For our last meal at Palmetto Bluff we decided to dine outside on the porch of the River House. After enduring winter in Maine, we were more than ready for our first al fresco meal in months, and honestly, I couldn’t imagine a better place to enjoy dinner outside, than the porch of the River House, with its classic, southern charm and beautiful view of the May River.

Earlier that afternoon, we had stopped by the River House for a couple of cocktails after our leisurely bike ride around the bluff (Oh, vacation!), where Michael & I sipped our drinks (a cucumber gimlet for me and a Pimm’s cup for him) and dreamt of returning for a much longer visit sometime in the future. The photographer in me is so thankful we stopped for those drinks, or else this post would be severely lacking in photos. By the time we returned for dinner that evening, the sun had nearly set and the porch proved to be quite a challenging environment for candid iPhone photos of our meal!

Even without the photos, our dinner at the River House was unforgettable – who wouldn’t love eating delicious southern-inspired food on a gigantic, wrap-around porch in the springtime? We are still talking about our drinks from that night at the River House. I ordered The May, a house specialty made of Woodford Reserves & peach preserves, and Michael had the River House Manhattan with orange bitters. As we sipped our drinks, we shared the most wonderful of cheese plates accompanied by spiced pecans and local honeycomb.

Nearly anytime the words ‘Buttermilk Fried Chicken’ are printed on a menu, there is a fairly decent chance that Michael will order it without hesitation, and this meal was no different. I’m fairly certain he’s glad he stayed true to form, judging by the ear-to-ear smile on his face after dinner. My vegetable gumbo had a similar effect, and really fit the lowcountry atmosphere our trip to Palmetto Bluff – it was a perfect ending to our South Carolina vacation.