South Carolina Guide and Deals

Set in the rolling hills of Cuyahoga Falls, the Blossom Festival summer series welcomes the Cleveland Orchestra on August 28, yielding center stage for a night of world-class classical music. Settle into a pavilion seat and treat ears to a cochlear night out as conductor James Feddeck leads the orchestra through a series of heartstring-plucking pieces, such as Britten’s Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell, Bernstein’s Three Dance Episodes, and Elgar’s In the South. Relax as the music and breeze wash over the crowd, letting the smooth rhythms and swaying melodies fight for ears’ adoration and the last stick of gum.

Nestled within Columbia's historical Shandon neighborhood, Pupcakes Pet Boutique invites passersby and their four-legged friends to admire the designer dog-wear, stylish carriers and beds, and handy accessories in the homey, family-run shop. Throughout the store, Prada, the assistant manager and resident silky terrier, performs quality-control tests on toys, greets visitors with begs for belly rubs, and reviews payroll time sheets. The scent of daily baked treats tickles the olfactory lobes of discerning doggie patrons, and the sight of pooches dressed in cute vests and comforting Thundershirts reduces human speech to adoring coos and baby talk.

Aboard her 25-foot Stingray 234LR, Captain Megan escorts up to six passengers on more than 10 intimate charters. The USCG-licensed captain navigates waters teeming with Atlantic bottlenose dolphins by day, floats through Calibogue Sound at sunset, and cruises past Shelter Cove's summertime fireworks displays from the water at night. Her Stingray 234LR also pulls one- and two-person tubes along the whitecaps and navigates backwater marshes en route to open areas ready for watersports such as wakeboarding, water skiing, and turtle wrestling.

In tandem with Real Pilates experienced instructors, published Pilates book author Alycea Ungaro helps students hone strength and flexibility during mat- and machine-based classes. Some of Alycea's clients include established celebrities such as Madonna, Uma Thurman, and Robocop, but her experience as a licensed physical therapist and certified prenatal specialist allow her to coach students of all abilities and fitness levels. Rows of specialized Pilates equipment line the mirrored walls of Real Pilates's airy practice space, where instructors lead various exercise routines to sculpt long, lean physiques that eschew the need for performance-enhancing spinach pills.

When visitors step into one of the South's largest children's museums, there's one thought that commonly crosses their minds: That's a big kid. Waiting to greet them is a 40-foot-tall statue of EDDIE, a reinforced, molded-plastic boy who weighs 17.6 tons and—like almost everything at EdVenture Children's Museum—is ready for kids to explore. After they've climbed inside his heart, up to his brain, and slid down his intestines—all while learning about their own bodies—kids race to explore the rest of the museum's more than 350 hands-on activities contained within nine exhibit galleries. As a testament to its attractions, EdVenture Children's Museum received the 2011 National Medal for Museum and Library Service, an honor given to only 10 libraries and museums in the nation.

Past Eddie, EdVenture’s permanent exhibits include the World of Work, where kids climb aboard a John Deere tractor, take the helm of a 24-foot fire truck, and learn the value of money by spending Eddie Bucks on groceries or flooding the market to undermine the local economy. At the Aha Factory, wee ones recycle everyday items into paper snowflakes, pipe-cleaner butterflies, and glitter-encrusted egg cartons. Children 3 and younger, meanwhile, can explore the My Backyard exhibit, an age-appropriate haven of soft surfaces.

"We use the best soaps, solvents and equipment available to the industry. We do not take short cuts," Tripp Penninger told Columbia Metropolitan in 2011, one year after the magazine's readers voted Tripp's Fine Cleaners as the best dry cleaners in Columbia. Grandson of the couple that founded the business in 1987, Tripp and his staff of nearly 100 employees have earned their prestige; as Sanitone-certified master dry cleaners, they've carefully cleaned thousands of garments and have been trusted with preserving the wedding gowns of brides in South Carolina and beyond.

They clean regular laundry with low-temperature water, ensuring that nothing shrinks or becomes misshapen, and they use special procedures for high-end garments, making sure to wine and dine Chanel suits before removing wine or dinner stains. Tripp’s seamstresses are on hand to remedy ill-fitting garments, usually returning alterations in about three days. The staff picks up and drops off items free of charge in specified areas and offers complimentary seasonal storage with the purchase of cleaning.