Sullivan's Island/Charleston Trip

We just got back from a wonderful family beach vacation to Sullivan's Island and the Charleston area. Because this is our 8th or 9th trip to the area in the past five years, we didn't do tons of the usual tourist activities, simply because we've already done them. However, I thought I'd post a report because we did eat at a lot of restaurants!

Where We Stayed:

We stayed in a house on Sullivan's Island that we rented through Island Realty. I have to say that we've never been disappointed in our rentals with them. This year's house was no exception. If anyone is looking for a last minute vacation this summer, they are offering tons of bargains and specials, due to the economy, including partial week rentals (which they never used to do during this part of the summer) and 30% off stays booked within a certain period.

My husband and I extended our vacation a few days after the rest of the family left. We found a great VRBO rental on Middle St. in an apartment. It was perfect for two people. VRBO has always made me nervous because I am worried about what I'll get, but this rental was adorable and spotlessly clean.

What We Did:

Lots and lots of beach time-I love Sullivan's Island simply because the beaches are not crowded, even during the summer. The only time they even appear busy is on the weekend.

Shopping-We hit some of the stores in Mt. Pleasant's Town Centre and Belle Hall, as well as King St. in Charleston. I love HandPicked, which is a jewelry store on King St. and at Belle Hall. Lots of cute, relatively inexpensive silver jewelry. Two "new to me" stores that I really liked were Zinnia and Coastal Cupboard, both at Belle Hall.

RiverDogs Game-I enjoy going to their games. They are fun and cheap, too! My three year old niece enjoyed the inflatables to bounce on and she enjoyed seeing Chelsea and Charlie, the RiverDog mascots.

Mt. Pleasant Farmer's Market-on Tuesdays, 3-dark, April-October. Lots and lots of local produce, prepared foods, the Pickle Lady, baked goods, etc. They also usually have live entertainment.

Waterfront Park in Charleston-We went into Charleston for drinks and dessert one evening and wound up sitting in a swing at the Park. Lovely! HarborFest was going on and several of the tall ships had lights in their rigging, so it was very pretty to see.

Church-A lot of people think I'm a square for going to church on vacation, but Sunrise Presbyterian on Sullivan's Island has a very short, but nice service at 9am, so I always try to make it when I'm on the Island. This trip I was there for two Sundays and the second one (last Sunday of the month) they had church on the beach! It was glorious to sit in my beach chair and watch the sun glisten on the waters of Breach Inlet while we worshipped.

Where We Ate:

This list is pretty long, so I'll try to keep the comments brief and group them by location!

Mt. Pleasant:

Boulevard Diner-love this place! It's pretty much "no fail" when we can't decide where else to go and want someplace casual. LOVE the scallop salad!

Farmer's Market-We got dinner here and took it back to the house. Carolina Bay Gourmet had a variety of BBQ dinners...ribs, pork, chicken...and a variety of sides. Prices were reasonable. We also got fabulous pickles from the pickle lady and some great breads and cookies from Rococo Bakery.

Andolini's-GREAT pizza and breadsticks. I cannot emphasize GREAT enough. In fact, I'm craving a slice right now!

Jack's Cosmic Dogs-great hot dogs. I love their sweet potato mustard and the handcut fries.

Cupcake-I was so excited when Cupcake opened a second location in the Belle Hall shopping center. After being 15 minutes closer to my favorite guilty pleasure, I'm not so sure about that! My clothes are tighter and I'm pretty sure it's from eating way more cupcakes in one week than I should have! If you've never been, you need to go...fabulous cupcakes in flavors that rotate daily. They are soooo good!

Sullivan's Island:

Station 22-The food was good, but not great, and the prices were high for what we got. My husband loved his steak, but my crabcakes were about one click from being burned. The worst part was the wait. Our meal took almost 2.5 hours from the time we were seated and we got there right when they started serving dinner! I might go back again, but it's down toward the lower third of my list of spots to return to.

Poe's Tavern-You can't NOT eat at Poe's if you're on Sullivan's Island. Love their burgers and they have good nachos, too.

Sullivan's-This is one that I would not go back to again. The food was ok, but that's about it. Fortunately, the prices are about in line with the quality of the food. If you need to eat on Sullivan's Island, I would go to Poe's or Station 22 first.

Green Heron Grocery-This has been taken over by new owners since my last trip and it has become cuter and quirkier than before. They have all sorts of convenience store items, along with fresh coffee, sandwiches, snow cones, etc.

Downtown:

Hominy Grill-I still love this place. We ate lunch here one day and I had a great ranch chicken salad that I can't wait to try to replicate at home.

Peninsula Grill-This has become our traditional anniversary dinner spot. The food and service are both impeccable. I didn't even tell them that it was our anniversary this year, and they KNEW! I was confused, but the hostess said that she checked our records and saw that we were always there on the same day, so she thought it was an anniversary. Everyone greeted us with "Happy Anniversary!" which was nice. Oh, and the food was wonderful, as always.

Kaminisky's-When we first started going to Charleston, we ate dessert here all the time. Then we sort of got burned out on it and the desserts didn't seem as impressive. We had friends with us who had never been before, so we decided to give it a second chance and were pleasantly surprised. We had several (between 4 of us) very tasty slices of cake.

James Island

Bowen's Island-When I say this is a dive, please don't think I use that term lightly. My family was a bit shocked when we pulled up the dirt road to piles of oyster shells, piles of construction materials, piles of brush. When they saw the rickety dock and mismatched chairs and tables, they really started to doubt my sanity. However, a waitress wandered by with a huge tray of freshly friend seafood and one look at that cleared away any doubts my family was having about staying! Quite simply the best, freshest fried seafood I've ever put in my mouth. I can't wait to go back!

Johns Island

Wild Olive-We ate here twice. Both times the food and service were terrific. I love that Chef Neuville uses so much local produce. The staff here could not have been nicer. When my brother-in-law took his one year old outside, the manager noticed and took his plate back to the kitchen to keep it warm. When he returned, the GM immediately whisked the plate back to the table. Just genuinely thoughtful people in this place...and great food, too!

Ok, this is much longer than I intended, but hopefully someone will find it helpful!