Our First Babymoon

This year marks 10 years that Mark and I have been married.  (Okay, I was going to put 10 years that he's put up with me in the same house under the same roof...but it's more romantic to say it the other way).  Given that on our actual anniversary I'm going to be right smack in the middle of third trimester uncomfortableness (and that is a word), we decided to plan a trip a little ahead of our anniversary. 

We threw around different places to go all the way from the Grand Canyon to New York City.  And then, one day, I realized, we'd both never been to Charleston which is practically in our backyard (okay about three hours from our backyard but that's pretty close compared to where we were looking).  We started looking at places to stay in Charleston and crept upon a pretty little inn with a sweet romance package...called a Babymoon Package.  It was a great deal on a room which included a spa gift certificate and a gift certificate to a restaurant.  We were pysched!  After arranging childcare we made reservations and set the date.

And it happened this month!  We had a wonderful time and this was the first time, since having children, we've taken a trip and not had to do anything!  So, the next few days, get ready to visit Charleston with us (briefly, you really have to go to get the full experience).

We stayed at the Andrew Pinckney Inn.  This is the main building and the rest of the hotel is across the street.  The room was beautiful.  A bit small...and my only other complaint (besides getting a call from what I can only imagine was the front desk, the first night at 3 in the morning), was that we were put on a streetside room.  Not too big a deal.  The noise outside died down about the time we headed to bed.  However, the street sweepers came by both nights twice around 5 in the morning.  Not ideal for a couple who is on their Babymoon trip.  So, if you are pregnant and want to get in on this deal, request an inside room!  Oh, and don't drink the beverages served at breakfast.  Something with those machines makes them all taste like metal or rotten or something....but the breakfast was good and served it's purpose for our ventures out that day!

The best thing about where we stayed was that we were about two blocks from Market Street where all the tourists go to experience Charleston.  We were also within walking distance to a ton of restaurants.  We pretty much kept the car (or truck...we had to borrow Mark's dad's truck...long story) parked except for two outings.

Mark took a picture of a front door.  Well, it's two front doors on one house.  We took a carriage ride (highly recommended to learn more about Charleston and to look at the beautiful houses) and our guide told us why most of the houses have these doors to the porch.  They're called "hospitality" doors.  If they are open, it means the homeowners are open to receiving guests.  Closed means "get lost."  Either way, we thought they were unusual and beautiful.

St. John the Baptist Catholic Church that they started building in the 1800s and finished just this year!  The reason being that they just added the beautiful metalwork steeple to it this year.  This is just one example of the beautiful eccentric buildings that can be seen all around Charleston.

One day, we ate our breakfast (at the inn) on top of the "roof."  Which is really a little terrace balcony on the top floor.  It was beautiful and romantic.  This is a view from the breakfast area (and also the only shot of both of us together).  I was hoping she would be able to get the church in the shot...we were at the corner of Church St. and Pinckney St. and there was a beautiful huge steeple that could be seen from the terrace area.