Goin' To Carolina … An August 2016 Trip to Hilton Head Island...

Following along. We've gone to HHI the last 4 summers and couldn't go this summer because I had a work conference for two weeks in June. We are going in October though and your report is making me want the days to go a little faster!!
 
Following along. We've gone to HHI the last 4 summers and couldn't go this summer because I had a work conference for two weeks in June. We are going in October though and your report is making me want the days to go a little faster!!

Thanks for reading!

I am really tempted to make another reservations here for next summer but I am not sure we can swing it right after the cruise in June. I'm sure October will be lovely :sunny: Have fun!
 
AUGUST 10, 2016: MORE OF THE SALTY DOG


Dinner was great and everyone was in a better mood after stuffing themselves :P
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There was a bunch of cute, though touristy, shops around so we poked around a bit. We didn't buy anything, but it was fun to window shop :-)
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AUGUST 11, 2016: SAN MIGUELS


The next day we did more bike rides, beach and pool. I won't bore you with details and I don't even have many pics from this day. But everyone was nice and relaxed and feeling great. We decided we wanted to try somewhere close for dinner so we walked over the little bridge to San Miguels. DS was happy because they bring chips with salsa, and he can make a meal on them. Our waitress was great about replenishing them when we were hitting bottom. It was a gorgeous evening and we sat out on the patio. There was someone playing live music and the place had just an all-around good vibe :goodvibes

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DH got shrimp fajitas...
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And I made the mistake of getting Nachos for dinner…I think I ate about 1/8 of this monstrosity! I don't know what I was thinking…
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We all liked our dinners and would go back here again next time.

There are shops around here as well, so we walked around for a bit. They have these rocking chairs everywhere in HH. DH wants one for Christmas so if anyone can figure out where I can mail order one, that would be great o_O

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I finally remembered to take a picture of the sign as you enter DHHIR...
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The view as you walk over the little bridge...
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And one of my favorite pictures from the trip. I love when they act silly :P
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AUGUST 11, 2016: THE MAIN LODGE

And here is my other favorite picture from this trip :love:
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The sun was setting and the scenery was breathtaking...

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Afterwards, we went into the main lodge…I forgot to tell you the best tip…every afternoon DHIRR puts out cookies and lemonade. Since our room was right next to the main lodge, DH and the kids got into the habit of stopping most every day for some treats. I think the cookies were gone by this time, but the kids decided to play a game of pool and we just hung out for a while relaxing. They also had a Photo Booth set up and you could take as many as you wanted for free…here are some of our goofball photos…

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The lodge is decorated like a fishing lodge…so cute...
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AUGUST 13, 2016: CHICKEN AND A BISCUIT

The next day, DH and I decided to ditch the kids and take a bike ride on our own. We had really been wanting to explore the island but with all the wiping out and tired little legs, our bike rides had been getting cut short. We left early and the kids were happy to stay in bed and watch tv for the morning.

I don't know how many miles we went but it was pretty far. The good news is that the island is pretty flat so it was pretty easy to ride bikes…and I am NOT a bicyclist by any means!

Some pics from our ride...
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We had been keeping our eyes open for alligators this whole trip but hadn't spotted any…until today…yikes!
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I stayed a very safe distance from him
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this guy was a little friendlier, though...
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...but hot! he literally burned my butt!
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We stopped at McDonalds so DH could get his FAVORITE Southern treat…a Chicken Biscuit. They don't sell these here in CT (and that's probably a GOOD thing, considering how much DH loves them!).
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Up next…our bike ride continues….and we find something I had been looking for the whole trip!
 
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I love bike riding at hilton head. We rent the bikes for the week and bike to the beach. We biked to stacks for breakfast one morning.
We biked over to San Miguels, only issue became when there was a big storm. We had to wait for the rain to stop before we could bike back on our wet bikes.
 


I love bike riding at hilton head. We rent the bikes for the week and bike to the beach. We biked to stacks for breakfast one morning.
We biked over to San Miguels, only issue became when there was a big storm. We had to wait for the rain to stop before we could bike back on our wet bikes.

