Hilton's Head......

"Approximately 70% of the island, including most of the tourist areas, is located inside gated communities.  However, the town maintains several public beach access points, including one for the exclusive use of town residents...." - borrowed from Wikipedia - "Hilton Head Island"

Okay, now I understand why I really didn't enjoy our time out on Hilton Head yesterday....for me it was like driving along in a "tree tunnel".....don't get me wrong...I love trees, but when I go to the ocean I want to actually "see" the ocean. Unless you succumb and allow yourself to be funneled into one of the few beach access points where the great unwashed "public" masses are "allowed" to walk along the ocean, you will not really see the ocean.  Frankly, 70% seems a little low.......lol!  If you are staying at one of the many, many resorts, or private gated communities then I can see the charm that Hilton Head holds for many.  In fact we observed a number of "spring breakers" riding bikes, and walking around the shopping areas....by "spring breakers" I'm referring to the 1000's of college aged youth patrolling the streets, and beach areas even on this cold 56 degree day.

But, I get ahead of myself once again....we were awakened by wind rattling the patio awning probably around 4 am......whenever I hear wind coming up, and the patio awning is deployed, I start worrying about having to get up in the cold and dark to put it "down" if the wind gets too strong.  Fortunately the wind was sporadic, and never got very strong, but by the time we got up around 8, though, we decided that it would be best to put it down to avoid having to do it in a stronger wind, plus we were planning on being gone for several hours to drive over to Hilton Head Island....we didn't want to be worrying about it being blown over the top of the coach the whole time we were gone.

We left for Hilton Head around 1 pm, and arrived on the island just before 2 pm.....as we drove along I kept looking for the ocean.....I knew it couldn't be far away, but never really saw it.  Now that we have been there, and I have read the aforementioned Wikipedia entry I understand why I didn't really enjoy our day there.  You can't really see much from the main highway except trees.....you see signs here and there indicating a shopping center, or restaurants, etc., but you cannot really see much from the road.  I like trees as much as the next person, but we came here to see the ocean, and maybe even have lunch at a restaurant on the ocean, but it was hard to tell where that would be.

We were looking for Hilton Head Brewing Company, but it was not where the map said it should be.  After wandering around several shopping centers we gave up and just started looking for any restaurant that seemed interesting.....we finally settled on Parrot Cove Seafood Bar & Grill in the Shelter Cove shopping center.....UrbanSpoon gives them 3 stars, and I would say that is about right. We enjoyed what we had, but would we drive back to Hilton Head just to eat there....no.  

It is rare that I am disappointed by any place we go, but I would have to say this adventure did not turn out the way I envisioned.....that's life.....it's going to happen sometimes.....that disappointment is such a rarity for us is a good thing, right?

On our way home I called Karen and Krash to find out their plans for the evening.....they had left Cedar Key after being there almost 9 weeks......around Noon to drive up to Savannah for a couple of days before continuing on northward to their home in Michigan.  We had been hoping they would be able to find a suitable place to stay in Savannah....they need a pet friendly place for their dog Pipa.....and they did!  They said they would arrive around 5-5:30, and would meet us at the Crystal Beer Parlor for dinner.  We got a call from them a little after 7 saying they were settled, and heading over to the restaurant, so we hopped in our car and were there in less than 15 minutes.  We had a lovely dinner in the bar area talking, and laughing like we always do.  We parted ways around 10 anticipating spending Friday together in Savannah.  We'll how that develops.  

We'll be leaving Saturday for Augusta, then up to Asheville, NC early next week for a few days.  The weather forecast is not optimistic.....there will be rain, followed by cold weather, but we will make the best of of as we always do.

Thanks for stopping by!