Weekend in Charleston
The family had a long weekend for President’s Day so we decided to fly to Charleston, SC. This was a place that we had heard so many good things about but had never made the trip. We discussed going somewhere but didn’t finalize the plans until just a couple of days prior to leaving. Weather is always a factor in our planning but February is usually a very tough month to plan too far in advance. The outlook looked like it would be a little chilly but overall good for the trip down to South Carolina. We got up early on Saturday morning and made the familiar trip to the airport. It was a cold preflight but the engine heater had been on all night so the plane was ready to go. Lori said she wanted remote start and heated seats and I told her that we would work on that in future upgrades but for now this is was the best I could do.
The flight down to Charleston was absolutely beautiful. I had decided to fly at 12,000 feet to get some higher altitude practice with the family. We all put on our oxygen cannulas and the trip down was uneventful at about two hours and fifteen minutes. I had filed a route using victor airways but when I picked up my clearance the controller asked if I just wanted direct and I said “Yes!” We landed at KCHS – Charleston International Airport and Air Force Base. It is a good sized airport but fees were low and they waived overnights with fuel that wasn’t too terribly expensive. As soon as we shutdown the line guys had the rental car at the plane for us and assisted in unloading the luggage. Great service!
We had no plan and didn’t even have a hotel room yet but we headed into Charleston. When we arrived we went to the Visitors Center and were surprised how busy things were for February. The Southeast Wildlife Expo was happening and there were a lot of people in town. A Carnival cruise ship was also docked for the day which added to the business. I got on Priceline and was able to find a decent deal on a Holiday Inn Express just a few miles outside of the city that we would stay at. We then struggled a bit to find parking but finally found a garage that wasn’t full. By this time the air was warming up nicely and it was turning into a beautiful day. We spent the day exploring Charleston on foot. We went through the entire City Market and had lunch at Southend Brewery. We then walked some more along the pier, along Rainbow Row and then to the Battery. The wind had really picked up in the afternoon and we were starting to get tired so we made the trek back to the car. In total we walked over 6 miles on Saturday! We then found the hotel and then after a short rest we went to dinner at a The Green Goat not to far from where we were staying.
Sunday was another busy day for the family. We had a good breakfast at the hotel and then headed to the USS Yorktown. The temperature was forecasted to be cool and windy on Sunday. The USS Yorktown was a great tour that we enjoyed for a few hours. There was much more to see but some of the exhibits were outside and the wind was making it feel very cold. We also wanted to go to the South Carolina Aquarium as well. We crossed back over the bridge and went back into Charleston and spent a few more hours in the aquarium. We had missed lunch and were very hungry so we decided on an early dinner at Fleet Landing Restaurant. It would be an early night though as we had had a busy couple of days and we would be leaving early the next morning.
On Monday morning we woke early, got dressed and packed and had breakfast at the hotel. We then headed back to the airport. Winds again favored flying high so I filed for 13,000 feet. The plane did a great job climbing this high and we were cruising at around 180 knots (207 MPH). The trip back only took about 2 hours. When we got close to Richmond there were some layers of clouds that we had to go through on our decent and we picked up a bit of rime ice on the leading edges of the wings and the windshield. Nothing to really worry about but I did activate the deicing boots and most of the ice quickly popped off. It was very good experience but I will still be very careful when flying around ice as I don’t want to have to rely on these.
We had an excellent weekend in Charleston. As I type this it is a few hours after we landed and it is now snowing hard. I’m glad the weather held out for us and that we were able to enjoy the weekend. Click here to see all of our pictures from the weekend in Charleston. We already know that we will be back as 2 days in Charleston isn’t enough to see everything.
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Comments
The kids think they are cool. The first time Lori used them last year she didn’t like them. I made them “optional” on our flight down at 12,000 but told them they would be more comfortable. I noticed they were all using them though. They know how to put them on and set them up for proper flow so I have them trained!
Looks like the perfect get-away! How did everyone like using oxygen cannulas?