Shortly before Memorial Day (as in a few days before), my boss gave me the heads up that she and her family would be out of town the majority of that week. Since I rarely know more than a few hours before they go on vacation, I jumped into action planning an expansion to what was going to be a short vacation to Asheville, NC for the holiday. There was no way I could let the opportunity to visit the beach during the first weekend in (unofficial) summer pass me by!
I initially had plans to visit the beautiful Beaufort, SC as well as a few of the national park beaches nearby, but with my planning being so incredibly last minute, Justin and I found ourselves in a hotel in Charleston, more than an hour away from my chosen locations. It ended up working out though, because during our first night we decided to explore an area of Charleston and Folly Beach that we had yet to see … Folly Beach County Park.
Technically the park closes early (9AM-7PM), but because the beach has public access (i.e. you can get to it from outside the park), we ignored the no trespassing signs (like many others) and headed straight toward the beach to see a beautiful sunset. :)
In the past, Folly Beach has less than thrilled me. The water is rough there, perfect for surfing, but it can knock you over if you are only there to swim. It's not a relaxing beach by any means! … And public areas tend to be really touristy. I guess I'd call it a typical American beach. So you could say I wasn't expecting much from the Folly Beach County Park beach access…
What I saw took my breath away!
I photographed and photographed until the sun went down. I even went against my husband's better judgement and took my camera on the beach with me. (It can get sand in the lens which makes the lens dirty and prevents it from working as well as it is suppose to. If you do this with a nice DSLR camera lens, be sure to visit somewhere that can clean your camera lenses asap when you return from a beach holiday!)
See for yourself what a beach holiday at Folly Beach County Park looks like:
Have you ever found yourself surprised by a new area of an old location? Would you consider taking a walk on Folly Beach at sunset?
