Hilton Head

On our way to Hilton Head we stopped at Wadmalaw to see how the new house looks. Jacqui was in the middle of unpacking and organizing so I didn't take any indoor pictures, mainly because you couldn't see the indoors. I don't envy her the work she has to do but she thought she would have it done this week. I'll have to follow up with her and see how she did. Click on the picture to the right for a link to the pictures I took and ones that Gerry sent to me before all the things were moved back into the house.

Marriott Grande Ocean is the resort we're staying at and rather than post all the pictures here click on the picture below to view them.

It's our last day here and I haven't posted anything so here goes a  review of the week as best I can remember. It's been pretty cold here this week and we only walked on the beach two times but went in the hottub three times.  We'll probably do another walk today.

The first thing we did after checking in was go to Bi-Lo and get some supplies.

Monday morning they had a welcoming breakfast but we didn't win anything this trip. It was after the breakfast that we took our first walk. It's a great beach for walking and riding bikes. I would like to be here when the weather is warmer. I don't know if it's the time of year or if it's always like this but there weren't any shells on the beach and barely any birds, just those little tiny ones and these don't even play with the waves.

Once again an empty beach

The hottub was right outside our window and was nice and warm and cozy.  We took some self portraits and the second one is the way it came out.  Not photoshopped as it looks to me.  Probably could never get a shot like that again if I tried.

For lunch we had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  I can't remember the last time I had one of these and with a glass of milk.  It was good but I really would have liked to have had 2 pieces of bread and a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter instead of one, but I don't dare.  After all I have to save those points for wine and ice cream!

We woke up to heavy rain on Tuesday, as predicted and spent most of the day indoors.  It did clear up so that the Wine and Cheese welcome could take place at 4:00.  We went over early and took a walk on the beach, this time toward the south.
Wednesday was our trip to Savannah.  It's only about an hour from here and we went on the Old Towne Trolley tour of the historic district.

We rode with our driver Diva through most of the stops and then got off near the water to walk around a little.  She was really funny and made the tour more interesting because of her personality.  We got back on another trolley for one stop and got off for lunch.

We ate at Moon River Brewing Company and had their Slo-vannah (American Pale Ale) along with their lunch special.  I didn't eat all the fries :)
We didn't take another trolley but walked the rest of the route back to the car because we were able to go to the Market area.  There was a cookie store where you could sample all their varieties.

On the way back to Hilton Head we stopped at the outlet mall because I was going to get another UA cold weather shirt since I was wearing the one I brought almost every day.  I went into a bunch of stores and now Larry and I both agree on why it's a better idea for me to go shopping by myself.  I never did get the top or anything else but could really have a good time if I went back by myself.

On Thursday we went into Harbour Town to walk around and of course get something to eat.  We went to the Crazy Crab and got some She-Crab soup.  While walking around we picked out our next boat!

A little cut and paste to get the whole lighthouse in the picture.

Myrtle Beach - Day 6

Today was a movie day and it wasn't even bad weather.  We watched two movies in the morning, just sort of got hooked into them, one after the other.

• House of D - David Duchovny & Tea Leoni
• Sister Mary Explains it All - Diane Keaton

and at night it was a Katherine Heigl double feature

• Knocked up
• The Ugly Truth

I think it was just a break from attending all the planned activities during the week.
Of course we did our daily walk on the beach.  The Saturday beach crowd was out full force and there were even 2 people in the water.  It was even warm enough for me to go barefoot.  And of course we went in the hottub and were going to try the pool again so I could document it but by the time we went it was too cold for me.

On our first walk on the beach my natural instinct was to bend down and pick up shells.  Then I remembered I wasn't going to collect shells this trip since I still had shells in a bag at home.  OK - I didn pocket 6 of them and then today I added 3 more - oh well!  Lucky for me there weren't many shells this year.

Then we packed and ate our leftover restaurant food.  It was a mellow day as we got ready for our trip down to Hilton Head with a stop at Wadmalaw to see Jacqui and the new house.  Gerry has an early flight tomorrow.

Myrtle Beach - Day 5

This morning it was warmer at home than here but that was at 7:20 AM!

Later in the afternoon it was a different story.

Today was a real lazy day.  We didn't go to water aerobics, in fact we never left the room until after noon.  I worked on updating my blog and Larry read.

We went out for a walk on the beach around 1:00. and it was still windy as you can see from the flags on this house along the beach

but it was sunny and a lot warmer than it's been all week.  What was surprising was how the birdlife changed.  Instead of all the pelicans there were some other birds.

The tide wasn't low enough for us to walk down to the dock that we were trying to get to, maybe tomorrow.  There were more people out on the beach today

 and it was the first time we saw an advertising plane.  Probably because of the high winds or because there weren't any people on the beach to see what he was selling.

but heading back the beach looked deserted again.

