5 days. 4 locations. 1 big adventure with my best friend.

Braden and I had been planning a road trip to the beach for quite a while, but we had no idea where we'd be staying or what we'd be doing our entire trip. Taking trips like that are totally not in my character, I'm such a planner and everything always has to be organized. I don't know what came over me but I went into this trip with a completely open mind and with no expectations!

Our journey began on Saturday morning. First stop, Litchfield Beach for a Low Country Boil honoring two of our friends getting married in October.

We spent time hanging out with friends and meeting new ones while it poured rain outside. Despite the rain, the ocean view was still as beautiful as ever. We ate a delicious dinner of shrimp, sausage, corn, and potatoes (Bray and I stuck to the proteins) and followed it up with a game for the engaged couple. The rest of the night consisted of chatting and Q&A sessions for the two married couples who were there, it was a pretty entertaining evening!

The sunset over the marsh was breathtaking!

Next stop, Pawleys Island!

The next morning we had no idea where we were going to stay. We initially made a pact to not stay in the same place two nights in a row, so that made our trip pretty adventurous and kept us on our toes. We knew that Braden's aunt, uncle, and 4 cousins were staying somewhere in the area. We gave them a call, made a coffee shop stop, and headed to Pawley's Island to spend the day/night with them. The house they were staying in was seriously incredible, fully equipped with an elevator, movie theater, and workout room!

When we got there we went straight to the beach and played a round of bocce ball (Bray and I dominated, just sayin') and hung out on the beach with his family. The rest of the night was chill. We fished for a little while, had a delicious seafood dinner, and watched a movie in the theater. 

The next morning we headed to a water park! We spent a few hours climbing stairs and shooting down the slides until we were exhausted. It was so fun to reminisce on our childhood, water parks are still so fun no matter what age you are!

Once we returned to the house we packed up and it was on to location three, Charleston.

First on our list when arriving in Charleston was to get dinner, after the days festivities we were pretty hungry! On our last visit to Charleston we tried an Italian restaurant called Blossom that is located downtown. The service there is wonderful and their food is off the charts! In natural Paleo fashion we stuck to the protein and veggie heavy meals. I ordered the North Carolina Rainbow Trout with haricots verts, crushed roma tomatoes, roasted garlic, and pistachios. It was so tender and flavorful! Braden had the Oven Roasted Salmon Mepkin Abbey mushrooms, sautéed zucchini, all served in a tomato broth. Both meals were absolutely delicious!

We love the atmosphere and neat lighting at Blossom - it makes for a great experience in addition to the wonderful food!

Our friend Sarah graciously let us stay in her very Pinterest worthy apartment near downtown Charleston. She had a few friends playing at Tsunami so we thought it'd be great to support them and hear some great music. Well.. we can't resist sushi.. so we ordered dinner number two with no shame. I ordered the cucumber salad roll (my fav and Paleo friendly) and Bray ordered sashimi. We learned that we're not super fond of eating raw fish in it's simplest form.. I don't think I'll be ordering that again any time soon!

The next morning we woke up and decided to do a Crossfit workout. Doing workouts while out of town usually is difficult for me, but having Braden there to push me and cheer me on always makes it more fun! We ran a mile towards the ocean, stopping every minute to do 10 air squats, then running again unitl the next minute. Oh my legs, we ended up doing about 110 squats, talk about jello!

We wanted to shop around so like typical tourists we hit up the downtown area. We walked up and down King street, went to the shops in Charleston Place, and through the market. We stopped in and ate lunch at a little cafe called Brents. We both ordered buffalo chicken salads and it was delcious! I loved getting to spend some quality time with my boy, in addition to seeing all of the neat places Charleston has to offer. We left with new tshirts, some pecan pralines, and other nifty little things.

It was so hard having these tagging along with us but not being able to eat them!

Sarah met up with us after we finished shopping and we headed out to the beach. Instead of going to a touristy spot, Sarah took us to Sullivan's Island. It was pretty windy but we still tried passing the volleyball around, needless to say that was quite the sandy venture. The view at Sullivan's Island is beautiful. Huge cargo boats are constantly passing by, and the beach was only accompanied by us and a few seagulls.

Sarah had plans later that evening so Braden and I decided to go out for a little date night. We have been dying to try some Thai food, and my little friend Alex has previously requested that we try a place called Basil Thai Restaurant. She's a trustworthy foodie so we thought it'd be a great idea! The restaurant itself is pretty small, but don't let that fool you, the foods flavor and spice are outrageously delicious.

I ordered the red curry chicken that is paired with basil and bamboo roots. It was the perfect amount of spice! Braden ordered the beef Pad Prik, which is paired with basil, bell peppers, onions, and Prik King curry sauce. Personally I think the name is kind of silly.. but it was still very good!

Red Curry Chicken in all its glory

Beef Pad Prik

I must admit, that meal definitely opens up the sinuses haha. We were both craving something sweet after such a savory meal, but since we are eating Paleo style that craving satisfaction was a little difficult. We thought Planet Smoothie would be a safe bet. We agreed on the Chocolate Chimp (cocoa, bananas, vanilla, and honey), we thought that was close enough. Well, to our surprise the cocoa was not powder, it was chocolate syrup. We exchanged a look of concern, but still agreed to give it a go. Not even half way through the smoothie we both asked if it was making the others tummy hurt.. yep you guessed it, our stomachs are no longer used to foods high in sugar since starting eating Paleo hardcore. We had to throw the smoothie away, but it was still worth a try right?

We decided to head back to my house in Columbia to spend a little time with my mom before heading back to school. I thought that I wouldn't make it home again until later this fall but I was so happy to visit one more time. We spent the day hanging out and taking it easy, and then had lunch with my mom at Texas Roadhouse. Mmm talk about some salad, steak, and sweet potato deliciousness!

It's back to reality for us, but it was so fun to have one last adventure before everything starts up in full swing. I'm always thankful for time I get to spend with my boy, friends, and family. It's a pretty laid back week on this end. I am going to spend that afternoon with Braden's family, I'm pretty excited to see all of them, it feels like it has been weeks! The rest of this weekend will be time well spent with newly married friends and our wonderful Crossfitters.

I hope you all have had a wonderful week, but I hope you have an even better weekend :)