park explorations in Charleston!  We are already looking forward to our next trip together!