How to explore South Carolina on a Greenville day trip

To me, a good day trip is any place that’s under a 4-hour drive, but a great one is any place under 2, which makes Greenville, SC the perfect day trip location from Charlotte at only an hour and a half. I like to spend at least one day out the weekend going somewhere with the kids, exploring new places and making new memories. I’ve explored Greenville before with my guy, but it was a new location for the kids, so I was super excited to show off one of my favorite city finds on this Greenville day trip.

Brunch Eats

I’ve been to the original Biscuit Head in Asheville and LOVE it, so when I found out there was one in Greenville, I had to go. I’m a sucker for the original version of things … books, movies, restaurants … and this was no different, except this location has Biscuit French Toast! I consider myself to be a bit of a French toast connoisseur, so it’s always my go-to brunch pick and this one was oh so yummy with its blueberry syrup, powdered sugar, and fresh whipped cream. C got the half breakfast and couldn’t eat more than the perfectly fluffy biscuit and bacon (took his grits to go), while V got the chicken biscuit, which she later switched out for bacon because the chicken was a bit too wet for her liking (mine too). I’ve neglected forgot to mention that I actually ordered a half breakfast for myself as well with the loaded grits, sweet potato bacon, and biscuit, mainly because the first two items were their special of the day and I can’t pass up a special. I went to the jam bar and couldn’t decide on just one, so I went with an orange creamsicle butter, peach rosemary jam, and bourbon honey … all yummy. The long line we stood in was totally worth it.

 

Playing Around

We moved on from there and went to Main Street in search of the toy store, O.P. Taylor’s, my daughter located online because even at 12, she still loves a good toy store … as do I for that matter. Before walking in, I was in love with the toy soldier standing post at the door as it reminded me of iconic flagship location of FAO Schwarz, previously located on Fifth Avenue in New York. Once inside, we were met with vintage toy car models and a mixture of classic and modern toys and games. It’s so easy to turn into a kid again in a toy store as evident by the foam sword fight the kids and I engaged in before moving on try our luck at the Bop It … no one could seem to master it, but we had a blast looking crazy trying to.

Books on Books on Books

From there, we made our way down Main Street to the cutest bookstore M. Judson booksellers and storytellers. When you walk in, the checkout counter is right there and it’s compiled of books, which we thought was just the coolest thing. It’s decked out with comfy sofas and has a cute local cafe inside, The Chocolate Moose Bakery and Cafe, that I didn’t actually get to try myself, but imagine it was phenomenal judging from the length of the line.

I Scream, You Scream, We all Scream for Ice Cream

At this point, it was getting quite late, but we couldn’t leave without stopping at Spill the Beans for super yummy ice cream to take to the park. The line was insane but moved pretty quick. I’m guessing there was a ton of foot traffic because, by the time we got to the front of the line, most of the yummy mix-ins we wanted were depleted, but V opted for chocolate with sprinkles, C got vanilla with sprinkles and gummy bears, and I got vanilla with sprinkles and whipped cream because I just can’t pass up whipped cream when it’s an option. I will admit, it was a bit pricey, but oh so good and a fun treat for such a nice day. We took our ice cream over to Falls Park and found a nice spot on the side of the bridge to take in the waterfalls as well as the overachievers people being far more active than we were.

 

We finished up, took a few minutes to have a jump romping competition … where no one could seem to get more than 8 jumps in … and then made our way back to the car. Greenville was definitely one of the top day trips we’ll be sure to duplicate with new discovery spots!

If you’ve never been to the Greenville Artisphere in the spring, it can’t be missed! What are some of your favorite Greenville day trip events and hangouts?