Our Spring Break this year aligned with the Rays again, so we made plans to meet them in South Carolina for a week of beach fun on Hilton Head Island. By driving to Hilton Head, we were able to mark off a few more states on our list of states to visit as a family (North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia), as well as another National Park. So our road tripping champs took to the roads once again!
We hit the road early on Saturday morning, driving the 10 hours to Asheville, NC with just one pit stop along the way for gas, bathrooms, and lunch at Panera. Our road trip books this trip were The Hunger Games (the clear favorite), The Amulet of Samarkand (okay, but we all got a little tired of it), Half Magic (kinda silly), and Fortunately, the Milk (a quick, quirky listen). We were a little underwhelmed with our book selections this trip.
We checked into our hotel, ate dinner at Chipotle, and got some rest for our day of exploring Asheville. After our hotel breakfast, we headed to our planned hike for the day. Our plan was to hike Black Balsom Knob or Graveyard Fields Loop, but both hikes were inaccessible due to road closures. So we ended up hiking the 6.5 mile roundtrip hike to Looking Glass Rock.
It was a nice hike that ended at a beautiful vista where we ate our snacks and enjoyed the view before hiking back down.
We followed up our hike with a little shopping at an outlet mall close to our hotel and then a really yummy dinner at Daddy Mac's Down Home Dive.
After another night in our Asheville hotel and a big breakfast, we headed to mark another national park off our list: Congaree National Park!
We "hiked" (walked) the Boardwalk Trail. Part of the loop was closed, so we just walked as far as we could access and then headed back.
There was a self-guided tour along the way with various checkpoints that you could read about in the informational brochure. Of course, Zach had to stop and read every one. The kids got WAY ahead of us.
The Boardwalk ended at a lake, where we saw a big snake, fish, and several turtles. Wildlife viewing is always a highlight. We kept an eye out for gators, but never saw any of those.
Congaree was a nice pit stop to break up our drive. Definitely not a destination park, but worth a stop on our way.
After Congaree, we headed to Hilton Head. We got checked into our Air BNB and met up with the Rays. Christie and I went to do some grocery shopping for the week while the boys took the kids to the beach for some sunset beach pictures.
They had a great time doing a whole photo shoot.
So much fun and so many great photos!! (Briggs was along for the ride, but opted out of the pictures.)
Our days took on a pretty typical cadence. We'd sleep in, go for a run on the trails that were all around the island, and then head to the beach for the rest of the day.
The weather was perfect! Mid 70's and sunny was just right for hanging on the beach without getting too hot.
There was swimming and body boarding...
laying out and reading...
flying kites...
building sand creations...
playing games...
and lots of long walks on the beach.
Evening fun typically entailed dinner at the house, visiting, and playing games.
There was one night with a trip to the Milk Shake Factory that involved a wait of well over an hour.
Hunting for (and finding) ghost crabs on the beach one night was a highlight.
An adult's night out to Hudson's Seafood House was a great idea as we enjoyed drinks, a beautiful sunset, live music, and then some scrumptious seafood while the kids ate pizza and had movie night back at the house.
We loved our Airbnb, but the best part was the screened in porch overlooking a golf course.
The girls made themselves right at home in their bunk room...you couldn't even walk in there.
Driving the golf cart to the beach and taking advantage of the community pool were also highlights...especially after a hot run.
We really enjoyed the Hilton Head 'vibe.' Very laid back, super walkable/runnable, and beautiful.
The kids all enjoyed the beach and their time together.
And, of course, it was so fun hanging out and spending time with Christie and Jonathan.
We were all sad to say good-bye to the beach, but had at least one more fun stop to look forward to after leaving Hilton Head...
the Georgia Aquarium!!!
It was a great aquarium! Some highlights included the dolphin show (one of the best we've ever seen...but we made sure to not sit in the soak zone), the very active octopus, the sharks, the manta rays, the beluga whales, and...
the whale shark!!
It was a great stop on our way home. We made it to Nashville after our aquarium afternoon, having dinner at a 5 Guys before our last night on the road before the final push home.
One of our surprise highlights on the way home was this little gas station/convenience store in Evansville, IN where they had a bakery that served delicious homemade donuts and muffins. We enjoyed baked goods and gas station snacks in the car as our lunch on the way home.
It was another great Spring Break trip enjoying a new place with good friends.
Love you, Hilton Head! Thanks for the memories!!
