Southern Charm Overview

We drove a LOT on this trip, but there were so many things we wanted to do and see, so it was necessary

Timeline

Thursday July 25th – drove to Lexington KY after work, arrived around 10:30pm (stayed in a Red Roof in that we booked on our drive down)

Friday July 26th – drove to Gatlinburg TN (detoured to Norris Lake to see it), got to Gatlinburg around 2:30pm (we stayed in a Motel 6 we booked on the way down)

Saturday July 27th – hiked smoky mountains that morning, drove to Ashville to see Biltmore, drove to Columbia SC to stay the night

Sunday July 28th – went to church, drove to Charleston, stopped for lunch, went to Cypress Gardens, then went to our friends house we were staying at

Monday July 29th – did Fort Sumter and Sullivan’s Island

Tuesday July 30th – did Magnolia Plantation, Angel Oak Tree and Kiawah Island

Wednesday July 31st – Boone Plantation Hall, downtown Charleston

Thursday August 1st – Drove through Boone National Forest to Fairfax VA (stayed at SpringHill Suite by Marriot)

Friday August 2nd – walked 13 miles around Washington DC, did all the monuments and Arlington Cemetery

Saturday August 3rd – walked around Georgetown, drove around Old Town Alexandria 

Sunday – church and drove home!

Costs

Because we were driving, we chose to stop at these places along the way but every tour we did cost money and some of the hotel’s were EXPENSIVE. Gatlinburg in particular. We spen $174 on a CRAPPY Motel 6 and that was the cheapest we could find. 

I think our total expenses for this trip came out to about $2,000 for everything. A little more than we were wanting to spend but we did budget for it. 

Some of the stuff we did we had to book in advance for a cheaper price (Biltmore and Skylift Bridge in Gatlinburg, but everything else we typically booked the day of because we just weren’t sure what all we’d want to do.

Planning 

We made a timeline of when we wanted to leave and how far it was to each place so we’d know how much time we had. We looked up each place we were going and wrote down stuff we wanted to do and then as we got to those places, looked at weather and how we felt. We liked it being flexible because some days we were just tired and needed to relax – so not everything got done, but that leaves places for next time. 

We are go-getters on vacation – we don’t mind going constantly but that’s because we want to see everything in a new place, that may not be your style!

Packing

My friend Jen was not kidding when she said it would be HOTTTT. 

Gatlinburg was comfortable and the mountains were cooler – especially in the morning

Charleston – I never STOPPED sweating. Wear dresses and literally anything that will be cool – I brought long pants and wished I didn’t – wasn’t sure if it would be cold at night – it was not. And I tried to do my hair but there was no point – so braids and it being up was the best I could do

Washington DC – WEAR COMFY SHOES. Oh my gosh I cannot stress that enough. Also, Fairfax was a cool 80 degrees and I thought “Oh This is nice!” – we got into Washington DC and I was sweating SO BAD. It was soooo hot there in comparison to Fairfax. It is a swamp (not just a Trump thing, legit was built on a swamp) so it’s so mucky and hot. 

Shoes – we wore our Chacos EVERYWHERE, Hiking, walking around downtown, 13 miles in Washington DC – best purchase ever and they were so comfy – I tried to wear cute sandals at the Biltmore and got a blister on my pinky toe – so that was the end of cute shoes. 

Food

Because we drove – we did pack a cooler of food and had a ton of peaches – that was the best thing we did. It was nice to have healthier options on the road and to not have to stop every time we were hungry – we made sandwiches and had cracker and cheese and fruit. It was great.

Because we were basically eating out EVERY meal for 11 days – we tried to eat way healthier… so there isn’t a ton of “food” to post about but I will share where we did go! Our last trip I came home feeling like CRAP so I really tried to not eat things just because it was “vacation” don’t get me wrong – I indulged in ice-cream but I didn’t eat a hamburger every night with fries which is what I would have done before.

Coffee

The only thing that I scope out when going to new places is COFFEE and Ricky knows it!

Here are two places I went to that I really enjoyed!

Columbia SC – Drip Coffee – I love me a good pour over and that is what their NORMAL coffee is. And you can tell a good coffee shop when it’s packed on a Sunday morning at 8am 😉 

Fairfax VA – De Clieu Coffee and Sandwiches – Again – it was a Sunday and it was packed but they had chemex, frenchpress, pour over and so many good sounding flavors I had never heard of, it I had known about this place earlier I would have tried a few of them while we were there!