Cassidy's 40th Birthday bash- Charleston and Savannah

It's happening. Cassidy is turning the big 4-0. We wanted to do something awesome for her big milestone and the Bringhursts and Hansens were kind enough to help out with the boys for a few days. We've always wanted to go to these 2 cities and have been excited about this trip for several months. 

We got to Charleston and stayed at the most incredible Bed and Breakfast. The room they gave us was huge and had a giant vaulted ceiling. On night one, we checked in and then walked to a restaurant on the waterfront- Fleet Landing.

The next morning we ate breakfast and set out for a big day of walking. It was SO hot and humid, but we were grateful there was no rain. We took a carriage ride and saw some amazing houses. Charleston is so beautiful. We checked out the city market before heading out on foot for more walking. We checked out all the cool old churches, enjoyed  Rainbow Row, and made it over to the pineapple fountain. We had got a lot more ground covered than anticipated and headed back to the hotel to escape some of the heat. We were bummed my stomach was not feeling great and there were so many restaurants that we wanted to check out. 

The next morning, we jumped in a rental car and drove to the Magnolia Plantation. We did an amazing tour that talked about the history of the plantation and the horrible conditions and the way they treated slaves in those times. It was super sad. My stomach still was not feeling great, so I stayed in the car for a bit while Cass checked things out. I joined her and we hit the highlights. Still muggy, but really pretty. Our next stop was the Angel Oak tree, which was HUGE. So cool to see it in person. From there we jumped back in the car and drove to Savannah. We had an awesome dinner, checked out some of the fountains and local scenery went back to our VRBO, and went to bed. 

The next morning, again we had a lot of things to see. So many great fountains, churches, and cemeteries in the area. After checking out the historic district, parks, and market, we decided to jump in the car and go to Bonaventure Cemetery, which was amazing and spooky, and Worksloe Park. We came back to town to walk down by the city market and enjoy some dinner and ice cream. 

The next morning we woke up and started to make our way back to Charleston. On the way back we stopped at an awesome roadside stand that had great peach pie and peach cider (my stomach is still not feeling great). Then we checked into our hotel and took off for the USS Midway. It was HUGE. There was a fire alarm somewhere on the big ship shortly after we got there so we had to evacuate the ship for a while and check out the Vietnam museum on site (Still super hot and muggy). We had a good time on the ship and were glad we did it. Afterward, we went to Lewis BBQ, for possibly the best BBQ experience of my life, worth the stomach pain. After dinner, we decided to go to Sullivans Island beach. We had planned to have a beach day the next day but decided we didn't want to do that since we wouldn't have a place to shower and change after getting all sandy.  It was great to walk down to the water, enjoy the sunset...and eat some ice cream. 

The next morning, we didn't have anything planned as we were going to go to the beach before our afternoon flight. Cass found Cypress Gardens and it looked pretty cool so we checked out of our hotel and headed that way. It ended up being our favorite thing of the whole trip. We took a canoe out around the swamp. It was magical. It was where they filmed some of the scenes from The Notebook. 

It was a great trip and a great way to celebrate the greatest woman in the history of the world turning 30...I mean 40. Love you Cass!!