One of the gifts we give each kiddo at Christmas is an experience to represent the Frankincense that was given to Jesus in the Bible. Sometimes the experiences are joint, sometimes they are individual. This past Christmas, we decided it would be fun to take our two youngest (the ones who are currently homeschooled) to visit Columbia SC. With my husband and I already visiting there quite often, we knew it was a place we wanted to share with our youngest children! Especially now that they are older (13 and 14), there’s so many fun things to do in Cola! My husband stayed home for work, so I planned a three-day long weekend with 2 days of travel. We didn’t get to hit all of the spots I was hoping, but we did a lot! I thought I’d share our travel itinerary for anyone hunting for ideas. It’s an awesome city (which is saying a lot, coming from this country girl!) with amazing weather in March!

Thursday – travel day

We left Maryland at about 10:30am and arrived to Cola at about 7:00pm. That’s a pretty average time for us. I always pack healthy food for the drive so we don’t have to eat fast food, and then we make minimal stops. We met my older daughter who lives in Cola at the hotel for dinner – she picked us up Eddie’s Calzones! After that, we chilled in the hotel for the rest of the evening and watched a movie.

We stayed at a new hotel this trip and it was lovely! The Homewood Suites at 400 Gervais in Vista was perfect for our needs. I really wanted a kitchen so I could make my own coffee (yes I’m a total snob – I love my Lifeboost!) and be able to make protein shakes or simple snacks. Our room was spacious and nicely appointed. The hotel is brand new and was extremely clean. The staff were super friendly and overall it was an excellent experience. The one downfall is that it’s a bit further away than our other favorite hotel (the Cambria) which makes the 30-minute walk to campus a bit out of reach.

Friday – State House & Riverbanks Zoo

Friday was packed and left us exhausted (the good exhausted that makes you fall into your bed and pass out after the day!). We started the day by walking to our favorite coffee shop, Sweetwaters, for breakfast. From there, we walked to the SC State House for the 9:30am tour (which was free). It was the first tour of the day and we had the tour guide to ourselves! It’s an absolutely must-do activity if you’re touring Cola and pretty great for all ages. Littles might get a tiny bit antsy but it’s well-worth the time to see the Senate and the House of Representatives, as well as hear about all of the history! Once finished inside, we walked the beautiful grounds and then walked over to Cantina 76 on Main for lunch. We love their tacos and always eat there at least once when we’re in town.

After that, we walked back to our hotel and drove to the Riverbanks Zoo & Garden. What a great experience! Especially after our lackluster visit to the DC National Zoo earlier this year, we were impressed. We saw just about everything (except we somehow missed the penguins) and even took the tram over to visit the beautiful botanical garden. It wasn’t very big (especially compared to a place like Longwood), but the gardens were beautiful and worth the tram ride. I don’t think I would have wanted to walk to it, as we were all feeling pretty exhausted from all the walking that day (we clocked over 7 miles!).

I had plans of also showing the kids the Saluda Riverwalk after the zoo because it’s basically right next door, but we were just too tired to do more walking. It’s definitely worth the visit though, as it’s absolutely beautiful. Instead of that, we headed back to the hotel for about an hour before meeting my older daughter for dinner. We tried Pasta Fresca in Forest Acres and had a wonderful experience! The portions were huge and we couldn’t come close to finishing, but the food was pretty good! After that, we headed back to the hotel to relax.

Saturday – Soda City, Historical House Tours, Marionette Show

Saturday was another busy day, though not nearly as tiring! We started off our day with a trip to Soda City Market, which is an absolute must if you’re going to be in Cola on a Saturday! It’s such a fun experience! We arrived right at 9:00am, so parking was easily accessible in the Cannon garage across from the Trundle Hotel. We ate breakfast there and enjoyed seeing all of the wonderful shops as well as experiencing the live music!

