Just the Girls

If you read my sister's blog, then you know it is way more up-to-date than mine and you've probably already heard most of what I am going to say about a month ago, but I am going to go ahead and write about it anyway.  I want to make sure I don't forget the wonderful trip we had!

The last time Katy and I took a sisters trip together, neither one of us had kids - New York in April 2006 - too long ago! Given the stress we had both been under lately - me with work and Katy with raising 2 lively boys under 3 - we decided it was definitely time for another sisters trip.

This time, we decided on lovely Charleston, South Carolina.  It was driving distance from my sister's house, had plenty of beaches, shopping and food and sounded like a lovely place to kick back and relax for a few days.  I flew into Durham on Saturday afternoon and headed out with the whole Davis family to The Pit, a yummy upscale "home cooking" restaurant in Raleigh.  It was graduation weekend so the wait was a little longer than we had planned, but the little guys did great, and the food was very good - the barbeque fries were my favorite - definitely not diet, but they were delicious!

Sunday morning, Katy and I hopped in the car for a 6 hour drive to Charleston.  My boss at work was kind enough to let us stay at her vacation home near the beaches at Kiawah Island while we were there, which was amazing!  We arrived in the late afternoon and headed straight to the beach to take a look around.

After a short walk, we decided we were hungry and headed to the Charleston Crab House for some seafood.  The food was OK - not the best - but the view was great and the company was even better!

On Monday morning, even though we could finally sleep as late as we wanted, somehow we both woke up bright and early - old habits die hard, I guess.  We took a lovely morning walk along the beach and although I didn't see any of the dolphins that Katy promised are usually there, we did find some lovely shells and sand dollars to take with us. 

(not the best picture, but the only one of the two of us on the beach)

We thought about getting out our beach chairs and relaxing on the beach, but the weather was a little chilly for this warm-blooded Texan, so we headed back to the house to get ready to head to Charleston.

On our way to town, we stopped at the famous Angel Tree on John's Island, where we stayed.  The tree is several hundred years old and definitely one of the coolest trees I have ever seen:

Once we got to Charleston, we stopped at the visitors center and then hit the shops.  We didn't buy much the first day (I only picked up some grits and pepper jelly for Tommy), but we scoped out all of the stores to be sure we knew where we wanted to return the next day.  Along the way, we sampled all sorts of interesting foods.  There were chocolate pop rocks:

 Moon pies:

 And some not-so-good wine made on premises in steel barrels at a local Charleston winery:

After our high class culinary tour of Charleston, it was time for what else?  Dinner!  We must have burned a lot of calories walking around, right?  Tonight , we opted for true South Carolina southern food at the Hominy Grill.  We split fried green tomatoes and she crab soup to start, shrimp and grits and chicken country captain (an interesting Southern chicken curry dish - who knew?) for our main dishes and chocolate pudding and pound cake with strawberris for dessert.  Yum!!  Here I am trying to decide which dessert to eat (I didn't even know I could raise one eyebrow like that - weird!)

As stuffed as we were, we managed to make it back to the house for a good night's sleep.

We began our last full day in Charleston with a stop at the fancy Charleston Place Hotel for early morning pedicures and mimosas.  Awesome!  I think my pedicurist gave the best foot massages ever!!

 

 

 

Pedicures were followed by shopping and then Audra's perfect lunch - a croque monsieur and chocolate croissant at Gaulart & Macilet.  We spent the second half of the say shopping, and actually buying a few things and taking a sightseeing stroll around the city - down the famed Rainbow Row, past all of the old mansions and down to the battery. 

It was a beautiful day for a walk!  In the late afternoon, we decided that we wanted to know a little more about what we'd seen, so we took everyone's advice and took a carriage ride.  Katy and I weren't really sure we wanted to take one, but it ended up being one of our favorite activities of the trip.  Our guide was great, as was our horse, Dan.  Here are some views around Charleston:

 

  

 

We finished a wonderful day with sushi ad O-Ku and dessert (Pots de Creme and White Cholocate Strawberry Mousse) at 39 Rue de Jean.  I told Tommy that it was pretty much my perfect day.  He said it wasn't his kind of day, so he was glad my sister was there to share it with me.  I am too!!

Sadly, Wednesday morning was time to head back to Durham.  I spent most of the ride back cutting and sorting coupons for our Thursday grocery shopping extravaganza, but more on that later.  We got back to Durham and relieved Mrs. Davis from her babysitting duties (thank you, Jennifer - we appreciate it more than you know!) and headed out to Dame's Chicken and Waffles for dinner.  For some reason, I had been excited about eating there since I arrived in Durham and I wasn't disappointed - my waffle topped with chicken, strawberry butter and syrup was delicious!  We followed dinner with some yummy sno-balls and our night was complete.  Does it sound like I need to go on a diet after this trip?!?!

I headed home on Thursday afternoon, but not before a trip to the grocery store, where my savvy couponing sister got $100 worth of groceries for $30.  I think it's a good thing I work too much to cut coupons, or I think I might get addicted.  Extreme Couponing, here we come! :)

I missed my boys, so it was good to be home, but I had such an amazing time with my sister.  Whenever we get to spend time together, I'm reminded of how much fun we have and how much I wish we lived closer.  We just have to make the most of the time we have together and this time we certainly did.  I love you, KK!