Bike Ride from Charleston to Sullivan's Island
Everyone I know from Charleston tells the same story about their first time in the city. They visited, fell in love with the city, and decided they had to live there. With this in mind, I was curious to see if I would have the same reaction. One of the greatest things about Charleston for me is how close it is to some of the best east coast beaches.
Sullivan's Island is the clear favorite, so on a late Saturday morning we set out on our cute turquoise bikes from Zero George. We biked across the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, through the adorable Mount Pleasant neighborhoods, and finally arrived at the long stretch of Sullivan's Island beach. The bike ride is about 10 miles and took us about an hour. The hardest part is just biking up one side of the bridge, but then you pick up so fun speed riding down the other side.
I was surprised at how nice the beach was at Sullivan's Island. It was big and clean, perfect for a long walk on the beach or spending a day under an umbrella watching the waves roll in. We only put our feet in the water which was perfectly warm. I would have loved to spend the whole day swimming and relaxing on the beach.
However, as we turned to snap a picture of the lighthouse from the beach, we noticed that a huge dark cloud had rolled in behind us. It was clear that we were about to get soaked. In hindsight, we should have just hung out at one of the many great restaurants on the road to the beach. We saw a clearing behind the dark cloud, though, and we ambitiously thought we could make it to the other side of the dark cloud before it started to rain.
We were wrong. We barely made it to low land marshes of Sullivan's Island before we were caught in the storm's fury. The rain poured, lightning flashed, thunder cracked and rolled, and I pedaled my heart out soaking on my little bike.
Finally we made it to a condominium community under construction where the gates were open and we were able to take shelter under the elevated frame of a house. I was worried about keeping my Sony A7Rii camera dry and luckily, thanks to my new Lo & Sons leather camera bag, it was still in perfect condition.
We waited out the storm for half an hour, playing Garth Brooks "The Thunder Rolls" on Dan's phone. When the rain finally let up, we continued our journey back to Charleston. Sure enough, as we returned to the bridge, the skies were perfectly clear and blue again.
We had an early reservations at The Ordinary which we knew we would need to cancel at this point. After taking a hot shower back at Zero George, and changing into some dry clothes, we were so thankful that The Ordinary was still able to squeeze us in at 7:30PM. It was truly one of the best meals we had in Charleston (read the Charleston Restaurant Guide here).
Now, we look back and laugh about our run-in with a storm on Sullivan's Island. I still think this was one of my favorite days. I love how bike friendly the city is and could easily see myself living in one of the perfect southern homes on Mount Pleasant. Dan and I both used to live near a beach and would love to live close to a nice one like Sullivan's Island again someday. As of now we are staying put in Houston, but we're glad to know that there are places like this out there.
