Field Trip to Charleston, SC

Our group consisted of first- and second-graders, plus one 4-year-old, parents, and teachers. We were blessed to have a tour manager that handled all of the details for us. We left Decatur, GA (Atlanta area), around 8am on Wednesday, April 13, and returned to the same location on Friday, April 15, at around 7pm. Everything in between was educational and cultural for the students, and we had a ball! Here is our story...

Immediately upon arriving in Charleston, we went to the South Carolina Aquarium. It was great. We were able to sit in on a presentation as the fish were being fed, and we listened to one of the divers give history about the fish, shark, and aquarium. We then left there and went to check into our hotel at the Quality Inn and Suites in Mt. Pleasant, SC. This is a very nice hotel. The rooms were clean and spacious. The continental breakfasts each morning were super! We left there and went to see a movie at the IMAX Theatre, and then enjoyed a scrumptious dinner at Bubba Gumps Shrimp Co. Restaurant.

The next day (Thursday), we met our tour guide at the visitor center. Al Miller was our guide, and he was wonderful. We enjoyed our African-American Tour. He is very knowledgeable. Highlights of that tour included a visit to Emanuel A.M.E. Church and Mr. Philip Simmons' Workshop. We were able to spend time with him, take lots of pictures, and get lots of hugs. Mr. Simmons is over 92 years old, and he was standing tall and tending to the fire in his stove. Wow! What a privilege to be able to stand in his presence! We then took a boat ride out to Fort Sumter. Later, we had dinner at CiCi's Pizza (yummy!). We then took a short stroll on the beach at the Isle of Palms.

On our last day (Friday), we were not ready to leave! We toured the Magnolia Plantation, and our swamp guide, John, did a fabulous job. The students went to the petting zoo, and we walked through one of the antebellum slave cabins. We witnessed some rich history. After having a wonderful lunch at Ryan's Restaurant (outside of Charleston), we headed back to Atlanta! Next year, we are headed to Gettysburg, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. Until then…

Quick Tips:

You must stop by the visitor center on Meeting Street. It will have a list or lists of everything going on. Then you can take your time and make an itinerary for yourself. Get a visitor guide, because it is filled with coupons and a list of things you must see and do!

You have to visit the Old City Market before leaving the area! Here, you can find all kinds of nice souvenirs and items/keepsakes for your home. There are many tables and street vendors to choose from. Allow at least 1 to 2 hours for this part of your trip.

Also, be sure to ride by Rainbow Row if you don't get to see these beautifully painted houses on a planned tour. We were able to see the owner of the Piggly Wiggly grocery stores' home. His house had huge concrete pigs lining the front walk!

Best Way To Get Around:

There are many walking tours you can sign up for, but I think the best way is by bus with a tour guide aboard. A very knowledgeable one will definitely be worth the money. They bring everything to life and show you things and places to look at that you may not think to go. So join a group with a guide... walking or riding, it's worth it!

This is a great hotel. The staff is very friendly and helpful. The person that made the most impact on us was the breakfast-bar attendant. Her name is Britt. She is a super lady. There were so many people taking advantage of the wonderful continental breakfast buffet each morning, and she took good care of everyone. Our breakfast each morning consisted of hot grits, scrambled eggs, bacon, biscuits / gravy, cinnamon apples, oatmeal, muffins, toast, cold cereals, juices, coffee… and the list goes on! It was fabulous!

The rooms are spacious and clean! The housekeeping staff worked hard to keep everything looking good. We were not able to enjoy the outdoor pool. It was open, but the weather was very cool, so we did not take the students outside. An indoor pool would have been perfect!

Our only complaint is the fact that we did not have phones (working phones) in our sleeping rooms. Other than that, it was great! This hotel is very close to all of the major attractions for Charleston and the beach at the Isle of Palms. It is located on the outskirts, so you don't have to deal with the downtown Charleston hustle-and-bustle. You will have to travel across the Cooper River Bridge to get there (with a beautiful sight of the harbor!). I will definitely stay here again when I am in the Charleston area.

Scrumptious! Our group (young children and their parents) chose from fried shrimp, Cheeseburgers, fish and chips, and chicken tenders. Everyone said that their meal was good. The only thing that may have been a problem was everyone who ordered coffee received it lukewarm or cold. We all had to ask for another cup of coffee(?). Other than that, our meals were delicious, and the staff was great! We will definitely return. One of our parents lost her cell phone there, and when we called back an hour or two later, no one had seen or could find the phone. That was a little disappointing, especially since this parent is a doctor and she really needed her cell phone! The students loved it when the waiters played a "Forrest Gump" trivia game. Many of them won great prizes. We didn't have to turn our car tags to "Run Forrest Run" or "Stop Forrest Stop" because the waiters were right there the entire time, and we wanted for nothing. A special treat was the fact that the staff had printed up special menus for us with the name of our school group on top as a heading! Wow! That was very impressive! Our reserved tables were upstairs, and we were given the "red carpet" treatment. The staff treated us as if we were the only ones in the restaurant. This was amazing, considering the fact that the place was packed! It was wonderful!

We took a group of first and second-graders from the Atlanta area to Charleston for a 3-day, 2-night field trip. We had made arrangements with Just Fresh to have our lunches ready for pick-up so that we could enjoy them on our boat ride out to Fort Sumter.

First of all, our tour manager and parent volunteers had to wait because the lunches were not ready. After the lunches were delivered to the boat, we discovered that the juices for the students were not included as stated by the restaurant staff, so the tour manager and bus driver had to take off running for the restaurant (located several yards away) at the IMAX Theatre and get the juices. They had 2 minutes (if that) to spare by the time they arrived at the boat. It was about to pull off without them because they were getting juices from Just Fresh! Many of the sandwiches were soggy and seemed like they were prepared too far in advance. I feel the sandwiches were too small for the money they charged for them.

I doubt if our group will use Just Fresh again. We would have come out better making them ourselves, ordering hotdogs on the boat, or asking another food chain to deliver to us before boarding the boat. Individual orders may turn out a lot better than this group order. I'm sure there is a good explanation. We had a boat to catch and seagulls to feed, so we did not stick around to find out!