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Vacationing in the Carolinas

luxboy22

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Jun 25, 2006
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Good morning! My girlfriend and I are headed to Myrtle Beach, SC Sunset Beach, NC and historic downtown Charleston, SC for a race vacation.

We are outdoor enthusiasts and wondering what kinds of attractions are in these areas that we could check out. We also love to experience new dining, so any suggestions would be appreciated!

P.S.-- Of course, we will be proudly rocking our Nole gear as well. ;)
 
Wrong Board. This board is for FSU Athletics. Mods, please remove to appropriate forum. THX.
 
When I went I found touring the old Plantations enjoyable. http://www.charlestoncvb.com/visitors/tripplanner/attractions~31/plantations_gardens~50/

We also went on the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier which was pretty cool in my opinion. You can also go on an old submarine there as well.

As far as food, there are so many to choose from it would be impossible to list.

There are also countless tours you can go on from carriage tours to haunted "ghost" tours. Just googled them and see which ones interest you the most.
 
When I went I found touring the old Plantations enjoyable. http://www.charlestoncvb.com/visitors/tripplanner/attractions~31/plantations_gardens~50/

We also went on the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier which was pretty cool in my opinion. You can also go on an old submarine there as well.

As far as food, there are so many to choose from it would be impossible to list.

There are also countless tours you can go on from carriage tours to haunted "ghost" tours. Just googled them and see which ones interest you the most.

I will definitely do research on everything you listed. Thanks!
 
I will definitely do research on everything you listed. Thanks!
I found the email we received from a local before we went. It was three years ago so take it for what it's worth. Good luck!

Restaurants:


Slightly North of Broad - East Bay Street - our favorite. Casual but very nice. Chef's table gives good view of kitchen which is fun to watch. Professional locals eat here at lunch.

High Cotton - across street from SNOB - a little more formal, live music at the bar usually at night.

Magnolia's - next to High Cotton - similar to HC

Bessinger's Barbeque - Highway 17 South - very good pork barbeque and onion rings

Peninsula Grill - never been there but heard it is very good, and very expensive

Husk - avoid as it is currently very trendy and what they cook is a bit strange

Southend Brewery and Smokehouse - micro brewery is good, food so-so.


Avoid Fleet Landing, Bubba Gump's, and most other places alongside the Market as they are very touristy. Most places require reservations for dinner and some recommend them for lunch.


Museums:


Nathaniel Russell House - Meeting Street, the best house museum in downtown. Nice garden. Clean bathroom above gift shop at back of house.

Edmonston-Alston House - beautiful also, down on the Battery.

Heyward Washington House - Church Street, beautiful furniture but house itself not that much to look at compared to above two.

Middleton Place - Highway 61 west of the Ashley, beautiful gardens, nice house similar to Heyward Washington inside. The garden party scene in The Patriot was filmed there.

Drayton Hall - Highway 61 also, beautiful preserved empty house, no furniture, so-so gardens.


Avoid Boone Plantation and Magnolia Gardens as they are tourist traps. Avoid Calhoun Mansion, very tacky. Avoid Charleston Museum - looks like it contains what the locals cleaned out of their attics. Avoid the Old Exchange & Provost Dungeon - not much to see there compared to the others.


Other:


South Carolina Aquarium - very nice, takes about 2 hours to see.

St. Michaels, St. Philips, Cathedral of St. John the Baptist - mostly open to the public during the day but no organized tours as far as I know.

The Citadel - parade most Friday afternoons about 3 PM.

Ft. Moultrie - Sullivan's Island, nice to see

Patriot's Point - Mt. Pleasant, Yorktown aircraft carrier, Destroyer Lahey, submarine, etc., nice military museum

White Point Gardens - at tip of Battery, bandstand

City Pier - at end of Vendue Range, fountains, tree lined alley

City Market - tourist stuff but nice to walk through just once

Visitor's Center - Meeting Street, good starting point

Walking tours - lots of different ones available, ones done by Historic Charleston Foundation probably better than most

Tour of Homes and Gardens - never have done one but hear they are nice, done by HCF, gets you into private homes that are not normally open to the public
 
In addition to Da22by's info which is pretty much what I would say, make sure you go to Sweatman's BBQ about 45 mins (from memory I'm not 100% sure) from Charleston. It's Anthony Bourdain's favorite bbq place in the US and is the best example of the SC mustard style of bbq. Plus it's in the middle of a cotton field so good pics nearby depending on when cotton blooms (I have no idea sans Google which you can do). Sweatman's isn't my favorite BBQ place in the US because I prefer Western Carolina then Eastern Carolina (btw see if You'll pass Bill Ellis on 95, it's close to the highway unlike a lot of the "better" EC places that aren't really much if any better), but even still it would make my top 10 or at least 20.
 