We loved it too! I didn't realize how fun it would be! This is the second time I've heard of this "Stacks," I'm sure it was better than our gross Mcdonalds breakfast :laughing:
 
We had a great trip over labor day weekend. They had a BBQ for the holiday and I agree, the food was meh. The ice cream drop is a blast though! You guys sure did a lot of fun stuff, our trip was too short to do/see everything we wanted to so I guess we'll just have to go back!
 
Sorry if I missed it, how many nights did you stay, 7?

I'm trying to decide if we should do 5 or 7 nights for April vacation.
 
Sorry if I missed it, how many nights did you stay, 7?

I'm trying to decide if we should do 5 or 7 nights for April vacation.

I don't know if I actually said how long we were there! We stayed 5 nights but we've already said that next time we will stay longer. I think 7 nights would have been perfect :thumbsup2
 
AUGUST 13&14, 2016: MERMAID MONEY & THE WRAP-UP


…And it wasn't t Dole Whip, though I found one of those later, too! Yum!!
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While DH and I were eating our breakfast, I started thinking about where to find sand dollars. In other trip reports I had about people finding them and I kind of forgot about them until this morning. I vaguely remembered something about standing in the water and digging in with your toes…hmmmm…It got us thinking about the beach and we decided to ride down there after. So we got there and parked our bikes and walked to the water to kind of look and see if we saw anything. I didn't hold out much hope but this was our last day and our last chance to even try.

Nothing obvious was on the shore line and we were like, "oh, too bad we didn't wear our bathing suits…" But then we kind of looked at each other and said, "what the heck!" So DH and I headed right into the water fully dressed…I actually had on shorts and a tank top which was probably about as skimpy as my bathing suit usually is anyway, and DH just took his shirt off and went in in his shorts. We probably looked pretty tacky but we didn't really care, and the beach wasn't that crowded at this point anyway since it was pretty early.

So in we went into the ocean and it felt WONDERFUL! Especially after being all gross and sweaty from our bike ride. We were standing about waist to chest deep in the water just relaxing and loving the gentle waves. While we were standing there, I started trying to feel around the sand with my toes, and wouldn't you now, after just a couple minutes I felt something. I kept my toes on it and told DH to go down and see what it was!

Jackpot!
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We were so excited!! But I had also read about sand dollars and that they were actually alive and killing them is illegal (and something I would never want to do anyway!). So we just picked it up quickly and took a couple of quick pictures then put it right back. It was so cool! It really just made my day! We stayed in the water for a long time after that but I stopped digging for sand dollars since I had already found one. We stayed in so long that we started to feel guilty about leaving the kids back in the room for so long. We finally dragged ourselves out and biked back to the resort, though I guess we shouldn't have felt too badly because they were all very content, still in their PJs and watching tv :crazy2:

We got everybody moving and ready and spent a relaxing last day at the pool.

The next day was our check-out day. We packed up and I took some last pictures that I had forgotten to take earlier…These are from the benches right near the front door. Adorable!

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By 8:30am we were packed up and ready to go. We had been debating about what our driving home plan should be. We had talked about maybe stopping at Hershey Park or Six Flags, NJ just to break up the trip home, but then we found out that DD started dance camp the next day and she needed to be there by 3pm. We decided that we just didn't have the time to stop for fun and that since we would have to get up at the crack of dawn the next morning if we did decide to stop, then it would just be a waste of money. Ugh…so we thought well, we will just leave early and drive straight on through :scared1::scared1::scared1:

We warned everyone that we would be severely limiting our breaks on the way back and that they should plan accordingly. They were all for it since they didn't want the trip back to take as long as the trip down either. Here's the odometer and time when we got in the car in South Carolina...

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A couple of things held us up on our drive home…these clouds seem ominous, don't they?! Right after we took this the skies opened up and there was literally a deluge of rain! I was actually pretty nervous driving in it but went VERY slowly. This was in PA and there was also a LOT of traffic. Our navigation told us there was an alternate route to take that would skip the traffic and we listened, but honestly, the alternate route was through a town or city that had multiple stop lights and packed with traffic anyway. It was pretty awful driving that whole stretch.

