Charleston, S.C.

Go to my cousins' restaurant - Skibo's on James Island.

I recommend the shrimp and grits.

 

Hey Luggy welcome back

 

Where did I go?

 

Charleston?

 

I did a phone interview for a job at the paper many years ago.

 

Tommy Condon's.

 

If the weather is nice, just go sit for a while at the Battery and enjoy watching the Cooper and Ashley rivers join together and help form the Atlantic. Truly one of the greatest places in the world just to sit. Check out the Stede Bonnet marker.

Fort Sumter. Fort Moultrie (Poe was stationed there when he wrote The Gold Bug).

walk the bridge.

eat at Hyman's - check out all the brass name plates on the tables and signed plates.

Patriot's Point.

if you get up to Daniel Island - where the Battery might be at home depending on your dates - go to Queen Anne's Revenge. It's a Blackbeard themed restaurant.

if you want to see plantations, go to Boone Hall Plantation. it was in North & South (Mount Royal), and the drive leading up to it was featured in Gone With the Wind (12 Oaks). you've missed this year's Boone Hall Oyster Roast which is one of the best events in the world!

 

Also, I had a friend take a long weekend trip there with a girl he was dating.
It turned into a horrific break-up trip. Made for a great story when he got back.

 

Charleston is simply awesome. I concur with the carriage ride recommendations, visiting Fort Sumter, strolling the Battery, and enjoying the fried chicken at Jestine's. The food is good everywhere, though. As another poster said, it's pretty hard to go wrong in that town.

I might recommend heading to the Market Pavilion Hotel rooftop bar since you should be close by. Maybe get there early before the cougars show up and the liquor disappears, but the terrace offers a gorgeous view of the city. Just a cool way to start your evening, I think.

http://www.marketpavilion.com/index.cfm?page=pavilion

 

Cheap:

http://www.gullahcuisine.com/

Not cheap:

http://www.boathouserestaurants.com/bi_home.html

http://www.marketpavilion.com/?page=grill225&CFID=2087760&CFTOKEN=84172760

 

Sad that I have not done most of this stuff despite many visits to Charleston over the years.

Lots of great suggestions here. The aquarium is a favorite of ours.

 

all grand suggestions.
Hyman's, the Battery, the Sumter cruise, the bridges, the Yorktown, the Hunley, the aquarium, pralines and ice cream while walking through the Market...my family has been checking off and oft repeating much of this list every summer but three since my 21-year-old firstborn was in pull-ups.

three additional ideas:
* Mike Veeck's Class A RiverDogs usually have some wacky promotion going, if they're in town.
* if you like Jewish history -- and who doesn't, bubbalah? -- America's second-oldest temple is there!
* and, perhaps more universally recommended, after you eat seafood and barbecue, try the Italian restaurant next to Tommy Condon's (noted above): Bocci's.
that we never miss.
http://www.boccis.com/cms_pages/