Hilton Head Travel Journal

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Last week we took our first "beach" vacation in almost 9 years. We've had many wonderful family vacations over the past 9 years, but the last vacation that our sole destination and purpose for travel was "the beach" happened when Ava was around 20 months old. 

We travelled to Hilton Head Resort on Hilton Head Island. The trip itself was an adventure. 2 adults, 3 children (including a 12-month old), and one very brave 17-year old (Heather, beloved babysitter to the Almkins) all piled into our Dodge Journey for the trek to South Carolina. All of the luggage strapped to the top, I felt a little like the Griswold’s cruising toward Wally World in the family truckster.  Aside from one tedious hour at the end of the drive on the first day, during which Aidan was truly losing his baby mind AND the fact that he only slept for approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes on the entire return trip, it was smooth sailing. (Although, I wouldn’t ask Heather about that, she was in charge of breaking up all of the catfights between Ava and Emily in the backseat).

Hilton Head Resort is dated. As in, not fancy. However, it was perfect for us. We had a beach view, a nature-filled boardwalk over the marsh to the beach (which the kids loved), indoor and outdoor pools, tennis courts, deli, Coco’s beach bar, and an awesome beach. We were blessed with gorgeous weather. Tropical Storm Arthur was threatening off the Atlantic coast, so when we checked the forecast in the days leading up to the trip, and even on our drive down, it was bleak. It was supposed to rain every day. Boo! But thankfully, the storm hit north of us (Sorry to all of those vacationers in the OBX that had to evacuate). Our weather was absolutely beautiful. On the one overcast day, we headed to 40 minutes South to Savannah, where it was still sunny.  

Since the weather was perfect for the beach, we spent at least part of each day in the sand and waves. Perhaps the amount of time elapsed between having a baby on the beach all that time ago dulled my memory of just how un-fun it can be to have a baby on the beach. I mean, don't get me wrong, we had a great vacation. But babies and the beach are not the greatest combination. Babies want to eat sand. And it gathers in their little baby rolls. And then, babies want to rub their sleepy little eyes with their sandy hands when they are tired or upset. Babies want to make kamikaze runs for the ocean and then splash the stinging saltwater into their poor baby eyeballs. Babies don't understand that all of the sand toys on the beach do NOT belong to them. Babies like to smash sandcastles, no matter who built them. Babies are NOT good neighbors on the beach.  And finally, babies need a LOT of sunblock. Which they then want to rub into their blazing red (by the time they've been exposed to sand, saltwater, and chlorine) baby eyeballs. All of that said, there is something magical about watching my babies discover the beach for the first time. Watching their little toddling forms navigate the sand and explore is all kinds of adorable. It never gets old, even with baby #3. And the upside of all of that "fun" in the sun and trudging around through the sand is that Baby Aidan took awesome naps (in a Pack n Play in the condo bathroom) after each trip to the beach.

 While Aidan needed abbreviated beach visits, Ava and Emily are the perfect age for enjoying all that the beach has to offer. They became boogie boarding pros. They caught fiddler and hermit crabs. They collected the shells of horseshoe crabs that washed onto the beach after a nighttime storm. They learned where NOT to touch a jelly fish and would even throw them back into the ocean. There is so much nature on Hilton Head Island and the girls loved exploring and discovering all of the sea life. And now for a SHOUT OUT: We owe part of our beach experience to my dear husband. Mike became an expert at the beach “set up”. He’d head out in the mornings with one of the girls and chose our spot, setting up a canopy and beach chairs for a full day of beach enjoyment.

Because Aidan is an early riser, he and I cleared out of the condo for an early morning walk every day so that everyone else could sleep in. These early walks were a highlight of my day. I love mornings on the beach. On the second day, we discovered an inlet just down the beach from our boardwalk. This inlet was filling the marsh that we walked over to the beach. The inlet became a favorite destination for the girls 1-2 times a day to look for sea “creatures”, watch the birds, and hunt crabs. Plus the water there was calm and great for wading during low tide. There was also some great mud for a “low country spa treatment”.

As is my usual tradition, here is a day by day account from our vacation.