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The other awful part of driving straight through was reaching New York in the darkest dark :eek: We ended up on the Saw Mill Parkway at around 1-1:30am and it was the absolute WORST way to go! If you've never been on the Saw Mill, it's like one continuous curve. I don't even understand it. Plus there was construction and barely any street lights. it was just TERRIBLE! Thank God DH was driving at this point. I had actually taken a little nap in the car from about 11-12 and I kept asking him if he wanted me to drive but he said he was ok. I stayed awake with him after that though because I felt bad that he was driving…plus I thought I'd better keep talking to him to make sure he was awake :eek:


We pulled into our driveway at 3:05 am:worship::worship::worship:
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So the drive back took about 18 hours total, which was about 2 hours less than the drive down. Still…kind of a sucky way to do it. DH and I said that next time (and yes, there WILL be a next time!) we will definitely stop and have something fun to do, at least on the way back, to break up the drive. Some of our choices are Hershey Park, Washington, DC, Six Flags NJ…not really sure what else, but SOMETHING! We would also definitely stay at DHHIR for more than five nights…most likely seven would be a good number for us. There were things we wanted to do that we just didn't get around to doing, like paddle boarding, dolphin watches and eating at Skull Creek Boathouse. Those things are all on out must-do list for next time.

Despite the long drives on the way down and back we had a great time and would highly recommend DHHIR for a very relaxing family vacation :-)

Thanks for reading along with me! I'm sad to be finished writing this because I love thinking about my vacations :rotfl: I am considering the idea of starting a pre-trip report (which I have never done) for our trip that I am currently planning. In June 2017, we will be going to Universal for 4 nights and then back on the Dream for 5 nights :woohoo: If I do start a PTR, I will post the link here!

Thanks again, and Happy Disney Planning!
 
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AUGUST 13&14, 2016: MERMAID MONEY & THE WRAP-UP


…And it wasn't t Dole Whip, though I found one of those later, too! Yum!!
View attachment 195895



While DH and I were eating our breakfast, I started thinking about where to find sand dollars. In other trip reports I had about people finding them and I kind of forgot about them until this morning. I vaguely remembered something about standing in the water and digging in with your toes…hmmmm…It got us thinking about the beach and we decided to ride down there after. So we got there and parked our bikes and walked to the water to kind of look and see if we saw anything. I didn't hold out much hope but this was our last day and our last chance to even try.

Nothing obvious was on the shore line and we were like, "oh, too bad we didn't wear our bathing suits…" But then we kind of looked at each other and said, "what the heck!" So DH and I headed right into the water fully dressed…I actually had on shorts and a tank top which was probably about as skimpy as my bathing suit usually is anyway, and DH just took his shirt off and went in in his shorts. We probably looked pretty tacky but we didn't really care, and the beach wasn't that crowded at this point anyway since it was pretty early.

So in we went into the ocean and it felt WONDERFUL! Especially after being all gross and sweaty from our bike ride. We were standing about waist to chest deep in the water just relaxing and loving the gentle waves. While we were standing there, I started trying to feel around the sand with my toes, and wouldn't you now, after just a couple minutes I felt something. I kept my toes on it and told DH to go down and see what it was!

Jackpot!
View attachment 195893

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We were so excited!! But I had also read about sand dollars and that they were actually alive and killing them is illegal (and something I would never want to do anyway!). So we just picked it up quickly and took a couple of quick pictures then put it right back. It was so cool! It really just made my day! We stayed in the water for a long time after that but I stopped digging for sand dollars since I had already found one. We stayed in so long that we started to feel guilty about leaving the kids back in the room for so long. We finally dragged ourselves out and biked back to the resort, though I guess we shouldn't have felt too badly because they were all very content, still in their PJs and watching tv :crazy2:

We got everybody moving and ready and spent a relaxing last day at the pool.

The next day was our check-out day. We packed up and I took some last pictures that I had forgotten to take earlier…These are from the benches right near the front door. Adorable!

