The Carolinas and Georgia

Ah, a long weekend. With Martin Luther King Jr day on Monday 15th, and the freezing cold that had the North East in its grip for a few weeks now, I thought how nice it would be to go somewhere even just a little bit warmer. I was told that the Carolinas and Georgia are usually quite mild this time of year, most likely “in the 60s” (around 15 degrees Celsius), so I booked an additional day off work and bought a return flight to Charlotte, NC.
Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA had been on my list of places to see ever since I arrived in New York in October, so I was excited to finally go there. In hindsight, I should have been a little smarter about this trip as the recent “Bomb Cyclone”, the icy winter storm that had made its way up the East coast a couple of weeks prior, had left the region in a state of temperature shock (for lack of a better description). It was still pretty damn cold down there, and I was cursing myself for not packing proper gloves and my thick winter scarf..
Despite this, of course I still made the most of the time I had in the area. Charleston is such a pretty and clean little town, it’s absolutely worth a visit. The coastal part of South Carolina is equally beautiful with its marshy inlets and fabulous beaches. Moving into Georgia, the landscape does not change too much in the Southern region, though I felt almost a little disappointed with Savannah, in comparison to Charleston. The city seemed a little more run down and just not quite as quaint and pretty. But, having said that, a historical and architectural walking tour I joined while I was there, was very helpful in understanding the city and its gruesome history and layout better.
Similar to South Carolina, Georgia has some very pretty beaches. Of course when it’s cold they’re completely deserted (apart from some people walking around wrapped in blankets or sleeping bags to keep warm (no joke!). And as is typical for the Southern States, there are plenty of Plantations and Estates dotted about which can be visited most days of the year. I opted for Wormsloe Estate, which is mostly famous for it’s oak tree lined alley, apparently the longest in the world.
To round off this trip, I headed back North to Asheville, NC, a cute little artist town near the Blue Ridge Mountains. There are plenty of parks and forests in the area too, which I would have loved to explore more. But with the limited time I had, I just managed a short trip to the Triple Falls waterfall, as well as Lake James, for a quick nature fix before heading back to the Big Apple.

Check out the North America galleries on the website for a variety of photos from this exciting adventure.