Charleston, South Carolina

After visiting the NPS sites in the immediate area, we headed back into Charleston to see a bit of the city.  A very dear friend had given us a list of several "must see's" so that's where we started.  We were fortunate to find (free!) parking only a block away from the Waterfront Park, so we left the car there and set off on foot...

Charleston Palmetto Roses <3

One of the first things we came to was the Pineapple Fountain...

When the kids were done splashing in the fountain, we resumed our walk along the water and the next thing we spotted were the giant family sized swings.  Whoa!  How fun :)!  We snagged the only empty one and the kids had a blast :)...

the view from the swing :)

Yes, they got a bit silly.  I'll spare you the sillier photos ;)...

Just behind the swing were two young men making Palmetto Roses.  They were so fast...what seemed to be just a few twists and voilà...a beautiful flower...

pretties for my pretties :)

same picture twice...I just like it that much :)

We left the waterfront behind and headed off in search of the next "must see"...

Found it!  Philadelphia Alley aka Dueller's Alley (these pictures are for you, J.)...

A slow stroll through the alley and we were off to find some famous Charleston Pralines.  When we got within the general vicinity we no longer needed to follow our map, we just followed the voice of the lady calling out for folks to come sample the hot pralines.  Mmm...the hot ones are delish, we each tried a piece and unanimously decided to buy a box to take with us.  Meh, cold they aren't so great.  Oh well. 

It just so happened that there was a Ben & Jerry's on the same block.  Ya'll know we couldn't pass that up :)!  A praline appetizer followed up with a double scoop entree and I might just get voted mom of the year ;), hehe...

The sun was getting ready to set, so we started walking back towards the general direction of our car.  We used the walking map thing on my phone, so it was pretty easy to get around even though we were completely unfamiliar with the city...

little brother..."go thatta way"...big brother..."no, i have the map so you follow me"...ad nauseam...;)

love the tall plant in the middle of each box...

those curved windows!

When we reached the car there was still daylight left so we kept right on walking...

big brother to little brother..."put that berry down, don't you know that could be poison?"  oh dear ;)...

Just a little further down the street brought us to Rainbow Row...

I just loved getting a peak at these fantastic historic homes and their lovely gardens...

By this time the sun really was gone and it was time for us to hit the road...