View attachment 195896

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By 8:30am we were packed up and ready to go. We had been debating about what our driving home plan should be. We had talked about maybe stopping at Hershey Park or Six Flags, NJ just to break up the trip home, but then we found out that DD started dance camp the next day and she needed to be there by 3pm. We decided that we just didn't have the time to stop for fun and that since we would have to get up at the crack of dawn the next morning if we did decide to stop, the it would just be a waste of money. Ugh…so we thought well, we will just leave early and drive straight on through :scared1::scared1::scared1:

We warned everyone that we would be severely limiting our breaks on the way back and that they should plan accordingly. They were all for it since they didn't want the trip back to take as long as the trip down either. Here's the odometer and time when we got in the car in South Carolina...

View attachment 195898

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A couple of things held us up on our drive home…these clouds seem ominous, don't they?! Right after we took this the skies opened up and there was literally a deluge of rain! I was actually pretty nervous driving in it but went VERY slowly. This was in PA and there was also a LOT of traffic. Our navigation told us there was an alternate route to take that would skip the traffic and we listened, but honestly, the alternate route was through a town or city that had multiple stop lights and packed with traffic anyway. It was pretty awful driving that whole stretch.

View attachment 195901

The other awful part of driving straight through was reaching New York in the darkest dark :eek: We ended up on the Saw Mill Parkway at around 1-1:30am and it was the absolute WORST way to go! If you've never been on the Saw Mill, it's like one continuous curve. I don't even understand it. Plus there was construction and barely any street lights. it was just TERRIBLE! Thank God DH was driving at this point. I had actually taken a little nap in the car from about 11-12 and I kept asking him if he wanted me to drive but he said he was ok. I stayed awake with him after that though because I felt bad that he was driving…plus I thought I'd better keep talking to him to make sure he was awake.


We pulled into our driveway at 3:05 am:worship::worship::worship:
View attachment 195902

View attachment 195903

So the drive back took about 18 hours total, which was about 2 hours less than the drive down. Still…kind of a sucky way to do it. DH and I said that next time (and yes, there WILL be a next time!) we will definitely stop and have something fun to do, at least on the way back, to break up the drive. Some of our choices are Hershey Park, Washington, DC, Six Flags NJ…not really sure what else, but SOMETHING! We would also definitely stay at DHHIR for more than five nights…most likely seven would be a good number for us. There were things we wanted to do that we just didn't get around to doing, like paddle boarding, dolphin watches and eating at Skull Creek Boathouse. Those things are all on out must-do list for next time.

Despite the long drives on the way down and back we had a great time and would highly recommend DHHIR for a very relaxing family vacation :-)

Thanks for reading along with me! I'm sad to be finished writing this because I love thinking about my vacations :rotfl: I am considering the idea of starting a pre-trip report (which I have never done) for our trip that I am currently planning. In June 2017, we will be going to Universal for 4 nights and then back on the Dream for 5 nights :woohoo: If I do start a PTR, I will post the link here!

Thanks again, and Happy Disney Planning!
Great trip report, loved all the pics! Thanks for sharing your adventures with us!
 
I love HHI. We've never been to the Disney resort there, but spent a week there last summer and did a short weekend there at the end of September this year. I live 5 hours from HHI and 6 hours from WDW, so I'm contemplating buying DVC. We are renting points for BLT but not for a year. I haven't been to WDW since 1995, so I'm not committing to buying anything until our trip.

I recommend Skull Creek Boathouse and Low Country Backyard as two local restaurants which are excellent.
 
Loved the trip report, thanks for sharing! Would love to read a PTR if you decide to do it!

Thank you! Sadly, I cancelled our June trip because we are moving soon and decided we need furniture more than a cruise :crazy2:

I love HHI. We've never been to the Disney resort there, but spent a week there last summer and did a short weekend there at the end of September this year. I live 5 hours from HHI and 6 hours from WDW, so I'm contemplating buying DVC. We are renting points for BLT but not for a year. I haven't been to WDW since 1995, so I'm not committing to buying anything until our trip.

I recommend Skull Creek Boathouse and Low Country Backyard as two local restaurants which are excellent.

It's really lovely…we will definitely go back someday! Those two places are definitely at the top of our list to try next time :-)

BLT is my home resort, and it's amazing! I'm sure you will get a lot of use out of your points being so close!
 

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