shell collection competition 2026
The jokes, comments, and ribbing about the shell collection competition started happening the first afternoon we arrived at our rental house on Isle of Palms. I walked out to the beach for our first visit of the vacation and found a small pale gray whelk at the base of the sign at the beach entrance […]
shelling diaries 2026 | part three & “whelk graveyard” map
You can read my 2026 Shelling Diaries Part One HERE and Part Two HERE. Jeff jokingly said we should bring shovels to dig in the whelk graveyard, but then he actually found some decent sand shovels in the garage of our rental house, so it wasn’t really a joke anymore. We were going to visit […]
King Louis & Sky Miles | IOP Dog Reunions
Each morning, as we walk and collect shells on the beach, there is also a dog party happening. At Isle of Palms, dogs are allowed off their leashes to run free for a few hours each morning, and both owners and dogs take advantage. Dogs are running in the surf, chasing balls, playing with each […]
shelling diaries 2026 | part two
While we’ve all been getting lots of steps from walking on the beach. Jeff has been the grand champion with over 24,000 steps each day. (I’ve been clocking in 15,000-20,000.) Since he’s been covering so much ground, we asked him to do some shell reconnaissance for us. He found some gray olives and whelks for […]
four things | sixty-seven
It’s Four Things: Isle of Palms edition! We’ve been at the beach since last Friday, so we’ve been going for lots of walks, eating great Lowcountry food, preparing for the annual shell-collection competition, doing puzzles, playing Bananagrams, and visiting family. We always have a grand time, and it’s been a great week. Here are my […]
the top three questions about shelling
Every year, when I’m sharing our shelling adventures on social media, the same three questions pop up, so I thought I would share the answers all in one place. Where are you shelling? We are at the Isle of Palms in South Carolina. We’ve been coming here for Spring Break for several years, and […]
shelling diaries 2026 | part one
We are back in Isle of Palms, South Carolina, for Spring Break. We love coming this time of year because it’s still “off season”, so it isn’t crowded, and it’s rarely overly hot. We can still have some warm, sticky days, and we do risk having gloomy, cold days that aren’t great for the beach, […]
revisiting a special place in Florence
On our last two visits to Florence, Mom and I tried to find a specific place: a piazza where my brother and I each sat for a pastel portrait. We even described it to the private guide who led us around the city in 2019, and she wasn’t sure where we could find it. We […]