View Larger Map
I managed to secure myself a room in this delightful villa. Truly a prime location, and I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to get it if I didn't have an "in" with the owners.
Here is where I spent much of my time, under the watchful eye of the garden creatures.
Around back is the front of the house, also a nice place to spend some quality R & R time.
The natural vista is the big attraction here, which provides the pleasure of watching birds, animals, and herds of golfers following their traditional migration routes.
But I couldn't spend all my time at the house, with so many places to go and things to see around the island. For instance, the beautiful white sand beaches.
Which would be entirely beautiful and pristine if only it weren't for things like this:
If not for that, things would look a little more like this:
The second order of business while on the island, after relaxation, is food. In South Carolina, the food comes right from the fields and the trees to us, via the Grants and their farmer's market. Anyone who doesn't like vegetables simply doesn't know where to get them.
But even more important than that is fresh seafood, particularly South Carolina shrimp, which, if you've had shrimp from anywhere else, makes you wonder what you've been eating all this time. This is where we get the seafood:
And if you turn slightly to the left, you can see where they get the seafood:
I suppose the only superior alternative would be to eat it directly out of the ocean, which made me a little jealous of this dolphin.
Unfortunately, most fresh food can't be eaten right away, you have to cook it. If you don't want to cook it yourself, you go to the Sea Shack. The use of "shack" is not an exaggeration, but it is the best place to get tasty Carribean-style blackened or jerked fish and shrimp. It used to be a little out of the way place "where the locals go," but times have changed.
We actually decided to bail the first time we went there because of the line, but came back the next day for lunch.
And for a sweet treat, the place to go is Hilton Head Ice Cream, known as much for its scoops as for its eclectic decor.
The decor motif even extends into the men's room.
If I have time after all that eating, I can see some of the other sights around the island, including King Neptune, who guards the entrance to the Shelter Cove marina.
The Town of Hilton Head has been developing a pretty strong system of parks and public lands. This brand new park I got to see for the first time.
Much like many of the parks I work on, this one seemed to be all about passive use and design aesthetics.
A key part of the public parkland system is a system of interconnected bike paths to help people get around without their cars, which is not easy to do on Hilton Head. But use of these paths does seem to be increasing in popularity given current economic issues.
But these parks have potential hazards as well. Gators really are all around. (I only saw one on my trip, but didn't get a photo of it.) And people do feed them. And then they get aggressive.
In fact, things can get so wild in these parks, presumably due to gator-related shenanigans, that they need to have 24-hour surveillance over the parks to keep things under control.
Another fun thing to do on the island is shop, and there's no place better to go that the Bargain Box, a thrift store that takes donations. Just don't try to make off with anything -- you're being watched.
If you like water and are sick of the ocean and pools, you can go to Broad Creek, which runs through the interior of the island, where many of the island's marinas are found.
Pleasure boating is a popular pastime, although not for me. Just seems like a frivolous activity, a pointless exercise, a ... I don't know what you'd call it.
Plus, the fuel prices are just getting too high.
The marinas are nice, but they really restrict what you can do. And don't bother complaining about it.
One of the fun things I got to see for the first time was this old juke joint. (Use wikipedia.) Unfortunately it isn't operating anymore.
And the final sight is the saddest one. The airport.
I managed to get flights directly to and from the island which means I got to visit this quaint little airfield. It features a nice but not easily explicable tribute to Amelia Earhart. I can only imagine the plane I flew on was not too different from the one she flew.
Well that was my vacation, but my summer travels aren't over yet. Coming soon, a very special visit to a very special place where I'm sure you've never been.
