SEWE In Charleston

We spent this past weekend in Charleston.  Todd is there 3 or so days a week for work and because he wasn't able to come home for Valentine's Day, he suggested that we spend the weekend up in our favorite city.

We didn't realize until after our plans were in full swing that this past weekend was also SEWE (or Southeastern Wildlife Exposition).  There were an additional 30,000 people in Charleston which made already tight quarters even tighter.  Restaurant reservations were in high demand all weekend so I wasn't able to get us into the highly talked about Husk but we were still able to try some great places.

We had lunch at Butcher & Bee -I highly recommend it!  It's on King Street but not really within walking distance if you're downtown.  It's hidden back in a warehouse, the menu changes all the time, you sit at big family tables and your food comes out on a baking sheet.  The hamburger I ordered was great.

SEWE is spread out all over downtown.  There are huge tents set up in Marion Square, demonstrations by dog trainers, lots of vendors, oyster roasts, etc.  I'll be the first to admit that I was a little (a lot) apprehensive about this expo highjacking my King Street shopping time but I was so glad we went.  It was a blast.

This was inside of the Garden & Gun tent.  We ducked in and out of the tents on Saturday afternoon to get out of the 40 degree wind and rain.

I'm pretty set on getting a Boykin now.  If this little guy was for sale, he might have gone home with us.  They did a bunch of retreiving demonstations with the Boykins- it's amazing how well trained these dogs were.

 We did get to spend a little time shopping.  I got some great cards in this adorable little paper shop called Mac & Murphy.

Forgive the iPhone picture but I have to share this find with y'all.  We walked past this little macaroon shop, Macaroon Boutique, a few times but each time it was closed.  On Sunday at about 4:30pm we decided to give it one last shot.  We got there and the lights were off but Todd tried the door anyway and realized it was open. The sweetest woman came out of the back and said they were closed but she would sell us what they had left.  Not knowing how they were, I bought one of these giant raspberry macaroons.  

And immediately said, 'I should have bought the whole tray." This was hands down the best macaroon I have ever eaten.  It was perfectly chewy, not too sweet, cold- just perfect!  If you're planning a trip to Charleston, put the Macaroon Boutique on your list! 

Until next time, Charleston...