One extremely nice and convenient amenity offered by both of the places we stayed in Charleston was the fact that all guests had complimentary use of the hotel bikes. Now, I admittedly don’t do much biking at all as an adult—unless the stationary one at the gym counts—but I loved nothing more than biking around Charleston over our long weekend there.

Getting the lay of the land on our bikes

I had planned a nap before our afternoon boat ride but that idea was quickly thrown out the window; as soon as I saw the bikes, I knew we’d be forgoing resting in order of a little cardio activity. We headed out with no map or direction in mind—Charleston is relatively easy to navigate, particularly when you’re on two wheels and not worrying about one-way streets—clocking several miles as we sped down East Bay Street and around the Battery before heading back.

We had just gotten the new GoPro Session in the mail days prior, and as tiny as that little thing is, it was the perfect opportunity to take it out for a spin on a bike.

Fun fact: Charleston is dubbed “the Holy City” due to the vast number of churches the town boasts and their towering prominence with such a low skyline, and I’m pretty sure we whizzed past every last one in town.

In other places, like New York or even Nashville where we’re not accustomed to sharing lanes with bikers, I’d probably be pretty skeptical about biking out on the streets among the traffic, but in Charleston, people gave us the right-of-way and also the streets are so tight that drivers can’t really get their speed up on any of the roads (at least downtown) so I never felt like my safety was at risk.

We had so much fun—plus the fact that I wasn’t worrying at all about getting hit the whole time—that it made me want to buy a bike for getting around Nashville with as bad as our traffic has gotten.

Biking to brunch at Cannon Green

The next morning, we had brunch plans at Cannon Green, sister property to the Zero George, and as it was just three miles away on Spring Street, once again we opted to take the bikes rather than to struggle to find street parking in Charleston.

Let’s pause for a moment and talk about how awesome Cannon Green is. This “gathering ground,” they’re calling it, has been many things over the years but opened last December as a restaurant and private events venue.

The whole place resembled a large, open greenhouse and was very tastefully decorated.

Seeing the courtyard and event space made me want to get married all over again. SVV, what do you think—perfect setting for a 10-year vow renewal?

We were there for brunch with my parents, which was every bit as good as the menu led us to believe. We had peach and heirloom tomatoes to start, along with two rounds of cocktails, and it would have taken me another two rounds to try all the drinks on the menu I wanted to try. But alas, Sunday morning, so I refrained (for once).

Biking around the Citadel campus

From there, we were relatively close to the Citadel, so we decided to bike onward and burn off some of our breakfast. My brother-in-law graduated from there­—not to mention my ex-military husband is mildly obsessed with tanks—and we wanted to see what the fuss was about.

The campus is gorgeous, far prettier than I ever would have expected out of a military college. I finally see why Josh so loved going to school here (because dressing in uniform and doing all that marching doesn’t sound all that appealing to me!).

It was a Sunday and school’s out for the summer, so we had the place more or less to ourselves. Just as we prefer it.

By the time we got back from our bike ride on the second day, hours had flown by and every inch of us was drenched. July in Charleston is no joke, y’all. I’m kind of surprised we lasted as long as we did.

While the temps were cooler that week than they were in Nashville—about 10 degrees cooler, in fact—the humidity is about 10 times stronger and I was both a hot mess and ready for a(nother) drink and a dip in a pool!

So … can I pull one of these bad boys off in Nashville?

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