Day 1- Sunday June 29th 

We rolled into Hilton Head Resort late Sunday afternoon. After unloading the car, Mike and the girls were off to the pool and Heather, Aidan, and I headed for the grocery to stock our kitchen.  By dinnertime, our belongings were put away, there was food in the fridge, and the girls were sufficiently chlorinated and waterlogged. We were all itching to plant our feet in the sand and feel the surf, so we set out across the boardwalk for dinner on the beach. Coco’s on the Beach is the ONLY bar/restaurant on the beach on Hilton Head Island and it just happened to be situated at the end of our resort’s boardwalk. Owned by an Ohio native, Coco’s definitely had that laid-back beach feel. Although it wasn’t busy, we were assured that no matter what we ordered the food would take at least 40 minutes to arrive. No problem! We left Mike to chill at the open-air restaurant (it’s more like a beach shack with a big wrap-around patio) and the rest of us hit the beach. This was Aidan’s first time at the ocean. He alternated between charging the water and attempting to collect beach trash. Yuck!  After two days in the car, all of the kids had a lot of energy to burn. We had fun walking down the beach until our dinner was ready. Burgers, onion rings, crab cakes, and even a fried bologna (house specialty!) sandwich were spread out on our table as we ravenously dug in.  It was all delicious! Luckily, there was a bit of a walk back to the condo. We probably needed to burn the calories after such a feast.

Day 2 Monday, June 30th

Aidan and I were up and at em’ early, so we went walking. We enjoyed the golf course and bay views, strolling under the palms and Spanish moss-covered trees. We returned while everyone was still sleeping and made our family’s signature breakfast of biscuits and gravy for the family to wake up to. We spent the rest of the day chillin’ by the pool and at the beach.  Our friends, the Rodusky’s, were vacationing in the next resort over, so they joined us on the beach that afternoon. Once everyone had showered off the sand and been slathered with aloe from a day in the sun, we decided to get out and explore the island a bit. We ended up at Coligny Plaza, where we ate on the patio of The Frosty Frog. We enjoyed the live entertainment. Aidan was excited about the frog mascot who was wandering between the tables, greeting the guests. Apparently, Aidan thought that the frog was his own, personal, stuffed toy. When the frog reached out to shake his hand, Aidan latched on and wouldn’t let go. Even after the frog graciously wriggled out of Aidan’s grasp, Aidan would lunge for the frog as he passed by.  With our bellies full and tired from our first full day of fun in the sun, we headed back to the condo for bed.

Day 3  Tuesday, July 1st

Began the same as day 2 and almost every day of our vacation. Aidan woke early, so I plopped him in the stroller and laced up my shoes to pound the pavement (or sand) and see what the morning had to offer us. On this morning, we walked down Folly Field Beach at low tide, looking in tide pools and watching the waves roll in. We discovered an inlet a little way down the beach that flowed into the marsh. This became our destination with the girls 1-2 times a day while we were hanging out at the beach. The inlet offered a changing landscape depending on the time of day (low tides vs. high tides) and tons of wildlife. After breakfast, everyone headed to the pool while Aidan took his morning nap. We all met up for lunch back in the condo and then drove over to Palmetto Dunes to spend the afternoon at the beach with our friends. We returned to HHR (Hilton Head Resort) for Aidan to take a late afternoon nap. The girls took another trip to the pool and then we all cleaned up and loaded up the car to meet up with the Rodusky’s for dinner in Sea Pines Plantation at The Salty Dog Café. We ended up at The Wreck of Salty Dog, just across the marina from the original Salty Dog as the wait was much shorter at “Wreck” and the menu is the same.  As it turned out, there were fun activities for kids in front of the “Wreck”. The girls had their faces painted and participated in a hoola hoop contest. Aidan really loved watching the parrots in The Salty Dog tee shirt shop as well. We were in great company and the food was delicious. Definitely a meal to remember! We topped off the evening by driving over to Harbourtown to see the lighthouse and have some ice cream before calling it a night. After the kiddos went to bed, we left Heather in charge of the condo and Mike and I decided to walk the boardwalk out to the beach. I am so glad that we decided to do this! The stars were so bright and beautiful over the dark marsh and even prettier once we got to the beach. We even saw 2 falling stars!  I can’t remember if I’ve even seen the stars from such a dark beach, but the beauty of the Heavens shining over us on the beach that night was truly breathtaking.

Day 4 Wednesday July 2nd

With another gorgeous day forecasted, we chose to post-pone our trip to Savannah until the next day when the clouds were supposed to roll in. We spent a glorious day on the beach.  The waves were big as a result of tropical storm Arthur- perfect for boogie boarding!  Ava, Emily, Mike and I all took turns with the boogie boards. So fun!  We wrapped up the day with pizza in the condo and then travelled a couple of miles down the island to Shelter Cove where we enjoyed the sights, did some window shopping,  listened to live music, and had some ice cream. There was a kid’s festival going on at Shelter Cove, so the girls had fun jumping in a couple of bounce houses too. We ran into our friends as they were leaving dinner, so the girls got to catch up with their friends for a while we walked across the bridge at Shelter Cove to check out Disney’s Hilton Head Resort. 

