Last week I had the pleasure of going to the beach with my boys, dad and stepmother for a few days. My aunt who owns a timeshare on Edisto Island, S.C. granted us this pleasure because she wasn’t going to use it this October. I am not in the habit of refusing free vacations, so I left hubby at home (poor thing had to work) and took off.
We’ve been to Edisto Island one other time for a week when my aunt also offered her timeshare to us. My eldest son was one year old at the time, and we went with my husband and in-laws. So I already knew it was a peaceful island with a lovely, serene beach.
If you haven’t been to Edisto, I highly recommend it. It’s about a 45-minute drive south of Charleston. There is very little commercialization there, and you will find no chain restaurants.
There are only a few restaurants and very little shopping. There’s a small Piggly Wiggly where you can purchase necessities, but I suggest you bring as much as you can with you since the prices are higher on the island.
There are plantations on the island, a state park, and some museums, but we haven’t seen those yet. (As you can see, I’m hoping to go back again someday.) On our first trip we spent everyday on the beach with the exception of one day in Charleston, and on this past trip, we spent one stormy day in the condo, another day in Charleston, and one day at the beach.
I knew the weather forecast wasn’t looking good when we left last Sunday, but it didn’t stop me from hoping. My five-year-old was very disappointed on Monday when we woke up to heavy wind and rain. We went to the ocean to find it desolate with crashing waves high on the beach and sand blowing on our faces like tiny torpedoes.
The next day was supposed to be rainy too, so we planned to go into Charleston. There’s a children’s museum in downtown Charleston, and it proved to be a great place for the kids. I couldn’t get my 2-year-old away from a contraption in which he could roll a ball down a pipe and then watch it spin around in a cylinder. My kids also loved climbing into a pretend (yet life-size) fishing boat and walking through the dark halls of a “castle.”
Luckily by the time we left the museum, the rain had stopped and the temperature was rising. We had a pleasant experience eating at R.B.’s restaurant in Mount Pleasant. It overlooks the water, and my boys enjoyed walking out onto a dock and looking at the boats after lunch.
Since Wednesday was our last day, I decided to milk it for all it was worth. We went out to the beach immediately and stayed past lunch.
My eldest son is crazy about ocean animals, so he was delighted to search the sands for shells and little critters.
We were quite lucky that the storm brought in a bounty. We found large shells, starfish, a sponge and a deceased horseshoe crab. Someone showed us a tiny hermit crab that they found too.
My two-year-old has a desperate need to throw something into any body of water he sees. And he’ll do it again and again until his mother drags him away. So he loved having amble shells and a humongous body of water to throw them into, but the waves vexed him!
So I spent most of my morning helping him throw his shells into the water and then comforting him as he ran to my side, grabbing my leg, wondering why the water wouldn’t keep a comfortable distance.
That evening, we went back to the ocean, but we went to a different part of the island. This was in an inlet where we could watch some shrimp boats pass by. We even caught sight of a dolphin as he came up for air. There were no waves, just a steady lapping of water on the shore, and a tidal pool provided endless opportunities for discovery.
My two-year-old became much more brave and didn’t need me by his side, so while he threw shells into the water, my five-year-old and I searched the tidal pool. We found starfish, lots of crabs and tiny fish. I was proud to see that my son was protective of the live animals and put them back carefully where he found them.
It was a short, stormy trip, but I’m grateful for the chance to get away. I’m thrilled my children’s minds were stimulated with a new place, new smells, new textures and a chance to learn a little patience as we waited out the storm.
Shelli Bond Pabis is a Winder resident and columnist for the Barrow Journal. You can reach her at writetospabis@gmail.com.
