Hey Guys!
My husband and I decided to take a trip to Charleston & Savannah the week after Christmas.
I had been to both places several years ago with my daughter, but my hubby had never been…..so, since we were both off the week after Christmas, we decided to plan a trip to see both places.
Since we were driving, we decided to leave after work on Fri, Dec. 27th and drive a few hours so we could get a head start on the long drive to our first destination, which would be Charleston.
We headed out around 4 pm on Fri.
I had found a hotel online the same day.
When I had googled maps the route to Charleston, I saw that we would be driving near the small town of Dandridge, TN so I decided to look for a hotel in that area.
I didn’t find much using Booking or Travelocity, so I googled hotels in Dandridge and found a place called, Mountain Harbor Inn.
Once I saw that it was on the lake, I immediately booked a room!
Unfortunately, we arrived to the hotel around 9:15 pm so we didn’t get to enjoy the lake views.
The front office had also closed at 8 pm so, the staff had to leave our room key taped to the front door of the hotel.
After retrieving our key, we headed to our room on the 2nd floor.
Tip: This hotel has no elevator
They had our names taped to our room door.
The rooms here are all named & themed rooms. I booked the “Love me Tender” suite.
The suite had a beautiful king-size sleigh bed, a kitchenette, a small kitchen table and a living room that included a sofa and a TV.
It also had a picture of Elvis hanging on the wall….hence, the name Love me Tender.
When you book a stay here, the room rate also includes a sunset cruise, a hot breakfast buffet and a candlelight dessert!
Unfortunately, since we arrived so late, we didn’t get to experience the cruise or the candlelight dessert but the staff had told us that they would leave our dessert in our room refrigerator but they never left it. 🙁
After getting settled into our room, we watched TV for a while before calling it a night!
The next morning, I was up bright and early. I was hoping we would get to see a beautiful sunrise over the lake.
However, it was so foggy, we couldn’t see anything! ;(
The lake’s water level was also really low as it’s controlled by the TVA.
At 8:00 am, we headed to the dining room to have breakfast.
The dining room was really nice and had views of the lake!
The hotel offered a delicious breakfast that included eggs, bacon, biscuits, gravy, and more!
They also offered coffee, milk and juices.
It was so good!
After breakfast, we walked around the hotel and took a few pictures of the inside…
And the outside…
Read reviews for the hotel here
Next to the hotel is the Douglas Lake marina where you can rent boats, kayaks, canoes and paddle boards.
Tip: When you rent their boats, you get free pizza and ice cream!
After checking out the hotel, we packed up and started our drive to Charleston.
Driving through the small town of Dandridge
The town had an abundance of historic buildings, the majority of which date back to the early to mid 1800’s.
In all there are over 20 significantly historic structures in the Downtown District alone.
Tip: Bush Beans factory is located 20 mins from the hotel where they have a visitor’s center that includes a museum and a cafe. You can tour the Bush family home that sits across from the visitor’s center. Read reviews here
As we continued our drive, we started seeing damage from the devastating hurricane Helene.
The location of my pictures showed that we were in Del Rio, TN which is located approximately one hour from Asheville, NC.
There were tons of downed trees that indicated how far the water had risen during the storm.
We then passed through the small town of Hot Springs, NC. 
Hot Springs is the home to the only natural hot springs in North Carolina.
The town had a lot of damage from the hurricane. There were signs asking for donations so the town could recover.
We then drove through parts of Asheville where we saw the most damage.
It was very sad!
Tip: If you would like to donate to the victims of this devastating storm, please click here. It’s one of the few charitable organizations that we will donate to.
After making a quick stop at a Chick fil A for lunch, we continued our drive to Charleston.
We drove over this cool bridge along the way.
After several hours of driving, we finally arrived to our hotel in Mt Pleasant, SC.
We chose to stay in Mt Pleasant because we didn’t want to deal with all the traffic in downtown Charleston. We also didn’t want to have to pay for parking as most hotels in downtown, charge a parking fee.
I booked our stay at the Cambria Hotel. We had never stayed in a Cambria before but it had really good reviews and it was only 15 mins from downtown Charleston.
After getting checked in, we headed to our room.
The room was really nice and clean!
We had two beds, a large bathroom, a small refrigerator, microwave, coffee pot, coffee, and a sitting area.
We were very happy with our hotel choice and it was only $150 a night!
After getting settled into our room, we headed out for dinner.
The employee at the hotel had given us some restaurant recommendations so we decided to give one of them a try.
It was called The Wreck. We were told by the employee that the restaurant opened at 5 pm and that we should arrive early as it stays really busy….so, that’s what we did.
And he was right, when we arrived, there was already a line of people waiting to. get in!
The restaurant didn’t look like much on the outside and wasn’t anything special on the inside.
They opened the doors promptly at 5 and we were seated right away.
The restaurant sits right on the water.
Tip: The restaurant was used in the filming of the Netflix show, Outer Banks.
After being seated, we took a few minutes to look over the menu.
The restaurant only serves fresh seafood that they caught that day….once they run out, they close the doors.
Read reviews here
Our waitress brought out boiled peanuts instead of the typical bread.
I decided on the gilled mahi mahi ….the meal came with rice, butter beans, coleslaw and a hushpuppy.
My hubby ordered the fried seafood platter that came with fish, oysters, shrimp and scallops.
The food was delicious!
After dinner, we headed back to our hotel and watched TV for a while before calling it a night!
Thanks for reading!
Stay tuned for Day 3!
UPDATE: Read Day 3 here, Day 4 here, Day 5 here
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