After that, we drove to Historic Columbia to tour all of the historical houses. There’s plenty of free street parking, so that part was easy. We started at the Hampton-Preston House at 10:30am, moved to the Robert Mills house at 12:00pm, and then the Museum of the Reconstruction Era (Woodrow Wilson family home) at 1:30pm. The tours for these houses are all timed specifically, so there’s not much room for scheduling flexibility. (Given that, we packed snacks in the car and munched in between tours instead of actually eating lunch). Robert Mills was definitely our favorite – the tour guide was super engaging and we just had a blast talking about all things history and learning about Robert Mills (who also designed the Washington Monument!). Not only is the house stunning, they have an interactive area set up in the basement that we all found enjoyable. We also really enjoyed the Hampton-Preston house and learning all about the families who lived in it. I’m glad we went to the Museum of the Reconstruction Era/Woodrow Wilson’s home because I would have regretted not doing it, but it’s more of a self-guided tour that requires you to do a lot of reading and kind of learn for yourselves. It wasn’t our favorite. We much prefer to engage with a tour guide and ask questions. Again, we’re glad we went but it’s the one I would drop if I were tight on time.

After that, we drove to the Columbia Marionette Theater for the 3:00pm performance of Snow White. We had no idea what to expect, but we were absolutely delighted! What a cool visual art! The performance lasted about 40 minutes and we all agreed it was definitely worth the visit. We then parked the car at the hotel and walked to Hickory Tavern for dinner – it’s pretty standard American fare with a fun bar vibe. We spent the rest of the evening at the hotel to relax – we all needed the time to unwind!

Sunday – Anne Frank Center and the SC State Museum

We started later on Sunday morning with another visit to Sweetwaters at the request of the kids. We then parked at USC and walked around, taking in all of the campus’s beauty! We got to see all of the buildings surrounding the Horseshoe that we had learned were used for hospitals during the Civil War. It was also pretty cool to see the Maxcy Monument (that we had just learned was designed by Robert Mills, the architect of one of the historic homes), as well as the Professor Greener statue (who we learned was the first African American professor at USC). So much history in one place!

We slowly made our way to the Anne Frank Center, which is located on campus and is the only permanent museum location in the U.S. and Canada. It was a powerful experience that we all found extremely worthwhile. I highly recommend it if you are in the area. We were captivated and horrified all at the same time … lots of emotions bottled up into 90 minutes. For that reason, it’s recommended for children 12 and up. There were so many impactful moments during the tour, but one that I found really neat was to see and take pictures with the chestnut sapling grown from the tree that Anne gazed upon outside the attic window.

After our Anne Frank tour, we headed over to the SC State Museum. It has a wide range of exhibits including history, science, and technology. Unfortunately this was one of our least favorites. We may have felt differently if we were able to see the Planetarium and 4D Theater though – so keep that in mind! I think it’s great for what it is, but my guess is that compared to the Smithsonian museums to which we have easy access in DC, it fell a bit short. The art gallery also was unfortunately closed, so we were bummed about that. The second floor housed natural history exhibits, the third floor included industry and technological advances (which I found the most interesting), and the fourth floor hosted historical exhibits. I imagine younger children might find the museum more engaging!

We left the museum to meet up with my older daughter one last time. We hit Old Chicago in Vista (another American food restaurant – try the pizza rolls!) and then hit Insomnia Cookies in Five Points for dessert. My daughter really wanted to introduce us to The Baked Bear (also in Five Points), but it wasn’t open. Insomnia was a good backup though! After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to start packing up!

Monday – travel day

We were on the road by about 7:15am so we could make it home in time for my younger daughter’s Tae Kwon Do class. We also made a pit stop at Liberty University. My daughter has her eye on that school for her undergraduate studies and was really curious about the campus after seeing USC, so we made it happen! Phew, what an incredible trip!

Other places we considered:

• Columbia Museum of Art – It was sadly closed for renovations but I really want to get there at some point
• Journey to Freedom tour – I wish we had been able to make this one happen but the scheduling just didn’t work
• EdVenture – It felt too young for my crew, but looks wonderful for littles
• McKissick Museum at USC – It unfortunately wasn’t open when we were available, but it looks like an interesting museum to pop into when time allows
• SC Military Museum – I think my son would have like this a lot but we weren’t able to fit it in
• Riverfront Park – Located within walking distance to the Marionette Theater, I had my eye on this park but we were hungry after the performance and choose to skip it

After thoughts: We had a blast on this trip. It was so fun to explore the city together and it really brought the local history alive for us! We unanimously agreed that we need more city tours in our life! In the future, I’d spread out the walking activities a little better because Friday was a lot for us! Overall, 10/10 highly recommend!