I spent last week at Isle of Palms, which is about 30 minutes outside of Charleston! I had all intentions of working ahead and getting blog posts written and ready to go live while I was away, but clearly, that did not end up happening. I realized that what I needed most of all was to fully take off during the vacation – no work, no blogging, intermittent social media use only when I felt like it, not because I felt like I needed to for my engagement. It was so nice to actually take a break! I do feel more refreshed and ready to come back to work, which is something that I’ve needed for a while.
My sister and I are more city vacation people, and my parents are more beach vacation people. It’s not that I don’t enjoy the relaxing vibes of the beach, it’s just that the beach isn’t super accessible for me! I can’t take my actual wheelchair on the beach, because sand and power wheelchairs don’t mix. And beach wheelchairs that you can rent do exist, but they don’t have all the customized supports that my actual wheelchair does, so it’s really hard and not comfortable for me to sit in them. I am all for a poolside moment with a book and frozen drink! But the actual beach, not so much. So Isle of Palms was a way for us to combine the beach for my parents, and being near to Charleston for me and my sister. We had two days where we went to Charleston itself, and spent the rest of the time either relaxing or recovering from the drive, which is physically exhausting for me.
The relaxing was really nice and definitely something that I needed. I spent so much time sitting on the balcony and reading – I think I finished four books while I was there, which was amazing. It’s been way too long since I’ve been able to do absolutely nothing but just read all day, and of course, being able to do it outside in beautiful weather was a bonus. We couldn’t travel until my conference was over, and we weren’t sure how the weather would be in early October, but it was so, so nice. Not stiflingly hot like it was when I visited over the summer, but still so nice and warm while sitting outside or walking around. And even nice enough to be able to eat dinner outside, too, which is always my favorite!
Time in Charleston was more limited this trip, but I still made sure to fit in my favorites. We had dinner outside at Chez Nous, where I had a lemon risotto that I will be thinking about for a long, long time. It’s such a gem of a restaurant, and I know I’ve only been there twice, but I truly believe that their food is always incredible – they have a menu that changes daily and really focuses on fresh and innovative use of ingredients, and it shows! I also made sure to stop by my favorite coffee shop there, Babas on Cannon, for their delicious espresso and their caviar sandwich, which I had two years ago and genuinely haven’t stopped thinking about since. And I got sushi takeout from Shiki, which was also impressively good. Everything I eat in Charleston is always amazing!
And of course, I couldn’t go to Charleston without stopping by the Hill House storefront!! It is seriously so pretty in person – I wanted to move in to this little bedding display, ha! The first of their holiday collection drops had just come out that week, so I was able to see the new releases in person, which was so much fun. I got to try the iced coffee from Nell’s (delicious), and I was maybe most excited of all that the store had an accessible door open button! Sometimes it really is the little things. I also got to drop by Lake Pajamas, too – I didn’t realize how many of my favorite brands had Charleston storefronts! Next time I could definitely spend a few hours just popping in and out of all of the stores.
Honestly, I love Charleston – I’d happily go back every single year, but the drive there is really rough for me. We have to split it into two days, and even that still isn’t easy! So I’m not exactly sure when I’ll make it back again, but my time there definitely did not disappoint.
