CHARLESTON

Daren's brother and sister-in-law live in North Carolina and they LOVE Charleston, SC. They have been there several times. So while we were "in the neighborhood", we met them in Charleston for the day. They were awesome tour guides and we had a great time seeing the city with them.
We started our day with a carriage ride tour of Charleston. I'm a total city girl and when our tour guide got on the carriage to start the tour, I leaned over to Daren and said, "Isn't she supposed to get on the back of the horse? Why is she on the carriage with us?" Well apparently I said this question a little too loud and it was stupid thing to say since everyone laughed because there was no saddle on the horse. Oops!

The tour guide stands in the carriage as we stroll through the town. I'd never seen anything like it!

Charleston is such an old town. It was amazing to see the beautiful homes and churches.

After our carriage tour, Ryan and Melissa took us to a Southern restaurant. We had fried green tomatoes. I had never tasted them before and they are REALLY good. After that amazing appetizer, which I'm sure is only like a 1000+ calorie appetizer, we had fried chicken and this sandwich called a Hot Brown. I have never had a Hot Brown before but let me tell you...it is SO yummy! It is a deep fried thick piece of bread, turkey, bacon, a tomato (the only healthy thing on it) and melted cheese over a cream sauce. I think it was like a million calories. But anything with enough bacon, cream, butter and cheese is delicious!

Since we didn't consume enough calories at lunch, Ryan and Melissa took us to this bakery called Jestine's. I have never been to a more delicious bakery! I couldn't decide what to buy because all of it looked amazing. So...when in Rome...I bought $23 worth of bakery goods AND a Diet Coke. At this point, does a Diet Coke really matter? Anyway, they have the BEST cookies I have EVER had in my entire life there. They also have Coke Cake, which is to die for, and the best coconut cream pie in the world.

With our bellies now totally full, we took a harbor boat 3 miles to Fort Sumter, which was the site of the beginning of the Civil War. It was incredible being there and thinking about the events that took place there.

On the boat back to Charleston, this bridge sits in the bay. It was so beautiful. We also watched dolphins throughout the bay as we sailed back into the harbor.

And saw this really cool barge. I had never seen such a large barge before. I wondered where it came from and what was in those carriers.

I am SO mad that we didn't take a picture of the 4 of us together. We took like a million pictures the entire day but not one of the 4 of us.

Thanks Ryan and Melissa for the fun day. We had a lot of fun seeing you and spending the day together. I just love Ryan and Melissa. When Daren and I first started dating, they were the first members of Daren's family that I met. They both were so kind and I instantly felt loved and accepted into the family because of them. Ryan is more than my husband's brother to me. He is like a brother I never had. Hugs to both of you. We are dying to come back and see you soon!

And a special thanks to this guy for an AWESOME week:

Happy Anniversary to the love of my life! I love spending my life with him. He is the PERFECT person for me and I am so blessed to be his wife!