Where to even begin with this trip! I guess I'll start at the beginning. About a year ago, my friend Charlyce read an article about a group of girlfriends taking a mystery weekend trip once a year, where they alternate being the "planner" and the rest of the group has no idea where they are going for their weekend away. Now, if you know the Fab Five you will know that this is RIGHT up our alley!! The five of us have been friends since Elementary School, and we have diligently tried to get together whenever we can. I have been the real problem child, living all over the place, but we had big plans for when I finally moved back to the states for good. Well, sadly, it has been near impossible to find a time that is convenient for all 5 of us to get together! So when Charlyce mentioned this idea, we all jumped on board for many reasons. First, it sounded awesome! Second, it would force us to plan and commit to a weekend about a year in advance. And third, we could all decide on a budget so far in advance that there would be plenty of time to save up. So last summer we decided to go for it! We made a 5-way call, all busted out our 2010 calendars, and decided on a weekend and a budget. It turned out that Mother's Day weekend was the one and only weekend that we could all agree on, so we tweaked it a bit so that we left on Thursday and came home on Sunday. Perfect! Then we drew names for who would be the first planner. Charlyce was the lucky gal! We all sent our money in to her a couple of months later, and then we waited and looked forward to the trip all throughout the school year. And it finally came! About 10 days before the trip, Charlyce sent us all the projected weather forecast, as well as a small packing list (swim suit, cover-up/sunhat/sunscreen, comfortable walking shoes). Then the night before our flights, she sent us each our airline, confirmation number, and departure time. Is that the most exciting trip you can even imagine??? It was so awesome, and was so fun to look forward to!! The morning of the trip I found myself all nervous. It felt weird going away somewhere by myself! That feeling was soon replaced, however, with sheer fun, excitement, and relaxation. And aren't you dying to know where we ended up??? Charleston, South Carolina!!!! It was the dream girl's trip, and Charlyce did such an outstanding job planning every little detail. Even with all her good planning, however, my flight was still delayed 2 hours in San Antonio, causing me to miss my connection (where I was supposed to be meeting up with the Utah girls), and also having the airline lose my luggage for the first 24 hours. But honestly, those are such minor details. I borrowed a swimming suit and all was fine!
We spent the first morning at the beach on Sullivan's Island. It was a fun and relaxing morning, with lots of good time to talk and catch up. And remember, we have known each other our entire lives, and are all in similar life circumstances, so the talking was some good stuff! That afternoon we had a late lunch at Poe's Tavern, which was a fun restaurant on Sullivan's island built in Edgar Allen Poe's old house. It was great! Then we headed back to our hotel, got cleaned up (thankfully my suitcase had arrived), and we went downtown. We were so excited to walk around in downtown Charleston, and were really looking forward to our Ghost Tour that night. Did you know that Charleston is one of the most haunted cities in America? Well, that's the word on the street. Unfortunately, our Ghost Tour was a series of walks through some alley ways and some really lame "Girl's Camp" quality ghost stories. We kept hoping that the good part was yet to come, but alas...it did not. But the laughs we've had since then, all at our poor tour guide's expense, have been priceless! We tried really hard to find some fun nightlife for 5 married Mormon women, but we soon found out that all people do these days is stand around drinking and swearing. No dancing, karaoke, nothing! So we hit the road and went back to our hotel to play games and talk ourselves to sleep. Even better!
The next morning we hit some of the huge Southern Plantations. We went to two different ones, and they were both so interesting and fun to see. It was quite the history lesson, too, learning about how the South was during and after slavery. We all enjoyed it a lot. Oh, and I must comment on the smell of Charleston. We just so happened to be there during the few weeks out of the year that the Magnolia Trees were in full bloom, as well as the Confederate Jasmine. The smell was so sweet and wonderful...it is hard to explain how heavenly it smelled there. OK, so back to day two. We left the second plantation and headed back downtown, this time armed with a cool and informative book we found about the historic residential areas in Charleston. So we did our own walking tour that night! First we ate dinner at Sticky Fingers, and then we walked ourselves sick that night. We even met a few of the locals as we read our little book telling us all about their houses. "Did you know that your house is buried on Pirate's treasure? And we hear there is a ghost living here - what do you think about that?" It was awesome! And the weather was so unbelievable. Just perfect.
The next day was Sunday, which meant time to go home. We had ended up with $50 left in our budget, after all our food, gas, and tours, so we all bought matching T-shirts to wear home. It was such an amazing trip, and I can hardly wait for our next Magical Mystery Tour - to be held in January 2012, planned my me. Yikes! Love you girls!!!
