Last week, I took a vacation between the end of my fellowship and the start of my full-time job. My mom flew up from SC to visit for part of the week and since neither of us had been to the beach this summer, we took a quick trip to Lewes, Delaware. It was a blast!

Just 2.5 hours outside of DC, Lewes is an adorable beach town north of Rehoboth that’s known as the first town in the first state. With its quaint downtown and small-town charm, Lewes reminded me of Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls, only in Delaware instead of New England.

Where We Stayed

Since we planned our trip last-minute and all of the hotels in Lewes were booked, we opted to stay in an Airbnb. I couldn’t believe our luck when I found an available room in a beautiful beach house located on a quiet cul de sac only 1.5 blocks from the beach for a little over $100 per night. With a screened-in porch right off our bedroom, beach chairs for us to use, and a mini-fridge stocked with complimentary water bottles, the home was full of thoughtful touches that made our stay that much more enjoyable.

The communal living room

Our room with the comfiest beds

The view of the property from the back porch

If you’ve never taken the leap and booked an Airbnb instead of a hotel, I highly recommend giving it a try! Just like Yelp, guests can leave reviews about their stay, which always gives me peace of mind before lodging at a stranger’s place. Plus, if you use my Airbnb code, you’ll get $40 off of your home booking and $15 to use toward an experience worth $50 or more. Disclaimer: I receive a small travel credit to use towards my own Airbnb stays when you book using my code. 

Day One

After checking into our Airbnb, my mom and I quickly changed into our bathing suits and walked to the beach. Lewes has a long, unbroken beach and a family-friendly atmosphere that reminded me of the Isle of Palms shoreline in my home state of South Carolina. Pale (as evident in the photo included below) but happy, I relaxed into my beach chair and cracked open the cover of a new book.

Hat | Bathing suit top & bottom (both on sale right now!)

After being on the beach for about an hour, a thunderstorm rolled in. We waited it out as long as we could and made it back to the beach house just a moment before the torrential downpour started—it was perfect timing! Even though our beach day was cut short by the weather, I couldn’t complain about spending the afternoon reading in the hammock.

An advantage of getting rained out was that we got an early start on dinner, making our way to Agave around 5 o’clock. Agave is the place to eat in Lewes. Wait times are typically upwards of two hours, despite the restaurant expanding twice since it first opened in 2008. Since we arrived early in the evening, we only had to wait an hour to be seated. This ended up being perfect because we used the hour to explore the downtown streets, popping into boutiques that caught our eye and snapping pictures at the wharf.

Once we were seated at Agave, we recognized the appeal of the restaurant: giant margaritas. At $13 apiece, you certainly get more bang for your buck in Delaware than you do in DC (not to mention that there’s no sales tax!). I had a traditional house margarita and my mom ordered a frozen strawberry margarita. It’s safe to say that we both thoroughly enjoyed our drinks!

Once we devoured our food and finished our margaritas, my mom and I drove back to the house and took a sunset stroll on the beach. There’s something about a sunset over the ocean that puts everything into perspective. Or maybe it’s simply stopping to observe the beauty of nature that does that, since I felt similarly when I was in the mountains of Wintergreen, VA. Regardless, watching the sunset over Lewes Beach nourished my soul.

Day Two

To make up for the lost time the day before, we hit the beach early. I was engrossed in my book, Where the Crawdads Sing, which made for the perfect day of reading and relaxing. Around 3 o’clock, dark storm clouds rolled in again and we decided to conclude our beach day. I was sad to leave Lewes but was also grateful for the getaway and quality time spent with my mom. We concluded our trip with a pit stop at Dairy Queen on our way out of town, which was a sweet end to a short but memorable trip!

Do you have any travel plans for the last week of summer? Or perhaps you’re already making arrangements for an autumn getaway? I’d love to hear from you in comments!