I Heart Charleston (Part 1)

I know this was supposed to be a Thursday 13, but it just didn’t work out that way. Plus, I have more than 13 things that I heart about Charleston. So here's why...

1. Our inns
We stayed at 3 different places during our trip: Vendue Inn, Harbourview Inn, and The Battery Carriage House Inn. My favorite of the three was the Vendue Inn.  For the price, I thought the room was the nicest and they had the best (complimentary and hot!) breakfast.  I loved how all of the inns served wine and cheese just before dinner and fresh baked cookies and milk before bed!

2. The food
The food down there was divine! Granted, it was probably also cooked in a vat of butter, but it was worth the calories. The grits were on a whole other level than what I'm used to up here in the north. I ordered grits with almost every single meal. I also tried my very first fried green tomato!

3. The oysters
I suppose this could fall under the food category, but they were so good they deserve a category of their own. Stonewall and I ate them almost every night. We ate them raw. We ate them fried. Stonewall even ate them in an oyster shooter.

4. Poogan's Porch
This, once again, goes into the food category. What can I say? I fell in love with southern food. Poogan's Porch is a restaurant and my favorite that we ate at. The food was delish and the prices were reasonable. We ate there twice; once for brunch and again for lunch. Poogan was a dog back in the 70s that used to sit on the porch and bark at everyone that would walk by.

5. The alleys
The alleys were prettier than most main roads. Many of them had old cobblestones with vines covering the stonewalls of the surrounding houses. Sometimes there were even trees that formed archways over the alleys.

6. The Pineapple Fountain
There was a pineapple fountain outside of our hotel that was so pretty. The neatest thing was that you could wade in the fountain! There was another fountain that was like a giant sprinkler and every day, all day, moms and babysitters would bring their kids in their bathing suits to play in it.

7. The houses
The houses down there are gorgeous!  The porches, the colors, the architecture...everything about them is pure loveliness.  Some of my favorites are the ones located on Rainbow Row.  Can you guess why it's called Rainbow Row?
 

Sorry, I'm breaking this into 2 parts.  I wanted to do it all in one post, but editing the pictures and loading them through blogger is taking forever!  Next week I'll let you know the rest of the reasons why...