13th birthday trip (by amie).

For my birthday my parents took me on a magical trip to Charleston! We drove to Sullivan’s Island on Tuesday morning to spend the day at the beach.

I hadn’t been to the beach since last summer, so it was so fun to go this week!

We stayed at the beach for two and a half hours before it began to rain. It was still enough time to go on a walk on the beach, swim, eat a picnic lunch, and lay out in the sun. It is such a nice and quiet beach.

I asked Mom to take a picture of these gorgeous flowers for me to paint.

My parents and I were able to check into our hotel early after the beach. It was called The Mills House, and it was super nice. Plus it had a pool and a pool makes everything better!

I can now say I’ve walked on a red carpet staircase, it felt so fancy!

There were so many pretty plants on the pool patio, plus it was on the second story, which was fun.

After we checked in our hotel, we walked to Off Track Ice Cream, which is off King Street. I chose the Cookie Club ice cream sundae. It was delicious. I definitely recommend this ice cream shop!

After ice cream we explored the city some more and went to the pier. Because our hotel was on Meeting Street, we walked wherever we went which was so nice.

When we got hungry, we showered and changed into our nice clothes (at least Mom and I did because we wanted to wear dresses!), then walked back to King Street for dinner.

For dinner we tried out The Darling Oyster Bar, and I realized I really like shrimp.

We ate at a bar where we could watch the men shuck oysters.

The food was delicious! My first taste of an oyster wasn’t my fave but at least I can say I tried one.

Wednesday morning we woke up, bought breakfast at the hotel cafe and ate it by the pool. Tell me that chocolate croissant looks good!

The pool was so refreshing and we had it all to ourselves first thing in the morning. Dad and I played tag — it wasn’t really fair because he is faster than me in the water, but I still had fun!

After the pool we checked out of our hotel and went for a small walk.

We were too full to eat at the Harken Bakery but it looked so yummy, you should try it if you’re in Charleston. I loved these shelves filled with plants and I want to try to copy them for my room.

Charleston is full of plants and flowers!

My parents and I ate at Xiao Bao Biscuit for lunch. When I heard “Biscuit” I thought, “Yum, biscuits for lunch.” Well my parents explained there were Japanese cabbage pancakes at the restaurant — not actual biscuits. I was disappointed until I tried one, and I have to confess they were really good!