We found ourselves in Hilton Head this past week on a fairly spontaneously planned trip after some lovely and very generous friends offered us a week at their beach home. It was a refreshing change of scenery in which we mostly just slowed down. Days were filled with hanging out at the beach, swimming in the pool, taking naps, watching movies, and taking a few outings to local historic spots.
We even brought the pups with us, which, at 9 and 10 months, was their first travel adventure. Nicky spent the whole drive pacing around the car and sticking his head out the window, while Tilly (who we joke has narcolepsy) spent the entire ride sleeping in different cozy positions.
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| Cute girl with dot of paper on her nose |
One of the beaches we frequented was only 150 steps from our home, so we enjoyed walking over there often. Dogs were allowed on that beach before 10:00 a.m. and after 5:00 p.m. (Nicky was a fan, Tilly was not.)
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| Serene view of the marsh from our master bedroom |
We were forewarned that there are "small sharks" at this beach and we saw one (which a fisherman said was "pretty small, only three feet") on our very first visit. We encountered much live wildlife during our week: many sand dollars and sea stars; jellyfish which did not formally introduce themselves but did sting; leaping dolphins; countless crabs of numerous species; a horseshoe crab, and even a baby sea turtle who swam by! (All creatures were returned unharmed.)
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This starfish survived even with only two legs remaining!
We could see the new legs starting to grow back. |
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| Alligator in a person's backyard |
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| Watching the sunrise at the beach |
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| Two nine-year-old boys on the beach at sunrise |
Cultural Appreciation
One evening we took a walk through the Sea Pines Forest Reserve, which has evidence of Indian populations from 4,000 years ago as well as large alligators, including a 10-foot fella we saw on the grass next to a lake.
One night, we stayed up to watch a SpaceX watch. We watched it out on the back porch via the iPad as the rocket lifted off in Florida and within fewer than five minutes, we saw the rocket across our own sky.
Another day we visited Fort Mitchel, which turns out to be a very important spot: It was location of the Union Troops freeing the very first slaves (1,000 of them) during the Civil War on November 7, 1861 (long before the war ended four years later).
We visited the ruins of the Stoney-Baynard plantation, which originally made up the bulk of what is now the Sea Pines resort.
Gregg Russell concerts
We attended two Gregg Russell concerts. On the first night, Joseph was called up to lead the hand motions for a song, and he did an admirable job, but he protests vehemently to my posting the video of it! On the second night, Thomas was all ready to volunteer to sing a song. He had spent all day practicing his song and he had made his sign, but moments before he was going to be called on stage, the concert was ended prematurely due to lightening and rain.
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| Harbor Town playground |
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| Harbor Town playground |
At the concert, Thomas met two children wearing Dexcoms as well as a teenager (not pictured). Another day at the pool, he met a lady with a Dexcom!
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| Dexcom warriors! |
In the crowd of children at the concert, our children spotted their young cousins, so we called up to Buffalo, NY, and learned that Chris's cousin Shannon and her family were indeed vacationing in Hilton Head! Then began the search through the crowd to find them.
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| Cousins running into each other on vacation |
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| The many children sitting onstage with Gregg Russell |
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| Joseph had gone with Daddy to retrieve the car when we realized that Gregg was taking photos with fans. |
David's Birthday
We celebrated David's fifth birthday and made a trip to the Emergency Room, all of which is documented on its own post.
Getting Home
We cooked at home all week, but enjoyed breakfast at the Salty Dog Café on our last morning. The drive home went well except that Chris driving his car with three kids took only five hours to arrive home while Mama driving three kids (including the youngest two who need so many more stops) took seven hours. Whew!
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| Delicious breakfast tacos |
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| Salty Dog Café |
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