Well, I do. While it seems like I’m always on vacation, the truth is that this life on the road is exhausting. It’s a lot of planning, and I do love to plan, but it’s a lot. I’m always about 4 to 6 months ahead when I make reservations for campsites, and – sometimes – that’s too far in advance. Plans change; it’s really the only constant on this journey.
So, when mid-November rolled around (yes, I am that far behind on my blogging), and my friend met me on Hilton Head Island, SC, I was so ready for a break. We did what all good friends do when they get together. We ate great food, baked ridiculously good cookies, went to some tourist sites, got to bed early, and talked about retirement planning.
Here are some of the highlights.
We happened upon the Harbour Town area within the Sea Pines community, stopped in some shops, walked the pier, and saw the lighthouse. We also found a dinner cruise that we booked for later in the week. We stopped by the Salty Dog area and saw this cute bird chillin’ in a store.
We did go to the beach where we obeyed the signs and fed no alligators. My friend ventured out into the water, but I didn’t wade in. I did admire the grooves in the sand as I walked up and down the beach. She’s more a wildlife / ecology kinda gal. I’m more of a take-it-all-in-from-shore kinda gal.
One afternoon, we happened upon the Coastal Discovery Museum. There was so much to see there. I’d never been to a salt bog before, they had a butterfly enclosure, and the most lovely camellia garden where some of the bushes were still in bloom.
I was completely enthralled by the gorgeous oak trees on the property as well. This one was near the farmhouse and pavilion, and the photo does not do it justice. If I was more limber, I would’ve been tempted to climb it and just enjoy the view. Maybe my future house is a treehouse like the Swiss Family Robinsons had? After our wander around the grounds, we both were hungry, so we headed over to the Black Marlin for a snack.
On the Vagabond dinner cruise, we saw dolphins while the sun set, and came back to a bright moon over the Harbour Town pier. I love to be on the water, and we spent some time on the deck even though it was a very windy evening.
We even ventured into Savannah and took the Old Town Trolley around several of the historic squares about town with more amazing trees. The trolley even took us down a fantastic cobblestone road.
I ate at my first ever Waffle House on this grand adventure, and we were entertained by the server and the cook who had a sarcastic but loving banter back and forth the whole time we were there.
We met up with some of my friend’s pals from her days of living in Savannah, went to two different outlet malls, ate more Chicken Salad Chick, and tie-dyed t-shirts.
We had a rental car, which made it easier to visit all the different places we went on the island, but my dear Arthur and Estella sat in the resort’s shaded parking lot for most of the week. While we visited them frequently, I could tell Arthur was ready to get back to our routine.
When my friend headed back to the airport with the rental car at the end of the week, we started to make our way to Texas – a thousand mile trek in three days.
The Adventures of Ms Haps & Arthur 