What a whirlwind of a weekend! This past weekend 4 of my best college girlfriends and I spent the weekend together for the first time in… honestly, I don’t even know. Years? They flew in from Boston (Alexis and Jenny!), drove in from Atlanta (Kristin!) and Greenville (Christen!), and then there we were, on a girls getaway weekend in Charleston- together!

It started Friday morning as 4/5 of us arrived by lunchtime and started things off with a bang. I do not know how Cru got its name, but I’m seriously hoping it has to do with the street sign.

We had reservations, which was nice, as it was packed and were seated in an adorable living room inside an old house setting. Perfectly Charleston. We ordered a bottle of rose and the weekend officially began.

I ordered the fried goat cheese salad and a side of thin, crispy friend onion which were both outstanding. After lots of laughs later and a few glances for being a little too giggly, we made our way to our hotel.

We stayed at King Charles Inn, an older hotel that was nicely updated in a great location, only a 2 minute walk from King Street.

The room was comfortable and clean, which is all we were after, so we dropped our stuff, freshened up, then headed back out to The Watch, a rooftop bar and eatery at the top of the Restoration Hotel.

The view was incredible, as you can tell from the view of the Arthur Ravenel Jr Bridge over my shoulder. We didn’t stay too long, as we hoped to get to Husk before the crowd. We knew it would be packed, but found a great spot in the corner of the detached bar.

I am bookmarking the pimento cheese toast as a reminder to make it again myself. The thick cut bread, spicy pimento cheese, and bacon crumble combination was out of this world.

The cheese platter was much the same, delicious. The housemade jam and blue cheese combination was my favorite, though the pickled veggies were up there too. I have yet to eat a full meal at Husk, but it’s on my “must” for my next Charleston trip.

From there we uber’d to Edmund’s Oast, a unique spot named after an English-born brewer that came to Charleston in the 1760’s. True to it’s origins, Edmund’s offered a plethora of beer on tap.

This plus the unique biergarten set up outside made this a spot I’d love to take David to.

Unfortunately I had had enough to drink by this point, so I passed on the beer, but the heirloom tomato and watermelon salad with a sherry vinaigrette and basil was out of this world.

The menu is a little odd, as my friends and I couldn’t quite find the thread that held together all the offerings, but everything we tried was delicious. Furthermore, our server is probably one of the best I ever had.

We crashed back at the hotel not long afterwards, so we’d feel fresh enough to get up early and explore. First thing in the morning, we all changed into our walking clothes and found Whisk, a bright and adorable coffee and juice shop in downtown Charleston.

I really was intending to have a green juice, but the bagel sandwich was calling my name.

No regrets, it hit the spot!

From there we walked through the market and down to the waterfront.

We saw dolphins and watched couples taking engagement photos as we walked along. We wandered down side streets and gawked at the beauty of historic Charleston.

Cobblestone streets, side porches, flower boxes- I’m convinced there is no other city like it.

Another hour or so into our walk, we headed back to the hotel for showers and to meet Kristin, who was driving into town to meet us. Once we all reunited, we took off for 82 Queen for lunch.

We were seated in a bright corner of a charming, upstairs room and set up shop. The bloody mary was on point, as were the cheese grits.

If you come to Charleston without eating grits, shame! They are a must and we licked the plates clean before changing locations. We chose to check out the Pavilion Bar, located on the roof of the Market Pavilion Hotel.

Oh my goodness, this spot was amazing! The vibe was lively and fun so we set up shop. We stayed through a rainstorm before deciding to make a quick stop back at the hotel to change for the evening.

We walked next door to The Grand Bohemian and went straight to the rooftop, Eleve. Our eating patterns were all out of whack from having no real structure to our days so we ended up splitting  two plates of fries and two heirloom tomato plates with burrata cheese.

Strange combination, but fries and tomatoes can’t ever be a bad thing. We sat outside chatting about how we can’t believe we are 10 years post-college, then bought a round of shots for a bachelorette party of girls that went to The University of Georgia too. And just like that, we’ve come full circle.

The next morning we made sure to get to Hominy Grill just after 9:00, which was a good call, since by the time we left it was slammed with a line around the building.

I dove face first into the special, a crab meat and avocado omelet, which was creamy and delicious- a perfect sendoff to one of my favorite cities.

We all hugged goodbye and went over our plan to make it happen again within the next year. I love those girls so much and couldn’t have asked for a better, more refreshing weekend away.

For more travel posts, visit my travel page!

By the early afternoon, I was back at home, where David had rocked being a solo dad all weekend. His snap chats had me laughing the entire time I was away and it felt so good to hug my crazies. We took a family bike ride and just like that I settled back into life, feeling refreshed from a weekend away with my ladies!

What is your favorite spot in Charleston?

And if you’ve never been, what is your favorite city to get away to for a quick weekend?