Thursday, April 5, 2012

Isle of Palms

I recently took a trip to Isle of Palms as a quiet get away. It was amazing. That island was exactly what I was looking for. It was clean, quiet and small town feel. I stayed 4 days but was not anywhere ready to go when I left.



The Beach – its small compared to MB or FL but makes up for its size with marine life preservation and cleanliness. Jelly fish, crabs, starfish and horseshoe crabs fill the beaches and water. No real reason to even go to the aquarium. Shells are everywhere even though I had a hard time finding an unbroken sand dollar.









Shopping – I guess if you know me then you know I love to shop. It is also a big part of my vacation. At the Isle of Palms all you have to do is cross the bridge to the main land and you hit shopping heaven. Tons of great restaurants and major retail stores such as Belk and Old Navy with smaller stores such as Palmetto Moon blended in. Love that store. I am a true South Carolinian.



Eats – This small Island it not short of great places to eat but if you need to, you can go just across the bridge to Mt. Pleasant and experience some of the greatest restaurants that exist. I can only eat so much in four days but I put forth a good effort. On the Island I ate at Coconut Joes (right on the beach) twice because it was so freaking good and Ollie and Luke’s Pizzeria once. Both places rocked.  On the main land I ate at Page’s Okra Grill twice, once for supper and once for breakfast. This place rocks. I had the Pimento cheese burger and fries okra for supper, so good. For breakfast I had the Blueberry pancakes. Don’t miss this place if you take a trip here.  I also hit up PF Chang’s but was not impressed. Should have stuck with the local places.



Places to stay – I believe there are about three hotels on the Island, one resort and two mom and pop type hotels. I stayed at The Palms Hotel and was pleased. Feel free to stop by tripadvisor.com to read my review. You can also rent a vacation mansion. There are plenty to choose from because that is all that is on the island. The beaches are lined with mansions and well so are all the streets and the marina.




What to do – I wish I had the time to list every this there is to do here but it would take writing a book. So instead I will tell you about what I did. Obviously I soaked in the sun on the beach and also did my fair share of shopping. One of the most magical things I did was visited the Angel Oak Tree, truly worth the drive. It’s a really old Angel Oak tree that has white squires surrounding it. I also took a road trip to Folly Beach to see the Morris Island Lighthouse, also worth the drive and walk. I feel one day it won’t bee there to see. Morris Island is currently underwater so it’s not like you can just walk up to the lighthouse but if you are brave enough then you can walk/swim through the water to get closer. The water is very shallow. A few things I didn’t have time to do was go Crab fishing, take a charted trip to explore a secluded island, walk through the many beautiful gardens and go to the SC aquarium.  Plus Charleston is right down the road and it’s full of things to do. I really could have stayed for two weeks and never ran out of things to do.