There & Back Again – Road Trip Stops Between Asheville, NC and Key West, FL

Even though Key West was the destination of our road trip, we definitely made sure to take in some highlights on our way there and back again from Asheville.

We had one of those road trips that didn’t exactly go how we imagined for a couple of reasons:

We had our dog, Brady, with us, which meant stopping in a small town to get coffee or lunch or visit tiny museums in the middle of no where wasn’t really an option – which is typically a huge part of what I love about road trips.

We had car trouble… Twice. I had some intense frustration about this because I bought my car brand new (granted that was eight years ago) but Baby Jacques has been my partner in crime on all my solo road trips or road trips with friends since graduating high school and it was upsetting and it just felt crappy to have to deal with all this on vacation.

But here’s the thing, even though we had these little wrenches in our trip we were together and we were exploring and we saw some cool, cool stuff. Key West had a lot of really fun things to see and eat but we also saw things and ate in other awesome places along the way.

» Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston is a city that we’re DYING to get back to. There is so much history here, so much beauty here and so much to see here! Unfortunately, because we had Brady, we didn’t have the opportunity to make the most of our day as we passed through. We did take the time to walk along the riverfront and vowed to come back soon. (Of course, we’ve moved to the middle of the country since we said we’d go back for a weekend, BUT we’ll be living in Asheville again someday and can take weekend trips places like this.)

» Folly Beach

Matt and I discovered our mutual love for fried shrimp on this trip and we made sure to take advantage of this aspect of being near the beach as often as possible! My favorite fried shrimp stop was the Folly Beach Crab Shack. We ate outside on their patio so we could have Brady with us and their food was phenomenal! 

Across the street was this adorable shaved ice stand where we HAD to stop and get a frozen treat for our walk back to our car.

As we were walking back to the car we couldn’t miss the opportunity to stand on a beach together for the first time. This wasn’t our final destination for the night, so it was just a quick stop, but we put our feet in the ocean together for the very first time (Oh, and Brady saw the ocean for the first time too!).

» Savannah, Georgia

We got to our hotel just outside Savannah, Georgia just in time to have my alternator go out in my car. So, our time in Savannah was cut short as we scrambled to find a mechanic and make an appointment for the next morning. So, all we really had time to do was to walk through the beautiful squares in the city center. It has the really special look to it at night when the light shines & the moss dripping from the trees catches the light. There’s something so special and magical about it.

» Islamorada, Florida

On our way to Key West we made a pit stop on another one of the islands in the Keys for lunch. Of course, we HAD to have fried shrimp again while we were near the ocean. We found this gorgeous restaurant that you can boat up to. We went out on the dock while our food was cooking and looked out at the ocean.

Matt definitely looks like a shrimp-lover

» Congaree National Park, South Carolina

I went to Congaree National Park on a solo road trip, but during this time it was flooded so I wasn’t able to do all of the boardwalk and none of the other trails. Luckily for us, when we got here this time most of the boardwalks were under construction! We did a small portion of the boardwalk and got to see some of the beautiful swamp areas. It was the perfect end to our road trip.