Exploring Hilton Head Island

Of course, it was too good to be true. At 8am, the sun was coming through the blinds, the maids were knocking on our door, and the receptionist was calling us to kick us out! We milked our stay for as long as we could (we left at 11am) and moved to a smaller, more reasonable space.

We took our first day to explore the island. We walked up the spiraling wooden staircase of the light house  (kind of hidden behind the trees)and explored the small boutiques along the way. We sat down for lunch and went straight for the seafood – a light salad, peel-and-eat shrimp,fried shrimp, raw oysters, and a few bowls of she-crab soup. She-crab soup reminds me of New England clam chowder. There’s a lot of butter, cream, and a few extra special ingredients – crab and crab roe.

Warm Welcome in South Carolina

Before sending everyone on their way, we made one last stop at Rita’s. We’re really going to miss that place especially knowing there isn’t even one within a 100-mile radius of the Bay Area. (Yes, I just checked their website).

Even though I didn’t want to see anyone go, I’m already anticipating our next vacation. I’m hoping next time our parents choose Hawaii… OR, I’m still advocating for a few days for Las Vegas.

Instead of heading home, my family hopped on a plane to our next destination – Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. We tried to check-in that evening, but we ran into a few bumps. Our room had been given up… and since they didn’t have anything in the area we reserved, we got back into the car and drove to the other side of the resort. We got out of the car to find that we were given a major upgrade. For the night, we had a 3-bedroom townhouse! My brother and I each claimed our own room and we all slept easily through the night. Our towels were even folded like animals! Oh, the little things in life.

Virginia Beach

One of our last destinations with the whole crew was Virginia Beach. It's a beautiful beach with colorful umbrellas and it would have been nice to park ourselves there for the day, but we didn't bring swim suits for the occasion.

We also rented these golf carts/bikes... It was fun to ride with all the girls, but we could have gone way farther in bikes! We even let little Ashley drive (I got off and took the picture - it was too dangerous for me).

A few things that weren't so exciting:

Chesapeake Bay Tunnel/Bridge - It's a 17 mile bridge with a huge tunnel in the middle. I guess it looks cool from the top and it's a cool concept because boats can go through as they please, but the round trip toll was $17. It must have been an expensive bridge to build...

Japanese Food - I guess, I should have known better than to try Japanese food... in Virginia... Anyway, first of all, our asian waitress has never heard of a bento box..... which should have been clue #1 to pack up and leave. It took 30 minutes to get my sashimi... so, I'm pretty sure it was frozen. You'd think they'd at least have fresh fish.... we were by the coast. Am I wrong??

Michael's favorite places in Virginia

Since we spent quite a few days doing the boring/historical stuff, we had to do something for the kids! "Kids" meaning mostly college students....

We went to Busch Gardens, which is an amusement park with areas themed by country. I only remember that Germany?!?! had a huge indoor amphitheater. It was memorable because it was air conditioned and we ate lunch there... They did do a yodel/dance number while we were eating...It was entertaining... I guess. We also saw some Irish "Riverdancing."

I wasn't too impressed by the place. Some of the shows were entertaining and the roller coasters are massive, but I was too intimidated to ride them... I like Epcot in Orlando, FL waaaaay better.

As part of the Historic Triangle pass, they threw in a pass for Water Country USA. Best idea for a waterpark - a lazy river with liftvests! It's way easier to navigate a river in a lifejacket instead of trying to float on an inner tube. Great way to cool off in the heat!!

This reminds me of another fun thing we did at our hotel. One night, we were able to watch the movie Matilda on a blow up screen while in the swimming pool. They probably should have heated up the pool a little bit, but I love Matilda... and Roald Dahl... so I didn't really complain too much.

Colonial Virginia

Our visit to Colonial Virginia was "NOT BAD..."

In fact, I really liked it - well, Williamsburg, at least.

If you've ever wondered where they do colonial reenactments, it's in Virginia. There are 3 main settlements/battlefields in Virginia: Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown. They call these sites the Historic Triangle. I'll summarize them in chronological order.

Jamestown
Think Pocahontas. It's mostly outdoors. There are replicas of the ships that were used to first come to America, an indian village, and a colonial village. This is where we realized how hot it can be... especially when we were dressed as settlers.

Williamsburg
This was definitely my favorite part of the experience. Here's where everyone is dressed as colonial settlers. I don't know how they where all that clothes! They also pretend they are from the 18th Century. It's really funny. The man in the first photo of this post is the owner of the wig shop. He was pretty grumpy... (as you can probably tell).

We were so excited about the full costumes, we asked to take a picture with one of the men. We told him we were from California and he asked if that was an island!

It was Michael's fault.....

Yorktown
There's not much here... It was where we won our independence from the British though. We reenacted the final battle. Our guide was a huge history buff and owned all this cool stuff.

Southern Hospitality

Surprisingly, I really liked visiting the South. Although, I guess, I wasn't in the deep south or anything...

Last June, we took a family vacation to Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia. Since I've always lived in the bay area with cool and breezy weather all year long, I thought it was hot, hot, hot! It was humid everywhere. I wore shorts and dresses for my entire vacation. If you stand in the sun for 5 minutes, you can feel the beads of sweat start forming on your forehead. 

I think my favorite parts of my vacation were the southern hospitality (being called ma'am everywhere) and the food! Everyone we met was really friendly and our guides were always very helpful. The trip was also more fun because we were accompanied by 3 other families in Virginia. The more the merrier!

PS expect a lot of posts today...i'm in a writing mood. there are a few reasons for this furious typing:

1. I'm taking advantage of some down time by reliving memories, instead of shopping on-line. It's a dangerous habit working on a computer all day. so much access to Nordstrom....

2. It's really sunny outside and good weather. SO, i'm happy. I'm going to spend most of the weekend in SF, so I hope that the sun stays out!

3. I'M GOING to the VIRGINIA ISLANDS on May 6th for a week. YEEEEE. i was browsing photos of our hotel and I CANNOT wait. April is flying by!!! 

MUST. GO. TO. BEACH. 

This also showed up on my newsfeed this morning: 5 Amazing Beaches

X-PLORE and XEL-HA

#1 recommendation for Cancun (and life). Go to X-PLORE and, if you have time, XEL-HA.

X-PLORE is the coolest "theme park" i've ever been too. Basically, it combines all the fun outdoorsy stuff in one place. They have 2 different zipline courses. One has a water slide and the other has a zipline where you go over crocodiles! There are canals through caves with stalagmites and stalactites that you can float through or sit on "boat" and paddle with your hands. They even give you fins for your hands! There's also 4-wheel-drive cars that you can drive on a few courses and through caves. It's not Disneyland, you don't ride on tracks. They just tell you to use your discretion....sweeeet!! This amusement park would definitely be illegal in the US.

XEL-HA is fun, but only if you like water. Yeah, there's unlimited good, margaritas, tequila shots, long islands, etc... but I don't really think drunk snorkeling is very fun. There's some fish to see while snorkeling, a really really long river, some cliffs to jump from, etc. It would have been nicer if it was warmer.

Here are some x-plore and xel-ha highlights: