Sunday, July 19, 2009

First Family Vacation

There are vacations, then there are vacations. We wanted our first as a family to be memorable, and a week in Charleston and Florence fit the bill tighter than I could possibly have dreamed. More to say than there are people wanting to hear it, but here are a few highlights.

First, the accommodations. We probably stayed at two of the finer hotels/beds and breakfasts in all of South Carolina. In Charleston it was the Francis Marion Hotel, because we found an online deal and everyone needs a little fancy in their lives every now and then. In Florence it was the "Taylorsonian," our longtime term of endearment for Anna's parents' house, because Anna has wonderful parents.

But back to Charleston, forever hence known as the land of a thousand vacations. Someone there truly should hire me to promote their tourism department. The first day brought Market Street and fine dining at the Swamp Fox restaurant (not named after Buxton, coincidentally). The following day brought one of our highest recommended stops from the trip, a place one would need be made of cold stone not to enjoy at any age.


Our trip to Whirlin' Waters Water Park:





Up next, Anna's college friends Riley and EJ and Riley's sister Jessica invited us to partake in their annual family vacation to somewhat nearby Edisto Island (quite nearby on the way back to the hotel, not so much with the GPS the way there). All their family loved having Buxton for an afternoon, and the baby boy sure loved his first warm weather trip to the ocean. Our apologies to the Edisto locals. Hopefully there is some sand remaining that the little monkey did not eat.

A Day at Edisto:







So if you haven't noticed yet, Anna learned some new tricks with the pictures. Feel free to tell her how nice a job she did. Anyway, the final day before heading to Florence we found a wonderful little spot for parents within walking distance of the hotel. The Children's Museum of the Lowcountry, well you just need to look it up and go. It's pretty neat, even for the infant set. Buxton played with toys, water, rolling golf balls, paint brushes and more.

Playtime at the Children's Museum:







Check out Buxton's debut masterpiece in that last shot. All in all it truly was a special week I fully intend to remember for years to come. And this account stops short of our Florence stay, which as always proved just as meaningful and enjoyable as time with family deserves to be. Hopefully not so long until we post again, or until we find our way back to the low country.

See all our Charleston Pictures on our Picasa website: http://picasaweb.google.com/narnievic/Charleston2009#