I went to Patriot's Point in Charleston with my son's cub scouts, and I have to say I enjoyed touring the Yorktown quite a bit.

We've been to Myrtle Beach a bunch of times, but usually for the beach and the lousy seafood buffets, so I couldn't recommend much. I don't think I would recommend any of the seafood buffets no matter how good they might sound. Even though we always went, they weren't very good, even the more expensive ones.

The one restaurant we did enjoy and is memorable in Myrtle Beach was a place called Angelo's. It's an Italian place with a full menu, but they also have sort of a buffet line you can get with just about 4-5 dishes and pizza. It's not like a standard buffet that sits out there, they serve it to you and are constantly serving from fresh pans straight from the kitchen. If you like what they're serving on it, it's pretty good. If you don't, you can order from the menu. But it's traditional Italian American, heavy red sauce, lasagna, manicotti, eggplant parmesan, etc, like any Italian restaurant serves, but really pretty good as far as that stuff goes in that part of the country. I also got a steak there that was good, not exceptional.

At least it still was good the last time I was there 6-7 years ago.
 
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I went to Patriot's Point in Charleston with my son's cub scouts, and I have to say I enjoyed touring the Yorktown quite a bit.

We've been to Myrtle Beach a bunch of times, but usually for the beach and the lousy seafood buffets, so I couldn't recommend much. I don't think I would recommend any of the seafood buffets no matter how good they might sound. Even though we always went, they weren't very good, even the more expensive ones.

The one restaurant we did enjoy and is memorable in Myrtle Beach was a place called Angelo's. It's an Italian place with a full menu, but they also have sort of a buffet line you can get with just about 4-5 dishes and pizza. It's not like a standard buffet that sits out there, they serve it to you and are constantly serving from fresh pans straight from the kitchen. If you like what they're serving on it, it's pretty good. If you don't, you can order from the menu. But it's traditional Italian American, heavy red sauce, lasagna, manicotti, eggplant parmesan, etc, like any Italian restaurant serves, but really pretty good as far as that stuff goes in that part of the country. I also got a steak there that was good, not exceptional.

At least it still was good the last time I was there 6-7 years ago.

I liked the Yorktown better than the other carrier tours I've been on (other than when I was on an active carrier for a tour in Norfolk back when I was interning with the former DOS deputy). It's better imo than Battleship park in Mobile. My favorite overall favorite war toy museum is still the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola even though it's "small" and unsung.
 
In addition to Da22by's info which is pretty much what I would say, make sure you go to Sweatman's BBQ about 45 mins (from memory I'm not 100% sure) from Charleston. It's Anthony Bourdain's favorite bbq place in the US and is the best example of the SC mustard style of bbq. Plus it's in the middle of a cotton field so good pics nearby depending on when cotton blooms (I have no idea sans Google which you can do). Sweatman's isn't my favorite BBQ place in the US because I prefer Western Carolina then Eastern Carolina (btw see if You'll pass Bill Ellis on 95, it's close to the highway unlike a lot of the "better" EC places that aren't really much if any better), but even still it would make my top 10 or at least 20.

I love good barbecue, but have never had it anywhere besides Florida. Well, I just had a slab of ribs at the Myrtle Beach Hard Rock Cafe, but I doubt that counts.
 
I went to Patriot's Point in Charleston with my son's cub scouts, and I have to say I enjoyed touring the Yorktown quite a bit.

We've been to Myrtle Beach a bunch of times, but usually for the beach and the lousy seafood buffets, so I couldn't recommend much. I don't think I would recommend any of the seafood buffets no matter how good they might sound. Even though we always went, they weren't very good, even the more expensive ones.

