Charleston Part II: Site Seeing and a Flash Mob Wedding

I was actually awoken by Chris (at 9:45am) who was wondering what the heck I was doing. Um...I was out till nearly 3am. I'm old. I'm jetlagged. I'M SLEEPING!! :P

Trisha and I roused ourselves out of bed, quickly showered (futile in this humidity) and headed out to explore Charleston.

We first stopped at a cute little coffee shop just off of King's Street near where we were staying. Just in time to beat the crowd that followed us in the door (we are trend setters), we enjoyed yummy egg sandwiches on a bagel and lattes. Mmm mmm.

From there, we wandered. We wandered through the College of Charleston, which has the historic town as its campus. I was in love. Why didn't I go to school here?! FAIL.

I'm probably making fun of something horrible. :P

Again, Charleston was everything I imagined. It was just SO Southern and relaxed. We meandered through the streets and took in the gorgeous homes. Some were four stories tall! It was unbelievably hot. Sweat poured off of us, but we walked on. I'd like to give a shout out to our Charleston foremothers (let's just be honest and admit that no man thought this far ahead ;)) for all the lovely and shading trees that line the streets and give some relief to the heat.

We came upon this old castle looking building and were just wondering what it could be when a carriage ride tour came by and explained it was a jail! ha! We spent the rest of the afternoon listening in to passing tours. Very useful :) 

Heading down towards the waterfront, the houses got even bigger. We strolled around White Point Garden enjoying the slight breeze. A group of older women asked us the location of "Rainbow Row". Since we had no idea what they were talking about...I whipped out my phone to locate it for them. Rainbow Row is a stretch of colorful town homes facing the water...which I guess is the ocean? I don't know my South Carolina geography. Anyway, we decided to head there too! 

Part of Rainbow Row

I liked her parasol. It seriously JUST occurred to me that this must be a Spanish word. haha!

By this time, we were pretty much dying of thirst having sweated out all the water in our bodies, so we found some water AND were hard sold on some Italian ice. We split a strawberry lemonade and it was divine.

Italian ice in tow...we headed towards the Waterfront Park. It was gloriously shady and peaceful. We sat on a bench to finish our ice and then headed towards the large fountains. Apparently, these fountains are just open for play! How fun! We waded in one and then decided for an adventurous run into another. Some very kind child must have noticed how hot I was and chose to aim the spray of the water directly into my face. Bless him. ;)

Taking back to the streets, we passed by our dinner spot from the night before and continued on to the Charleston Market. The market is a long stretch of open ended buildings filled with stalls of people selling their wares. Much of what we saw was homemade and the booths were occupied by the makers. I bought my dad a ceramic dish for Father's Day and Trisha got her parents some pickled foods.

It was nearly wedding time so we returned to the hotel for another shower (thank goodness there's no drought here).

We met up with everyone in the lobby for some quick photos and then we boarded the rented vans to head out for the ceremony.

Twins

Adorable little family

This was the funniest ceremony I've ever attended. It was seriously just like a flash mob wedding. We all piled out again in Waterfront Park and walked out on to a pier thing and they were like, "is this good?" and everyone kind of gathered around and 7 minutes later...married. Yay! Let's eat!

We piled back into the vans, for which we were very grateful, b/c IT'S HOT...and headed to the restaurant for the reception.

I am constantly taking her picture with no warning. Lol.

There was a nice cocktail time with yummy appetizers followed by a buffet style dinner. Rylee brought along Mancala, which was probably the best part. :) I was obsessed with that game years and years ago, so it was fun to play again!

Old Friends <3

After dinner, everyone headed back to the hotel for a bit. While Chris and Katie went to consummate their marriage (Jk. I think they went to change, but who knows), a bunch of us hung out in our hotel room for a bit. Trisha and I are the cool kids. ;) 

After a bunch of just hanging out around the outside of the hotel, we headed out again to a bar. Mostly we just sat around talking, but Trisha and Berg finally found their pickle juice shots. No thanks for me! Ha. It ended up being another crazy night with lots of great memories...most of which should probably not be documented here. No one really wants their fall into a bush documented in a blog...it wasn't me or Trish. :P It was fun hanging out with old friends and meeting new.

We hit the road early on Sunday morning to head home. On the way out of Charleston, I stopped to see an old childhood friend in his new and AMAZING house. I'm so glad he found out I was in Charleston from Instagram, because I had no idea he was so close! 

It was great to see Keith (we go way back to elementary school. Waverley Warriors!) and finally meet his wife Nia. I'm just sad their adorable babies weren't home. 

We stopped at Bojangles for biscuits and sweet tea on the drive...because The South. You have to. 

I said something like, "I'm taking this b/c you look rough and terrible and we're at Bojangles" :) Lol. Pickle shots 1 Trisha 0

In Richmond, we stopped to see Robin and her baby! I'm so excited I get to meet Fletcher so soon...and it's funny since I met her first son Griffin around the same age in his life. 

The First ;)

Selfie

Fletcher was adorable and while we didn't stay long, it was great to see Robin. I'm so happy for her and her growing little family. :)

Lol. Take 1

Take 2

Unfortunately, we hit traffic north of Richmond, but the "Wild" audiobook kept us entertained into Frederick.

I had SUCH a wonderful and fun weekend in Charleston. I'm so grateful to Trisha for coming with me and for use of her car! I only wish we'd had more time to explore. I can't wait to go back.