I would have never guessed that Savannah & Charleston were considered “rival sister cities”. I’ve always heard how amazing these two cities were and really they aren’t that far away from Virginia! Why not take a road trip down south and explore? Since Kyle and my adventure out on the west coast earlier this year, we started marking our calendar for this new and exciting tour! We want to take advantage of our young lives and travel before things settle in the future. 🙂 In fact, I am taking all of July off next year to hopefully venture through Europe! Crossing fingers this will happen!!! Kyle and I have been talking about it for over a year now … so time to start saving! Anyways, I want to take this blog post today to share some photos and experiences with you all. I cannot tell you how much FUN it was to travel down to Charleston & Savannah to see/tour GORGEOUS plantations as well as the beautiful cities! I’m convinced I need to go back down there for a session or wedding because I was so tempted to pull people off to the side for photos … now I’m regretting not doing that because there were so many gorgeous spots with the light hitting the spanish moss … next time. 😉 At least now I have ventured around to see some ideal portrait spots!
Day 1: DRIVING
We spent the day driving down south. Left a little later than we anticipated, but we just went with the flow. We drove straight to Savannah to get the big part of the drive out of the way. It was about 9.5 hours of driving! Of course though, the drive is fun when you have someone you enjoy, otherwise, I would not advise this drive is for you … or just find a better driving partner. 😉 We landed at the SpringHill Suites by Marriot Savannah in the Historic District, downtown. It was the PERFECT place to stay because I felt as if we were centered around everything! The River Street was just a few blocks away and Forsyth Park/Victorian District was a few blocks the other direction … so it definitely worked to our advantage and we walked A LOT. Okay, maybe it wasn’t just a “few blocks”, but it was close enough! We spent the first night refueling for day 2!
Day 2: SAVANNAH ADVENTURING
This day, we were off to explore Savannah in the daylight! I was in awe to see the abundance of spanish moss draping over the tree limbs. I loved walking through all of the squares the city has organized from one block to the next, giving them not only a little park, but making the city greener. We really enjoyed that when walking around! The one thing I did not enjoy when walking around was the HEAT. Oh goodness … I’m definitely not accustomed to their heat. Of course though, Kyle and I went in August so of course we should expect this! Here are some things we saw when walking around and venturing!
One of the oldest churches around!
World War II Memorial
Those trees … Can I just take them home for portraits?
Well, I’m not going to lie … it was HOT out. We decided it was time to cool off and venture to one place my friend, Krysta, advised going to! The Rocks on the Roof was perfect and it gave us time to relax and have a mimosa … or two … or three. 😉
The view from the rooftop. We watched HUGE ships come into port. Obviously, this little ship below was not one I considered “huge” … just for the record. 😉
Now … THIS is a big boat!
[IPhone Photo Quality]
We then decided to drive out of the main part of the city to explore around. First, we drove to Tybee Island! We were planning to go to the beach there and I was expecting the beach to be remote and classy … it was not at all what I was hoping and expecting. It was busy, commercialized a little bit more than I had pictured and definitely not worth it. At least we drove there to check it out! Outerbanks is much better than Tybee Island in my opinion. So instead, we drove to one of the most famous cemeteries, Bonaventure Cemetery! I never pictured going to a cemetery on vacation, but it was actually beautiful!!! They consider this cemetery to be super haunted and the style is Southern Gothic. I cannot imagine how many bodies are buried in this cemetery, but I do know it is HUGE as it is over 150 acres!
Naturally, I wanted to stop to get a photo of us with the spanish moss! No wonder it is so beautiful in photos! As I got close up to one of the plants, the texture captures so much light.
After adventuring around in the heat, we were exhausted. We took a shower and got ready for our reservation at Vic’s on the River! The food was amazingggg and I finally had my chance to eat shrimp and grits! Afterwards, we decided to take on a nighttime adventure around the city! After all, it is considered THE most haunted city in the country! We signed up through the Sixth Sense Savannah Ghost Tour and arrived at our meeting spot at 9:30 p.m. for a two hour tour.
This building below is Savannah’s old hospital. It has been abandoned for years and now they are renovating it to be the new Law School! Lol! I would be scared off and go to a different law school! 😉
[IPhone Quality]
By the time we got out of the ghost tour, it was 11:30 p.m. and since it was our last night … why not venture downtown to get some ice cream?! Fortunately, the famous Leopolds Ice Cream Parlor was open until midnight and we scored with some amazing ice cream! Definitely try it when you’re down there!
Day 3: SAVANNAH, BEAUFORT & HUNTING BEACH
This was our last day to adventure around Savannah. The time went by WAY too fast! We had plans to stop by other famous places before departing. One regret we had was missing out on Zunzi’s! They have the most famous sandwiches and advised to call ahead your order. We totally forgot … but next time!!! 🙂 We started out our morning by going out to breakfast at Goose Feathers Cafe in the Historic District before checking out of our hotel. Ohhhhhh it was AMAZING!!!! I highly recommend this place for breakfast! Kyle and I had the Eggs Benedict on a croissant. VERY good! After an amazing start to the morning, we drove around the city to explore some more. We saw amazing and gorgeous victorian homes and stopped to walk around Forsyth Park.
Gorgeous fountain at Forsyth Park!
Anyone know of the book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil? The book and movie is based off of this home, known as the Mercer Williams House. It is also “haunted” and was a part of our ghost tour the evening prior! It is currently a museum that you can walk around and see beautiful pieces of artwork inside.
The home is known as the house on 432 Abercorn Street. Seeing in the dark was scary … but even in daylight there is something creepy about it! In fact, this place has been abandoned for over 60 years. This space sits in the middle of the city in a very wealthy neighborhood. I’m not kidding … like their next door neighbors home has to be worth well over 1 million. Kind of strange that this would be abandoned for SO long!!! This window shown below is known as the window where you are most likely to see a “shadow man”. Don’t even ask… go down to Savannah to take a ghost tour yourself to experience this haunted house!
