Charleston & Barrier Island Eco Tour

We absolutely cannot visit Charlotte without driving down to Charleston for a day. It was our ultimate goal place to settle for so many years, and while we don't want to leave Texas now, our hearts are still full of love for that area.

Driving down:

We decided after several years of hearing nonstop hype over Husk that we had to finally try:

It was extremely high quality - amazing ingredients! Perfectly farm-to-table. The menu wasn't as innovative or as new as I would've hoped - no unique flavor profiles or funky combinations; very classic - but delicious.

We had our traditional walk through the Market after lunch, (Annelise got a cute chevron purse; I found amazing Jack’s Cosmic Sweet Potato Mustard; I regret not getting these pants,) and we stopped at the carriage tour lineup to talk to the horses:

Annelise is such an animal whisperer. ♥ And, as always, we experienced something wonderfully new: the carriages move up in line along the Market street every ~15 minutes; when they get to the front of the line, if they don't have a tour, they head back to the barn to water and cool the horse. This front carriage driver let us climb on board for a free ride just back to their barn - fabulous deal, b/c full carriage tours are $$$$$, this gave a short little taste, and we were going to walk back to their barn to see the horses, anyway! :-D

After Charleston, we drove through Mount Pleasant, grabbed barbeque dinner with sides to go from Charleston Bay Gourmet at the Mount Pleasant Farmer's Market, and headed to Isle of Palms for beach play + dinner in.

In the morning, we met our pontoon boat at Barrier Island Eco Tours for our Capers Wildlife Exploration: "a 3.5 hour boat excursion to Capers Island, one of the few remaining undeveloped barrier islands. We will cruise through winding tidal creeks to find diverse wildlife living in this salt marsh environment. Common sightings include bottlenose dolphin, osprey, pelicans, bald eagles, herons, egrets, and more. Along the way we'll employ various nets and habitat traps for an up-close look at some of the rarely seen marine creatures that thrive below the surface. As you arrive on Capers, you will have about an hour and a half to explore its pristine "Bone-yard Beach"... Capers provides excellent opportunities for shelling and bird watching."

We *did* see dolphins, blue & stone crabs, and have an amazing time exploring nature:

Before heading back to CLT, we stopped at Metto for freezes...and who could resist relishing a few sips up in the ancient tree that grows up through the deck?