Folly Beach South Carolina

This summer our family vacation was to Folly Beach, South Carolina, just a few minutes south of Charleston.  We found it a laid back, casual-beachy area with very friendly people.

My husband and youngest grand enjoying some kite flying

We rented a large house across the street from the beach high up on stilts, no doubt because this area has been hit by hurricanes an average of once every 10 years, including hurricanes Hugo and Andrew.

This is a common house style in Folly Beach

One unique local attraction is a fishing boat that was washed up next to the highway during hurricane Hugo in 1989, and is now used as a free billboard.  Anyone with a bucket of paint can leave their mark.  We painted it for my husband's birthday.  There is even a website - follyboat.com where you can see pictures of some of the billboards people have painted.

My Artistic Skills at Work

Another local feature of note is the abundance of reasonably priced seafood, especially wild shrimp.  We ate shrimp a lot.  We made low country boil, (sometimes known as frogmore stew) and enjoyed it thoroughly.  On the other hand, dairy and meat products were more expensive than in upstate New York.  For example, ice cream averaged $5.50 for a half gallon.

One day we drove into Charleston and spent 5 hours walking through their huge downtown open market, the pier with public wading fountains and porch swings, and the historic district with all its gorgeous old homes.

The market stretches for blocks

Lots of beautiful basketwork available

I think the fountains were meant for kids, but we couldn't resist

 

We spent a much of our time at the beach, boogie boarding, fishing, walking, and just hanging out in our beach cabana.  My son caught a huge fish which we had for dinner one night.

I'm told this fish is called a Red Drum

There were a few jellyfish stings among us, but they healed quickly and didn't keep us out of the water.  Of course there was the requisite souvenir shopping, we ate out a couple of times at some local restaurants,and played board games in the evenings. Mostly we just enjoyed being together.

My husband and I found two starfish washed up on the shore

Sunrise walk on the beach our last morning

All in all, it was a satisfying vacation, and not very expensive either.  We've found that you don't need a lot of money to enjoy time away.  A few years ago we stayed at a hostel in Nantucket at even less expense, and most of us agree that was our best vacation to date.

I hope you have been able to take some time to enjoy the summer, whether at home or visiting someplace new.

Happy End of Summer,