Where to even begin with this trip! I guess I'll start at the beginning. About a year ago, my friend Charlyce read an article about a group of girlfriends taking a mystery weekend trip once a year, where they alternate being the "planner" and the rest of the group has no idea where they are going for their weekend away. Now, if you know the Fab Five you will know that this is RIGHT up our alley!! The five of us have been friends since Elementary School, and we have diligently tried to get together whenever we can. I have been the real problem child, living all over the place, but we had big plans for when I finally moved back to the states for good. Well, sadly, it has been near impossible to find a time that is convenient for all 5 of us to get together! So when Charlyce mentioned this idea, we all jumped on board for many reasons. First, it sounded awesome! Second, it would force us to plan and commit to a weekend about a year in advance. And third, we could all decide on a budget so far in advance that there would be plenty of time to save up. So last summer we decided to go for it! We made a 5-way call, all busted out our 2010 calendars, and decided on a weekend and a budget. It turned out that Mother's Day weekend was the one and only weekend that we could all agree on, so we tweaked it a bit so that we left on Thursday and came home on Sunday. Perfect! Then we drew names for who would be the first planner. Charlyce was the lucky gal! We all sent our money in to her a couple of months later, and then we waited and looked forward to the trip all throughout the school year. And it finally came! About 10 days before the trip, Charlyce sent us all the projected weather forecast, as well as a small packing list (swim suit, cover-up/sunhat/sunscreen, comfortable walking shoes). Then the night before our flights, she sent us each our airline, confirmation number, and departure time. Is that the most exciting trip you can even imagine??? It was so awesome, and was so fun to look forward to!! The morning of the trip I found myself all nervous. It felt weird going away somewhere by myself! That feeling was soon replaced, however, with sheer fun, excitement, and relaxation. And aren't you dying to know where we ended up??? Charleston, South Carolina!!!! It was the dream girl's trip, and Charlyce did such an outstanding job planning every little detail. Even with all her good planning, however, my flight was still delayed 2 hours in San Antonio, causing me to miss my connection (where I was supposed to be meeting up with the Utah girls), and also having the airline lose my luggage for the first 24 hours. But honestly, those are such minor details. I borrowed a swimming suit and all was fine!
We spent the first morning at the beach on Sullivan's Island. It was a fun and relaxing morning, with lots of good time to talk and catch up. And remember, we have known each other our entire lives, and are all in similar life circumstances, so the talking was some good stuff! That afternoon we had a late lunch at Poe's Tavern, which was a fun restaurant on Sullivan's island built in Edgar Allen Poe's old house. It was great! Then we headed back to our hotel, got cleaned up (thankfully my suitcase had arrived), and we went downtown. We were so excited to walk around in downtown Charleston, and were really looking forward to our Ghost Tour that night. Did you know that Charleston is one of the most haunted cities in America? Well, that's the word on the street. Unfortunately, our Ghost Tour was a series of walks through some alley ways and some really lame "Girl's Camp" quality ghost stories. We kept hoping that the good part was yet to come, but alas...it did not. But the laughs we've had since then, all at our poor tour guide's expense, have been priceless! We tried really hard to find some fun nightlife for 5 married Mormon women, but we soon found out that all people do these days is stand around drinking and swearing. No dancing, karaoke, nothing! So we hit the road and went back to our hotel to play games and talk ourselves to sleep. Even better!
The next morning we hit some of the huge Southern Plantations. We went to two different ones, and they were both so interesting and fun to see. It was quite the history lesson, too, learning about how the South was during and after slavery. We all enjoyed it a lot. Oh, and I must comment on the smell of Charleston. We just so happened to be there during the few weeks out of the year that the Magnolia Trees were in full bloom, as well as the Confederate Jasmine. The smell was so sweet and wonderful...it is hard to explain how heavenly it smelled there. OK, so back to day two. We left the second plantation and headed back downtown, this time armed with a cool and informative book we found about the historic residential areas in Charleston. So we did our own walking tour that night! First we ate dinner at Sticky Fingers, and then we walked ourselves sick that night. We even met a few of the locals as we read our little book telling us all about their houses. "Did you know that your house is buried on Pirate's treasure? And we hear there is a ghost living here - what do you think about that?" It was awesome! And the weather was so unbelievable. Just perfect.
The next day was Sunday, which meant time to go home. We had ended up with $50 left in our budget, after all our food, gas, and tours, so we all bought matching T-shirts to wear home. It was such an amazing trip, and I can hardly wait for our next Magical Mystery Tour - to be held in January 2012, planned my me. Yikes! Love you girls!!!
