Playing Hometown Tourist

by TaylorR

But Your Honor, I Don’t Wanna!

Wish me luck today, I will be hanging out in the Charleston Court playing jury duty. I am hoping this is a one day thing, because let’s face it does anyone actually enjoy jury duty?

It would really be wonderful if I showed up and was told that the case had settled out of court… a girl can dream!

Finding My Love For Charleston

I was born and raised in this beautiful city. But as many people can relate sometimes you miss the beauty of things that are right in front of you.

I’ve always loved it, but I haven’t take the time to really appreciate it. What’s not to love about a place that is nicknamed the “Holy City” and is one of the biggest destinations in the country for weddings?

Not to mention is was voted #1 for most attractive people!

But one thing I’ve enjoyed since college is getting out and seeing more. Dan and I love spending Saturdays playing hometown tourist. And that’s what we did this weekend.

First on the docket: The Market

A Saturday isn’t a Saturday unless we go to the market. But then again if we didn’t we wouldn’t have any food since it’s what I rely on for all my produce. It was another successful day, and it was even better because my brother, sister-in-law and niece met us downtown too!

This is her ”Aunt Taylor… You’re Crazy!”

We have a rule that whatever cash is left over after we get our veggies we use to get a treat. I love this rule! Each week we aim to get something different. I really wanted to give the juice stand another try but it was $6 a drink! We only had $11 in our fun account. So we settled for green tea matcha shakes instead. Good decision on our parts.

Mine had no whip, but the lady convinced Dan since he isn’t vegan that he needed the whip. He didn’t argue.

It just felt right to have braids at the farmer’s market! And this shake was gone about 5 minutes later! So good.

Made with matcha, almond milk, and a dash of vanilla. I love the lady that makes these for us. She works really hard to get it just right. Giving a taste after each stage to make sure we’re satisfied! I don’t know her name, but I know the tent was for Charleston Coffee Roasters!

For $20 we ended up with:

Tomatoes x 2
Eggplant x 1
Baby zucchini x lots
Baby squash (these are so cute) x lots
Lettuce x 1
Sweet onions x 3
Brussel sprouts x lots
Cucumbers x 3
Jalapenos x 3

Next On The Docket: Angel Oak

This tree is amazing. It’s believed to be the oldest and biggest oak tree alive on this side of the Mississippi. Age wise it’s thought to be between 300-400 years old, though some legends say that it’s 1500 years old! How cool?

We were amazed at how crowded it was once we pulled into to the park area. It seemed to be the place to be!

This branch looked as if it needed a bit of help. All the others had support beams, he deserved one too.

My handsome husband!

You can’t tell me this isn’t a kids dream for a treehouse! If there hadn’t been 50-trillion signs saying “Do Not Climb Tree” I am pretty sure I would have shimmied up a few branches immediately!

Tourist Spot #2: Wadmalaw Island and Ridgeville

From Angel Oak, we hopped back into the car and drove to another island near by: Wadmalaw. You may have heard of FireFly Vodka or perhaps the Charleston Tea Plantation. Both of these are on this extremely quiet island, we decided we would hit up the planation next trip (now that we know where it is).

We parked our car in a small area called Ridgeville and walked around. I won’t lie there was an irie feeling about the area. It was gorgeous but I half expected to look up in the houses and see some old ghost looking down at us.

I couldn’t get over how many churches there were in an area where there seemed to be less than a dozen homes.

It’s been a LOOOONNNNGGGG time since I’ve seen this much Spanish Moss (Hurricane Hugo killed a ton of it)

We really love the moss! It’s one of Dan’s favorite things about living in Charleston. So whenever we see a huge amount we have been known to get a bit carried away.

Hydrangeas are one of my favorite flowers. This bush was covered with blooms, but I had a take a fast picture because some dog decided to start making his way to us… no wild dogs for this couple! We high-tailed it out of there.