We went back to our room to try and decide where to go for dinner.  After an hour we decided to either go to Tommy Bahamas or Nacho Hippo both of which are located in Market Commons which is our favorite area in Myrtle Beach with its cobbled streets, upscale stores, good restaurants and a nice Piggly Wiggly.  We had a hotel voucher to use so we were limitied as to where to eat.  After finally making the decision we decided to go down to the outdoor hottub.  It was beautiful out, it felt a lot warmer than when we went upstairs.  After being in the hottub and absorbing all that warmth we took the plunge in the Serenity Pool which had just opened this past week.  The only problem was could we take the walk over and back and survive.  Well, we did it and with no problem.  The temperature had gotten even warmer, it felt like it was in the 70s and sure enough, when we checked it was 72.

           (These pictures were taken before our trip down to the hottub.  I didn't take my camera
             or phone with me down that time so I have no proof of our actually being in the pool.)

When we got to Market Commons we walked all around the area enjoying the summer like weather for the first, and according to the forecast, the only day of our vacation. We walked by Tommy Bahama and it looked empty, although the restaurant next door was doing well with a lot of people sitting outside.  We eventually walked our way around to Nacho Hippo.  We went in and started with Margaritas, which were only and always $3 and made us think of Mexico.  We were going to start with the *!#(Bleep) Hole Nachos - Jerk chicken, mango salsa, shredded cheese, black beans, cilantro and then have a Quesadilla but the very smart waiter suggested he just start us with the nachos.  When we saw the size of the serving we could understand his suggestion. 

We took back half of it, although we did have seconds on the Margaritas.

We walked around some more and saw a beautiful sunset.  From our resort we've only been seeing the sunrises.

These are now our two favorite restaurants in Market Commons.

Myrtle Beach - Day 4

This morning we went to water aerobics and it was "Fun Day."  It was Larry and the girls.  We split into two teams and did a bunch of different relay races, all running time back and forth - none swimming which would have been easier.  Then there were the individual ones like gathering rings from the bottom of the pool using feet only or ping pong balls from the surface without using your hands.

There was only one winner and it was Larry!  An insulated bag including an energy bar and a bottle of water.

He did distinguish himself by being the only man.  All week Harry was there, even when we weren't.  He'll be sorry he missed this one.

After a warm up in the hot tub we had to get ready to play golf.  We went to Waterway Hills which was a couple of miles down the road.  The first time my golf clubs rode on a gondola with me and not skiis.  The ride took us from Route 17 over the Intercoastal Waterway to the golf course.  I was able to play (and get charged for) 9 while Larry played 18.

 Here you can see that the gondola goes over the parking lot and the intercoastal.

 Since we didn't have an event to go to we had our own Happy Hour in the room and then when we were thinking about what to have for dinner I was of course too full.  We had vouchers that we could use at restaurants so we decided to pick one that had something healthy (salad) and something that would be good for leftovers.  We found the perfect place.

We got a salad and the "LITE WORKS" pizza.  Rosemary whole wheat crust, Ultimate Red Sauce, low fat mozzarella, roasted chicken, red onions, mushrooms, roasted red peppers & sweet golden pineapple.  It turned out to be good and we brought more than half of it back with us.

Myrtle Beach - Day 3

I couldn't believe that it was warmer in NH this morning, where Nadine lives, than in Myrtle Beach.

Somehow or other, I haven't cooked a meal yet!  Can't say that we've been eating great dinners, but with wine receptions and tonight we had wine tasting we just aren't hungry for much more after that.

We managed to be pretty busy today just hanging out around here.  I never did make it to the exercise class.  It was just too cold to go out so early and walk over to the building where it was being held.  But we did go down to water aerobics which is held at the indoor pool in the building next to ours.
It turned out to be water yoga which was too much standing around and not enough motion so that even though the water temp was 85 it felt much better getting into the hottub at 103 after we were done.

I wanted to go in the steam room but the ladies locker room had been cleaned and it was shut off.  I didn't want to wait for it to warm up so I went back to the room to eat breakfast and watch The View.

We decided to take a walk on the beach, but on our way we decided to have a putting contest at the putting green.  We went to the car, grabbed our putters and balls and on the way stopped at the basketball court when we saw 2 balls on the court and the court was in the sun.

 Larry's shot is going right in the basket!

And mine probably did too but I was more impressed by how thin I look in this picture!
After shooting lots of baskets and getting nice and warm we moved on to the putting area.

 And then finally the walk on the beach.

 At the other end of these little islands is the area where you need to cross barefooted - at low tide.  Needless to say, this was not a barefoot day.  More like sweaters, jackets and sneakers.

Looks like Larry is the only one on the beach!

When we came back it was so warm we decided to go to the outdoor hottub which was so nice and I didn't even feel cold walking back to our building with just a towel around me.

At 5:00 we had wine tasting and then back to our rooms.  Two glasses of wine (or more) make me so tired.