Back in September I went to Wild Dunes, a beach resort community near Charleston, SC, with my family. We go there nearly every near and have rented the same house for the past couple of years. It’s conveniently located near the beach club, sleeps 8-10 people, and has a small dipping pool on the deck. The only downfall of this amazing house was it requires me to ascend about twenty stairs. This is actually less of an issue now than in years past (due to hours upon hours of stairclimbing practice with my Catherine, my PT) but still a minor inconvenience.

We like the Charleston area this time of year because it’s still very warm and usually pleasant weather, but school is back in so it’s not quite as crowded as usual. You can still dine oiutdide or wande the streets of scenic Charleston in comfort. Wild Dunes is about a 30 minute drive from the center of town on Isle of Palms.It’s tucked away in a cozy corneer of the island.

Although I love spending time at the beach with my family, the truth is I rarely ever make it out onto the sand. This year we decided to try something new. I came across a great website that lists places across the country that rent beach- and water-friendly wheelchairs: http://www.beachwheelchair.com/rentals.htm. This is something that I knew had to exist, but had never really taken the initiative to look into. It turned out that there was one such location in Mt. Pleasant, SC: http://www.oncallhospitality.com. Rentals aren’t particularly cheap ($60/day or $80/2 days or $300/ week) but still we decided to give it a try for a couple of days. it was totally worth it!<!

The chair—called the Debug® Beach Wheelchair—was interesting to say the least. It had giant marshmallow-ish tires that glided effortlessly over the sand but not so much on pavement. It was also a little tricky to get into – I actually needed some minor assistance, which is unusual for me. Save these minor flaws the chair worked like a dream. It did exactly what it was supposed to, allowing me to take long strolls (or rolls rather) down the beach and even to get my feet wet in the ocean. It felt amazing to put my feet in the warm ocean water after twelve years.

Now onto the food: we mostly ate in, but did venture out to Sullivan’s Island for tacos at Taco Mamacita one evening. It was a pretty good taco joint. They had a nice selection of beer on tap and the food was reasonably authentic. Accessibility was acceptable, but parking is always an issue around there. If you’re not careful you could end up in a gravel or unpaved lot, and that’s no fun in a chair. Overall it was a very enjoyable night out.

On our last day my dad and I ventured into Charleston to Glazed, a gourmet local donut shop. We had every intention of bringing some donuts back to Charlotte to share with our friends who had recommended Glazed to us. In fact we practically bought the store out. But of course they were so delicious that only two made it to the car the next morning. My dad and I promptly took care of those on the drive home. [

Overall the trip was awesome. We got in some family bonding time and I made it out onto the beach for the first time in years. We ate some good tacos and some even better doughnuts. What else can you ask for?