Hilton Head Vacation 2007

We just got back from our summer vacation to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. When I tell people that, they look at me and say, "Out of all the places to visit, why would you go THERE?" Well, as a little girl living in Detroit, every other summer we would hop in the family car and drive 16 hours to Hilton Head for a two week vacation. To be honest, I have no idea why my parents started going there in the first place (or why they would drive for 16 freakin' hours in the car with two kids! Oye!), but we loved it and we kept going back. Rory is now the same age that I was when I first went to Hilton Head, and even though I haven't been there in over twenty years (God, I'm old!), very little has changed. Below is a picture of Rory sitting on the same stage that I sat on as a child - we went to see the "Singing Man" (otherwise known as Gregg Russell) who amazingly is STILL THERE singing to kids almost every night during the summer under the big oak tree. And next to the big tree is a big playground with a tree house that I spent hours in as a kid. It was like I was stepping back in time and getting show Rory some of my favorite childhood memories of summer - it was a pretty amazing experience.

We pretty much spent the majority of our vacation either at the beach or at the pool because, well, we were in the South and it was really freakin' hot! Someone joked that it was only 88 degrees, UNTIL THE SUN CAME UP. Between the actual temperature and the 80% humidity, the heat index was somewhere around 107-114 degrees EVERY DAMN DAY. Even the ocean was hot! I've never sweat so much in my life. But my father loves the beach, and there would literally have to be flames coming up off the sand before he'd skip a day at the ocean. And so we went, sweating our asses off, and amazingly we still loved it. Who needs an ass, anyways!

My son, hater of all things sandy, actually began to get over his aversion to sand during this vacation! He still needed to have his hands clean, but thankfully this year, we didn't have to have towels strategically placed all over the beach so his feet wouldn't touch the sand. Look, he even has his leg buried! What a difference a year makes, eh?

The great thing about the beach at Hilton Head was that when the tide was out early in the day, it created a shallow tide pool that had harmless little critters like hermit crabs and starfish for Rory to play with.

Unfortunately in the ocean itself, there were some other critters that weren't so harmless. Below is a picture of my knee several hours after a run-in with a jelly fish. See the tentacle marks? A week later, they are STILL THERE. Sighhhhh, I have all the luck.

Our main mode of transportation on the island was bicycles, which Rory loved, of course. He thought he was pretty hot stuff getting pulled around in his little bike cart and the bike paths were beautiful (even though I was having to continuously wipe the sweat out of my eyes to see them!):

While we were there, Rory's great grandparents, the Andersons, drove out from Florida to visit with us for a few days. And so Rory's entourage grew!

On one of the days when the temperature was well over 100 degrees, we all went to an interactive children's museum called The Sandbox, which was wonderful for Rory, but even more importantly, it was AIR CONDITIONED. Rory had the time of his life there, especially in the part that was set up like an airplane cockpit where he could push buttons, buttons and more buttons. He was in heaven! What I wouldn't give to have a room set up like this in my house! It would keep him busy for HOURS. If you know my son, it will come as no surprise that we had to drag him out of there kicking and screaming.

All in all, our vacation was wonderful. Yes, it was a bit hot (okay, maybe more than a BIT), but the scenery was beautiful and I fell in love with the south all over again. But the best part was getting to spend some quality family time with parents, grandparents and great grandparents - and getting a chance to walk down memory lane a little, too. I hope that Hilton Head will once again become a family tradition for us - I know that we can't wait to go back!