The one restaurant we did enjoy and is memorable in Myrtle Beach was a place called Angelo's. It's an Italian place with a full menu, but they also have sort of a buffet line you can get with just about 4-5 dishes and pizza. It's not like a standard buffet that sits out there, they serve it to you and are constantly serving from fresh pans straight from the kitchen. If you like what they're serving on it, it's pretty good. If you don't, you can order from the menu. But it's traditional Italian American, heavy red sauce, lasagna, manicotti, eggplant parmesan, etc, like any Italian restaurant serves, but really pretty good as far as that stuff goes in that part of the country. I also got a steak there that was good, not exceptional.

At least it still was good the last time I was there 6-7 years ago.

I'm in Myrtle Beach right now trying to figure out what we want to do and eat.

Funny enough; I LOVE seafood and was planning on eating at one of these seafood places along the beach. I'll have to do more research to try and find a good one.
 
I'm in Myrtle Beach right now trying to figure out what we want to do and eat.

Funny enough; I LOVE seafood and was planning on eating at one of these seafood places along the beach. I'll have to do more research to try and find a good one.


Avoid the all you can eat troughs. The food is edible, but they go for volume. Try a small little eclectic place called Soho on 21st Ave. Food overall is awesome and the sushi is some of the most amazing I have ever had. If you go there for dinner, head down to Bummz Beach Café a couple blocks away afterwards for drinks beachside. Sea Captain's house around 30th is good seafood too.

I just saw Nole Lou's recommendation on Angelo's. I second that.

I lived in Myrtle during an off-season for 8 months when I had no job, so I had plenty of time to check the local places out. Let me know if you would like any other suggestions.
 
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I went to Patriot's Point in Charleston with my son's cub scouts, and I have to say I enjoyed touring the Yorktown quite a bit.
I don't know if you can still do this, but when I went with my son's cub scout troop we got to spend the night on the Yorktown. That was pretty awesome.
 
If you're in Myrtle, you should be golfing. If you're not golfing, you shouldn't be in Myrtle.
 
I'm in Myrtle Beach right now trying to figure out what we want to do and eat.

Funny enough; I LOVE seafood and was planning on eating at one of these seafood places along the beach. I'll have to do more research to try and find a good one.

Where'd you end up going? I know we tried a bunch over the years, some were better than others, I just know that in general the quality did not rise with the price. I think we ended up being most satisfied with a relatively smaller, less showy place that was like $12 or something. Much smaller spread, heavy on the fried stuff, but it was actually pretty solid food. I have eaten at a lot of buffets over the years...I have no problem admitting that. But the bigger they are in terms of items, the longer stuff generally sits. If you've got 300 items for 100 diners, that stuff doesn't turn over like it would if there were 40 items. And that REALLY catches up to some of those mega buffets, especially with fish.

Obviously some of the Las Vegas buffets that take serious pride in their food are a different story, but the quality generally is inverse to the number of items in my opinion and it really hits there in Myrtle Beach where places are advertising hundreds of items and getting $30+. That's why that Angelos is always good...they have just a few items, so you're basically always getting something that just came out of the oven and tastes no different than if it had been ordered off the munu. But you get to try 5-6 things instead of one.
 
I don't know if you can still do this, but when I went with my son's cub scout troop we got to spend the night on the Yorktown. That was pretty awesome.

Yeah, that's exactly what we did. Spent two nights on it.

I have no real interest in military, don't have any history in my family or anything, so I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. That said, spending two nights cramped in those quarters wasn't easy and I wouldn't it again I don't think. But it was a great experience that I'm glad I had.

Not related in any way to the conversation at hand, but my son is kind of into airplanes, and a couple years ago on the way back from Tallahassee we stopped at the airplane museum in Warner Robbins. No-frills type operation, but I really enjoyed that as well. In the fall his Boy Scouts are camping on site there, and I'm going to try to take that trip. I guess they get them into the flight simulators and out on the takeoff sites and everything.
 
I don't know if you can still do this, but when I went with my son's cub scout troop we got to spend the night on the Yorktown. That was pretty awesome.
When I was in scouts we did this, we still make fun of the guy that fell asleep during the showing of Midway and got carried back to the bunks by his dad then woke up and thought he was still in the theater and yelled "mommy!"

And shameless plug, if you need a nice place to stay near Asheville check out my aunt's B&B, its Southern Living approved and only a few miles from the new Sierra Nevada brewery, Bed &Breakfast on Tiffany Hill.
 
carrier Yorktown, ft. sumpter, in addition to what others have suggested. if you have time and can get into the mountains, try white water rafting and Biltmore house near Asheville, nc
 
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