Day 5 Thursday, July 3rd

The weather report predicted an overcast day and showers over Hilton Head, but 40 minutes down the coast in Savannah the sun was shining! We drove to  Old Town Trolley Tours in Savannah. They parked our car in their garage so that it would be safe and out of the sun while we toured. A nice service considering that temperatures topped out at 97 degrees on Thursday! We enjoyed seeing the sights and having the opportunity to hop on and off of our trolley to better explore the places we really wanted to see. We hopped off the trolley at City Market first where we sampled cookies at the Byrd Cookie Company . Can you believe it’s someone’s actual job to hand out free cookies all day?!? That’s got to be a great job, meeting people from all over the country/world and handing them as many delicious, free treats as they care to taste. Maybe in our retirement you will have to look for us in Savannah. That’s gotta beat being a Walmart greeter. Ha!

The next stop we chose to hop off of the trolley was at Forsythe Park. This was a perfect stop because not only is Forsythe Park and the area around the park absolutely beautiful, but there is a very nice AIR-CONDITIONED Visitor's Center with a clean bathroom. It was time for a “rest stop”. We walked the sidewalks of the park under giant Spanish moss-laden trees and admired the flowers and the famous fountain before getting back on the trolley.

The next stop we planned to see was The Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, however it was closed when we passed by because they were having a service. This was actually ok, because Aidan had fallen asleep on the trolley, so he took his morning nap as we cruised on to the River Walk. We chose to eat at The Shrimp Factory because 1. Everyone was “starving” and 2. It was next to the trolley stop. In retrospect we should’ve menu-shopped a bit before settling in for lunch. It wasn’t a horrible meal, but definitely not our favorite of the trip. After we were sufficiently full, we ambled down the River Walk, enjoying the beautiful day and scenery and popping in and out of shops including the Savannah Candy Kitchen  and the Savannah Bee Co.

There was also a quick “grown-up” stop at Wet Willie’s for Mike and me to grab a frozen daiquiri. They have a ton of fun flavors and you can get them to go! Finally, we tried out the River Walk elevator. We ascended to street level and admired some more sights and statues as we walked toward our trolley stop to complete the last leg of our  tour. Since we had to bypass the cathedral on our tour, we drove ourselves back to St. John the Baptist and toured before leaving Savannah.  What a beautiful church! Definitely check out the pictures from our time there.

 By the time we got back to the HHI, there was just time for Mike and the kiddos to take a swim while I headed over to the Kroger to pick up supplies for dinner and beach food for our final day of vacation. Travel Tip: If you’re in Savannah and looking for some inexpensive Southern home cookin’ go visit the ladies at the Kroger kitchen. Seriously.  All of the food is made from scratch and delicious. Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Day 6 Friday, July 4th

The 4^th of July and another beautiful day on Hilton Head Island! We spent the day at the beach. I loved the energy on the beach. Everyone was there with their families, celebrating the holiday. It was like a big beach party! For our final dinner we chose to go to The Black Marlin in Palmetto Bay Marina. The food was wonderful, the service was great, and the patio atmosphere was fun and laid-back, complete with a live country band. It was our favorite meal of the week and a great way to finish out our vacation. After dinner we walked out to the docks and caught a glimpse of the sunset. We debated going to see the fireworks at one of the advertised locations, but we needed to get on the road toward home early the next day and didn’t want to get caught in the crowds.  As it turned out, we didn’t even need to leave our condo to see fireworks. As we walked through the door after dinner, we could see fireworks exploding on the beach from our balcony door. The houses on the beach were putting on a firework display. We watched the fireworks from the balcony for a while, then after I put Aidan to bed, Heather, the girls, and I walked out to the beach to watch fireworks. Again, beach party! People can bring their fireworks, coolers, and chairs out to the beach and have their own celebrations on the beach. Who knew?! It was a great way to end a wonderful family vacation.

Day 7 Saturday, July 5th and into the wee hours of Sunday...

Back to reality. Well not really, we left the island before 10 am and returned to Medina around midnight. That much time in the car, even with the people I love most on this planet, isn’t the kind of reality I want to live through on a regular basis. Ha! But really, the trip home was long but uneventful and most importantly we arrived home safe and sound.  I am so grateful for the time that we were able to spend together as a family, making memories.

To view the pictures from our trip click this link: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AbNnDlq4ZN2QO