Charleston vs. Savannah: A Southern Smackdown

"Screw the staycation! Let's go somewhere."
- my husband, exactly four days into our spring break


A month after our rock-ass trip to Savannah, we still couldn't get the craving for fried green tomatoes out of our heads. We were spoiled on our visit to a grand, lush, haunted, delicious southern city, and we wanted more.

So even though we had sworn that our spring break would be a low-key staycation, we decided to visit Charleston on the cheap for two nights. After all, it was known for being grand, lush, haunted and delicious. Also, we had been unable to accept an invitation to attend a wedding reception there later this spring, but we still wanted to check this new city out.

So Dan and I packed, drove seven hours, checked into the cheapest/scariest motel right outside town, searched the bed for bedbugs, breathed a sigh of relief, and went on our second southern adventure. How did Charleston measure up?

Here's a little Savannah vs. Charleston breakdown:

There were gorgeous fountains:

Savannah had this elaborate fountain in Forsythe Park:

While Charleston had a modern one that shrieking kids could cool off in:

and this fancy pineapple one:

Interesting architecture:

Savannah had classic homes with ivy and immaculate landscaping...



while many of Charleston's homes had faux front doors! Rather than the front door opening to a foyer, they brought you onto the side porch. I couldn't get enough of it.


Here's a side view of one. See how the black "front" door brings you to a breezy side porch? How charming!



A sunny river walk:


Savannah had lively bars lining its impressive river walk...




much like Charleston's river walk that stretched for over a mile:






And deep-fried, southern food:

Here's Savannah's version of a "salad":



and Charleston's fried green tomatoes appetizer (I guess it wasn't fattening enough, so they had to add a pimento cheese dipping sauce):




In short, we loved frolicking around another charming city, especially taking in the major sights:





Going on a carriage tour

and visiting more restaurants for our New Year's resolution:



Savannah was more lovely, with its squares and Spanish moss, while Charleston was kinda like Savannah's wild cousin, with more night-life and roof-top bars.



While I'd probably be more inclined to go back to Charleston because there's more we'd like to do there, the trip to Savannah still spanked our trip to Charleston. Why?



Mother nature, my friends.



It rained in Charleston.






Correction: it poured in Charleston.


Now you see the street...

Now you don't:


It rained so much that the low-country areas flooded with about a foot of water. Dan and I both took off our shoes, rolled up our jeans, and waded barefoot through a few of the streets with all the other soaked folks who didn't have a hotel in town.




Dan and I were in pretty pissy moods after an hour of trumping through the monsoon. That is, until we stopped under a church's alcove to rest and a family with three boys came walking up. The youngest (around three) was wailing, "NOOOO MORE RAIN!!!!" The other two boys (maybe seven and eight) were cheering, "YEAHHHHH!" and splashing in the gutters like it was the singular best event that could have happened to them. It's all about perspective, I suppose. And we realized we were like the cranky three year old, even though we're both in our thirties...

That helped us rally pretty fast.

We ended up drying off on a roof top bar and toasting Dan's squishy shoes and my atrociously bad hair day:



Somehow, I think that this moment is the one we'll remember the best out of both our trips. :)