I had to drive the longest leg of the trip right off the bat as I decided to drive straight through to Charleston. While it was a long drive, it was broken up by the driving through the Smokies, which was fantastic! The mountains and streams made driving a lot more scenic than the flat farmland I'm used to in the Midwest. Charleston had perfect weather and I knew the trip was going to be lovely when the first thing I saw after getting out of the car was a dolphin! Spent the first day walking around Charleston realizing that basket-weaving is the art of the city and eating as much seafood as I could possibly get my hands on. That was followed up by a trip out to Fort Sumter where I learned a bit of Civil War history. Overall, Charleston was a lot of fun and very different from most other cities. In the city proper there were no big skyscrapers, which made for a very unique skyline filled with old houses and churches!
Rainbow Row! While the houses on this particular block were all different most of the houses in the area looked like this. I probably could have spent a few more hours just roaming around taking in all the houses. Ghost tour next time? I think so!
Fort Sumter as we approached by boat. Cool fact: Sumter was built on a sandbar that at low tide was still 10 ft underwater! They had to bring in rocks to build up the land before they could construct the fort!
The following day was low key and I was able to explore the small town of Summerville, the place where sweet tea originated. Born as a northerner, I can't say I completely understand the hype of sweet tea. I've tried it a few times and never been overly impressed. This didn't stop me from trying a glass since I was in it's hometown. (Honestly, I've had much sweeter tea in Mississippi, so this particular glass was pretty good!) I followed the sweet tea up with a shot that contained an OYSTER! While I don't recommend the shot (see the garnish in the picture? yes, that's old bay seasoning!), I was happy about getting an oyster!
The last day in Charleston was by far my favorite. Before heading down there I did some research and discovered that there was a blackwater swamp kayak tour. Sign. Me. Up. The swamp that we were kayaking was on the grounds of a plantation. So the only people in the swamp were the group of five of us signed up for the tour and the tour guide. It was the most relaxed kayaking experience I've ever been on. Not to mention it was gorgeous. Cypress trees are not something I get to see like ever (living in Indiana) so I was just soaking in this completely different environment. The water was dark but really clear! If you have a chance to get out to Charleston, definitely try the swamp kayak tour.
Next stop was a micro-distillery (I'm talking like only 4 bottling lines micro). But the guys working there were great. And I now have a new back up plan to life. Anyone want to be a backer? :-) But really, this place had great gin, rum and spiced rum. Following the distillery, we headed off to the beach to catch the sunset. And I really wanted to make it to the beach so that I could say this trip had it all... swamps, beach, and mountains! The beach was a great way to close out the first leg of my trip.
Soon I was driving back west on my way to Asheville. The beauty of this entire trip was that I had been planning to run a half marathon there with some friends, so Charleston just became a fantastic bonus trip! Not even half an hour of being in Asheville, plans for the next major run-cation were being formed! (Stay tuned... I can't give it away already!) After checking in for the half and catching up with both grad school and college friends, we were calling it an early night. A very early wake up call had us on the grounds of the Biltmore by 6:00 am. There were many perks to this half:
- Only 1700 runners which made for less crowded bathrooms and not too terrible traffic.
- The Biltmore house was about the halfway point (important since the first half was solid hills).
- Enthusiastic volunteers at the waterstops between miles 9 and 10.
- Girl scout cookies on the course!
- Not only did you get a medal for finishing, you also got a blanket.
I'm such a serious runner. :-)
After the race, we had plenty of time to catch up and hang out. It was very refreshing to know that this whole run-cation sickness is indeed contagious and I'm pretty sure all of my friends have a case of it! We spent the night walking around the downtown area of Asheville hitting up micro-breweries. If you are a craft beer fan, head to Asheville! We probably went to/passed 5 (and we weren't walking that fast given the morning activities!).
Post race picture as well as showing how well we can clean up for the brewery!
Most people needed to take off the day after the race, but a college friend and myself stayed in Asheville for an extra night. The extra day lead to being able to hike at Chimney Rock, eat solid Carolina bbq and hang out in a hot tub drinking gin from the previously visited distillery!
The view from Chimney Rock overlooking Lake Lure. The trails are pretty short in the park, but it was exactly what we were looking for the day after a halfie. There might have been one too many steps though!
Now the name Chimney Rock makes sense. Yes, there were stairs that took us up there from the parking lot.
On the last day of the Asheville leg of my trip, we went to tour the Biltmore. All I can say is if you haven't seen the Biltmore, you need to. Each room that we went into had a unique story or feature. I can't even begin to tell you how much I learned. Oh and we only had time for the basic tour. If I had the chance to go back, I'd definitely try the Butler tour, so that you can learn about the back passages of the house. Some of the thoughts I had while walking through the house:
- Can you actually use all 250 rooms of this mansion?
- The entire place is decorated so ornately, how long did it take to do all of the decorating on top of building it?
- What would it be like to sit in front of a triple fireplace?
- I could probably sit on the back loggia for forever.
- 7 story tall banquet room?
- Were there guests here all the time? Seems awfully big for 3 people!
The Biltmore with mountains in the background.
The view from the loggia that I mentioned before. Could have sat there all day!
One of my favorite rooms. The indoor pool in the basement with the original underwater lighting! And because it was located in the basement the pool was only filled when it was in use, then had to be drained because there wasn't a good understanding of pool chemicals.
So overall it was a great trip. It did exactly what I expected it would do, which was fuel the fire for more run-cations! I'm excited that there's already another one planned for this year! Savannah in November!! If this trip sounded amazing to you, feel free to join in for the next southern adventure!
