Kiawah Island: Ryder Cup Bar

The gorgeous lobby at The Sanctuary taken on the way to the beach.

Today I'm sharing the final part of our recent trip.  Derek met a golf for friend so I was left to fend for myself which meant sleeping in, reading on the balcony and grabbing a snack/milkshake to watch the start of the Penn State game.  Before too long I headed off to the beach to get us some chairs where we spent the rest of the afternoon before finishing the day at the pool.  Our typical routine for the entire stay.

A highlight for both of us not only at Kiawah but of the entire trip was our night at the Ryder Cup Bar.  We'd heard great things and Derek especially wanted to go.  The setting is gorgeous combining the course and the beach and it was the best sunset!  We got there in time to grab a drink and enjoy the day light then watch the sunset and finished the night with dinner on the patio.

We enjoyed some final time in the lobby and outside on the adirondack chairs to enjoy our final night once we got back to the hotel.

We had some time to enjoy before making our way back to Charleston to fly out so it was off to the beach for our final morning.  The tide was way out this morning and it was nice to enjoy a quiet beach since we were so early.

Kiawah Island: Beaching

After the start of our trip in Charleston, we spent the final weekend on Kiawah Island.  It was just a 40 minute drive from downtown and a pretty drive at that!  We stayed at The Sanctuary and everything was beautiful. 

After stopping for some lunch on the way onto the island, we headed straight to the beach to enjoy some sun.

To finish off our day we spent our final time at the pool... 

All of our dinners were at the resort and since we enjoyed some extra time in the sun we had a late dinner at the Italian restaurant for our first night.  

Charleston: Magnolia Plantation

For our second day in Charleston we decided to head out a little bit to the plantations and spend the morning at Magnolia Plantation.  We explored the gardens and did a tour of the house - a beautiful setting and all the history was so interesting.

We got back into the downtown area just in time to walk over to Poogan's Porch for lunch.  We sat out in the little courtyard area - it was the cutest setting and everything was delicious - especially the mac and cheese appetizer and their biscuits.

Part of the afternoon was spent strolling along King Street and doing a little shopping in the stores on our walk back towards the hotel.

It was quite hot during the daytime while we were there (very pleasant at night) so we cooled off at the hotel pool before each grabbing a quick massage to unwind.

Our final Charleston dinner was at Magnolia's - pretty fitting since we spent the morning at another Magnolia.  Everything was delicious and we tried a couple things from the Restaurant menu as it was Charleston's restaurant week during our visit.  Before dinner we made a stop at the ever popular Husk for a happy hour cocktail.

Before taking off for our weekend in Kiawah the next morning we stopped at the Charleston City Market to pick up some treats to bring home.

Charleston: Boat Cruise & Seeing Sights

Two weeks ago today we took off for South Carolina to celebrate our second anniversary.  The first stop was Charleston and second stop was Kiawah Island.  I'd been to Charleston for my bachelorette party but never to Kiawah and it was Derek's first time to both.  It was an easy flight and we loved both the places we visited - having two days to enjoy each.

We stayed at The Restoration, a boutique hotel just off of King Street.  We loved the hotel because it used to be condos so we had a spacious amount of room to work with - the balcony was my favorite part for sure.  Another plus was that they brought you complimentary breakfast in a picnic basket each morning at the time of your choosing.

Derek had a few anniversary treats waiting in the room and I loved them all.

We got into town just in time for an anniversary dinner.  After a little time at the hotel we walked down King Street over to Grill 225 for a delicious steak meal.

For our first day we decided to do a boat cruise to see Charleston from the water the do a little wandering around on our own.

After the cruise we stopped off for lunch at The Vendue Hotel Rooftop - we can never pass up a good rooftop and seeing the city from up there was perfect.

To finish off the afternoon of sightseeing we explored the classic sights like Rainbow Row and The Battery.

Our hotel had a happy hour each night in the lobby with wine and cheese so we took advantage of that and enjoyed ours out in the little courtyard area.

For our meals we went with all places that we could walk to so dinner was at Hank's Seafood then went to the Market Pavillion Hotel to enjoy a drink on that rooftop (see a trend?!)  

We finished the night at Kaminsky's for some adult milkshakes which were delicious.