We'd been planning a trip to Hilton Head Island this last weekend for months. It had been four years since we'd been, even though we'd always planned for it to be an annual occurrence, but having a Peanut who screamed in the car, interfering family trips, and a last minute funeral has meant that for the last three years, it just hasn't happened.
And then, this year, the weather forecast leading up to the weekend was TERRIBLE. At one point on Wednesday, weather.com was predicting 80% chance of Thunderstorms all three days we were going to be there. I was having serious regrets that we'd bought our hotel through Priceline and couldn't make a change to our destination.
But we packed up Thursday and prayed the storms would blow over. The forecast was already looking better by the time we left and it ended up being better than we could have hoped for. No rain, no lightening, and temps in the 70's which made for nice enough beach weather. Granted, I grew up in northern California where a beach day in the 70's was a miracle and the water was always freezing. But it really was pleasant for both walking on the beach and splashing around in the water. We felt very lucky.
Love this reenactment of the kids from our first visit. They've grown a lot in 5 years.
We took a long walk the first morning and found a ton of these tiny shells. I love the spiral ones.
We spent the second day in Savannah. I can't decide if I like Savannah or Charleston better. They are both such beautiful old cities.
Of course, Savannah does have more Spanish Moss. It's everywhere (except in this picture of the Spanish Moss Inn, hahaha.)
I love how everywhere you turn, there are reminders of just how old this city is--crumbling old steps, cobblestone streets, original buildings and underground passageways.
Of course, a trip to Savannah requires a stop at the Pirate's House for lunch. They have a pretty decent southern lunch buffet, and even better atmosphere.
And the pirate costumes are always a hit.
Love us some pirates.
We also toured the Owens-Thomas House, which was beautiful.
No pictures allowed inside, but it was truly amazing.
And with that admission, we also were able to visit the Jepson Center, which had some really fun hands-on art exhibits for the kids, as well as a pretty amazing exhibit by Whitfield Lovell called Deep River. I love art that you can feel a part of and this really allowed for that.
The kids could have spent hours building
(and the hands-on was great after spending an hour in a house they weren't allowed to touch.)
Check out the pirate ship he came up with.
A stop in one of the many squares to watch the fountain.
Peanut was getting excited about the water. He wasn't brave enough to try running through it, though. Only the other two did that.
I cannot get enough of this cute little boy and his "observation" stance.
Another square. There are still 21 of the original 24 squares that this historic section of Savannah. They make it such a walkable city. A new park every couple blocks.
City Hall
The architecture in Savannah is so beautiful. So many different styles and time periods represented.
I'd live here. In fact, we picked out the square we want to live on if we ever move to Savannah. Bean and I kept imagining sitting out on one of the porches, writing our novels. Such an inspiring place.
There were signs all over the island warning us to not feed the alligators, so we stopped at the golf course by the resort we were staying in and sure enough, this guy was just hanging out a couple feet from the edge of this pond. He was probably around 7-8 feet long. Kind of creepy. I can't believe people ever swim in the water around here!
The horseshoe crab and his smaller counterparts were all dead--but still cool to look at.
And then just some more random shots from the island.
And how this little bug and I enjoyed our first, very early, morning:
I wasn't too happy to be woken up at 6:30 a.m. Saturday, until we got out to the beach and there was an absolutely gorgeous sunrise (and of course the camera was in the car) and it was so peaceful out there. I love the beach in the early morning. And I love this little Bug, even when he wakes me in the early mornings.
And especially when he's goofy and covered in sugar.
