Southern State of Mind

Now on to our first full day in Charleston! We woke up Saturday and headed to Isle of Palms beach, it was close to our hotel, so we thought we would start our day with a walk on the beach.

Our pathway to the beach

Isle of Palms beach

Check out the sand dunes and the long grass on the right side, so cool!

Fishing Pier, where John and Savannah meet for the first time in the movie "Dear John"

After the beach we drove back into downtown Charleston. This is High Cotton, it's a restaurant that was used in the movie, "The Notebook." You see it when Noah sees Allie in town with Von. They are supposed to have a great Sunday brunch, but sadly we didn't get to try it. Maybe next time. :)

East Bay Street, very charming.

Charleston City Market, was a really neat outdoor market. They sold all kinds of things in here from baskets, clothing, and food. It was fun to walk through and browse.

This is St. Matthew's Lutheran Church. It was beautiful, and you could see the steeple from anywhere in Charleston.

Here is Jimmy, the horse that took us on our carriage tour. This tour was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. I loved that it was with a horse and carriage and it was so interesting learning the history of this beautiful city. I learned the pineapple story on this trip as well as where the name for hush puppies came from. I think the hush puppies was my favorite!

These porches are classic Charleston. The skinny part of the house faced the street, and the door on the front leads to the porch.

We saw so many beautiful houses on the tour.

Another side porch

This is the other side of the outdoor market

During our tour, one of the other tourists asked our tour guide where the cupcake shop was. (Did we go on the right tour or what?!?) So, after he told us I was pretty sure we needed to go check it out! On our way walking to the cupcake store we saw this movie theater, which I was super excited about because (once again) it was used in "The Notebook." This is the movie theater where Noah and Allie have their first date.

We found the cupcakes! I loved how they stored all their sprinkles in mason jars. Such a sweet southern touch. Bryan got a chocolate cupcake with cheesecake baked in and I got a chocolate cake pop. They were both delicious, and definitely worth the long walk over there.

After we filled up on cupcakes, we walked back to our car and headed south! Here is my cute chauffeur.

As we crossed over the river into Georgia we saw this cute sign. Savannah is really close to the border so right as we passed over the border we were pretty much in Savannah.

Once we got checked in we decided to check out the town. So we walked to Vinnie Van GoGo's Pizzeria. We sat out on the patio and had the most delicious pizza ever!! Bryan said it's the best pizza he ever had. We were big fans. It was the perfect way to end the day.

I have to share this song by Darius Rucker (formerly of Hootie and the Blowfish) called "Southern State of Mind." It was our soundtrack for our trip, and it's from his album called, Charleston, SC 1966, so we thought it was perfect.

"I could be anywhere, but in my heart I'm always there

Where they drink sweet tea and they raise you to be polite

No changin' who I am, that's the way I've always been

No matter what state I'm in, I'm in a southern state of mind."

More to come soon. :)