Last weekend I had the awesome opportunity to go to Charleston for an easy weekend escape. I had never been to Charleston before but have always heard nothing but amazing things about the city, especially from friends who have moved down there after college.

We stayed about 20 minutes outside of downtown Charleston, which was nice so we were a little farther out from crowds and what not but were still able to easily get into the city to explore. I was surprised to learn how close places like Kiawah Island, Seabrook Island and Folly Beach are to downtown Charleston. Usually when I think of Charleston, I think of the historic downtown area like where Rainbow Row or King Street are, not so much the places like Mount Pleasant or Summerville.

Friday night we went into downtown to explore King Street and eventually decided on a place to eat off Market Street. We stumbled upon an outdoor night market after getting ice cream at Kilwin’s and it was so cute! It kind of reminded me of the flea market since it was mostly art and jewelry.

We turned in early on Friday night because Saturday we got up and left for Kiawah at 8:30! It took about an hour to get to Kiawah which didn’t feel long at all since the drive is so incredibly beautiful. Once we were on the island it took about another 20-30 minutes to get to Ocean Course where Nick and his dad were playing golf. I was so blown away by Kiawah’s beauty by this point, I didn’t know what to expect at Ocean Course. And oh my god was it beautiful.

Let me preface this by saying I haven’t actually been to that many golf courses in my life but Ocean Course is by far the nicest and most beautiful course I have been to. It may be because it’s literally right on the beach and the clubhouse overlooks the ocean, but I was stunned. Initially I assumed the beach wasn’t a public beach, but it turns out it was! And I’m not sure many people knew about it because I basically had a private beach the entire day. It was so beautiful and the actual beach seemed so wide compared to the skinner beaches with dunes I’m used to in the Outer Banks! And the ocean was so warm. It was like I was back in the Caribbean with how warm the water was.

After too much sun, we headed back to Charleston for dinner at Poogan’s Porch. I absolutely love all the southern charm and houses in Charleston and Poogan’s Porch is so adorable. And also, delicious. They were able to make basically any meal on the menu gluten free, so I got the shrimp and grits and it was by far the most delicious shrimp and grits I’ve ever had. I devoured my dinner. After dinner we made our way to Rainbow Row to walk around the historic area and admire the beautiful houses and waterfront!

The only problem with Charleston in August is the unbelievable heat and humidity. I’m sure it doesn’t help that we seem to be stuck in a never-ending heat wave, but man, the humidity in Charleston is unreal. Way worse than Richmond and Raleigh.

But other than that, it is a gorgeous city and we will definitely be back. I can only imagine how nice Charleston is in the fall!