We then departed Savannah and headed out to Beaufort! It’s a very cute and quaint town! I believe I unfortunately left my camera in the car … gasp! What kind of photographer am I?! 😉 We stopped to walk around, eat lunch at Plumbs (amazing sandwiches) and AMAZINGGGGGG ice cream at Sweets & Java! After eating too much, we left for hunting beach! This is where we would camp out during our stay in between Savannah & Charleston for two nights! And it was ON the beach!!! So awesome!!! I finally was able to pull out my book and start reading Dave Ramsey financial guidance. I’ve never felt like I’ve been in control of my money in the past. I’m really good about saving, but then what? After reading his book, I immediately started planning and budgeting so I can really take control of my money! It’s a great feeling! If you are in debt at all, I HIGHLY recommend this book to you!
I didn’t take my big camera out on the beach when having some “relaxing time”, but an IPhone will do! Don’t you love how remote the beach is?! My kind of beach!!!
Day 4: HUNTING BEACH
This was definitely a relaxing time … basically, we were beach bums almost the entire day. Reading and cooking out was basically the day! Played some board games too … oh yes, we are nerds together and I don’t care. 😉 One thing I will note … BRING INSECT REPELLENT!!!! I am prone to mosquito bites. They were sooooo bad and I walked away covered in bites! The first night, I had to buy repellent because the one I brought was not working. You’ll thank me later! That evening, the weather man was saying that thunderstorms were going to roll in. Made me a little nervous camping out … but fortunately for us, the storms went right by us! So naturally, I have never photographed a thunderstorm before and wanted to try it out! I pulled out my tripod and set it up for some shots before heading in for the night.
DAY 5: HUNTING BEACH, EDISTO BEACH & MIDDLETON PLACE PLANTATION
Doesn’t it feel like this road trip is already going by way too fast?! It felt like we were only down there for two days … time sometimes needs to pause! We started out our morning by walking along the beach during sunrise to find some sea shells … I found my very first ever sand dollar!!!! All in one piece!!! And then I broke it… 🙁 Haha! Kyle fortunately found TWO sand dollars so now he can share one. 😉
These trees are amazing! During high tide, they sit in the water, but low tide … you can see the roots sitting on top of the sand. Absolutely amazing! I’ve never seen anything like this before!!!
Not just one but many more!!!
It was then time to head out from Hunting Beach to Charleston! We stopped in Edisto Beach on our way up, but one of the plantations we wanted to visit was closed. 🙁 Oh well! Cute town though! Funny to see how many churches there were in such a small place! I’m not kidding … we probably saw over 10 on one road! We finally arrived at Middleton Place Inn, where we would stay for the remainder of our trip in Charleston! Fortunately for this amazing place, we had free admission to the plantation! We walked around and took photos of the beautiful place and gardens.
That moss. Gah!
The original house … burnt down by the Union.
I think Kyle and I have a thing for trees!
Oh my gosh … this set up with the sun lighting, moss, greenery … I HAD to take a photo!!!
The church on the property. So cute!
Look at the babies!
Because we were exhausted, we just had an easy night in and ordered Pizza. Clearly, we were super healthy on this trip! 😉
DAY 6: MAGNOLIA PLANTATION & CHARLESTON
This day, we spent our time touring around the amazing Magnolia Plantation! As you will see below, I was obsessed with the bridges they had around the plantation! Absolutely beautiful set up! After our amazing time at the plantation, we drove and walked around Charleston and ended with an amazing dinner downtown!!!
This is the beautiful Magnolia Plantation!
One of MANY bridge photos!
Love the plants cascading off the side of this one!
These weird nubs sticking out of the ground are actually the roots from these Cypress trees! Their water is known to be black because of the tannic acids in the wood. Interesting fact!!!
Trees in the water remind me so much of The Notebook!
We definitely ran through this garden maze! It was hot so we definitely didn’t want to be in there too long! Haha!
They had a little farm with of course Bambi and Thumper!!! 🙂
Yay! I can never ever ever shoot a deer after this experience! SO cute!!!
Night out for dinner at the Swamp Fox … AMAZING fried green tomatoes!!!!! I was excited that Kyle had the chance to wear his new bow tie I gave him for his birthday! 🙂 It was a learning experience how to tie a bow tie, but I think I now know!!! He looked SHARP!
Day 7: BOONE HALL PLANTATION, CHARLESTON & HOMEWARD BOUND
Well, this trip was AMAZING and it was finally time to make our last round before heading home! We checked out of our hotel and drove to Mount Pleasant to visit the FAMOUS Boone Hall Plantation! This is the exact place where they filmed a part of The Notebook. What a girls dream to see this in person, right?! 🙂 After touring around the plantation and inside the amazing home, we headed back to Charleston for lunch and one last tour around before taking off for our 7.5 hour drive.
We arrived at Boone Hall Plantation. This DRIVEWAY. HOLY COW. Can I please have this one day?!
The GORGEOUS Boone Hall Plantation! This was Allie’s parents house from The Notebook if you happen to recognize it!!! I was in a dream! 🙂 Apparently, Ryan Reynolds was recently married here!
Amazing gardens!
I have an obsession with butterflies ever since I was little and was THRILLED to hear that Boone Hall Plantation had a butterfly observatory! This place was meant to be! 🙂
Amazing tree!!!
The “slave street”. This is considered the oldest, most original slave street in America left standing!
BYE CHARLESTON!!!!! 🙁
Cannot wait to go back!!! HIGHLY recommend driving down there! Loved every minute of this trip!
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