Why Not Just Queue Up Another Disney Trip? Link to New TR 6/24 p136!

[2xcited2sleep]

Oh my goodness, can just imagine the feeling in the pit of your stomach over deleting the photos. Thank goodness you had back-up. All the pics are gorgeous, as usual. I will have to add a visit to Hilton Head to my bucket list. Need. More. Points.

Shadow is adorable. I've had two goldens now and they tend to start getting pretty white in the face as they approach 10... she is a VERY young looking 15 year old. But if I lived at a Disney resort I would probably look pretty good too.

 

[eandesmom]

I buy the double pack 8 gb from Costco when they go on sale, but I don't like those as much as the 4 gb because I think they actually hold too many picture. The funny thing was I was in a furious backup mode so I could finally delete some of those memory cards, I just hadn't gotten there yet.

I booked the first night on points and the last four on a member cash rate. On October 24th the member rate dropped to $150 night. How could I pass that up, plus even with my new contract I didn't really have enough points to book the whole stay with all my other trips.

I know you would love it because the resort and the island are both so unique and beautiful. Such a special place.

That's right, I forgot about that member rate, that's wonderful! I

 

[MEK]

WOW! That is impressive!

I really want to get to 10,000 but I would have to start power posting!

What a fun tour with the birds I totally love anything to do with nature and it looked like a nice easy going tour. Looks like you saw lots of the long nozzled variety. LOVE the Spanish moss!!

long nozzled variety That still cracks me up!

The walk was very enjoyable despite that I was the least knowledgeable in my group!

You would love this place because you are a totally out=doors type person. Perfect for people who like to play outside!

Shadow is a doll. And totally not buying that she is 15. Ziggy is 10 and has an old man grey beard coming along nicely Actually not really but he does have two white whiskers My brothers dog is a retriever/chesapeake retriever the same age as Ziggy and she has a pretty white face. Like really white. Love the story though and can imagine that she gets a lot of attention from the guests. What a great place to live!!

I don't even have dogs, but I know they start turning grey before 15. I guess they probably did make a Shadow switch somewhere in the last 15 years. You're right - it is a great story, though!

Hope you are having a good weekend!

Tracy

Thanks. Hope you are too. Mine was crazy busy since its soccer state tournament time. Nick's school did not make the state tourney this year (for the first time in forever. Brian was on a tourney team for 5 years straight), but several of the games are held at our field so I've been helping with concessions. Last night we ran out of everything. We made a lot of $$$$$$ for the soccer team.

Congrats on your 9000th post!!!

You have no idea how bad I want to reach 10,000. It's taking forever. How do some people do it?

I showed your HHI pictures to my DH and he wants to go there now too!!! He's too easy! That's why I love him so!

Awesome! You really should think about an October trip there. I bet your girls would love it, too. I'm going back in two years - October 2013. Already planning it!

Cute blog on Shadow! I'd love to meet her one day!

I hope you do take a trip there someday. I think you and your family would love it. It really is a special place.

Oh my goodness, can just imagine the feeling in the pit of your stomach over deleting the photos. Thank goodness you had back-up. All the pics are gorgeous, as usual. I will have to add a visit to Hilton Head to my bucket list. Need. More. Points.

As I said before, it really was not one of my finer moments. I was practically whaling in. Once I realized there was nothing I could do to change it, I started to relax a bit and just focus on memory card recovery.

More Points???? Are you stalking the timeshare store DVC listings?

Not really using many points and just taking advantage of the member discount rate is really an attractive benefit to this property.

Shadow is adorable. I've had two goldens now and they tend to start getting pretty white in the face as they approach 10... she is a VERY young looking 15 year old. But if I lived at a Disney resort I would probably look pretty good too.

Yeah - me, too! Tracy just made the same comment about Shadow not showing her age. I think they must have switched her with a new Shadow somewhere along the way, although sooner or later people are going to catch on. Perhaps they hold onto the tale for the kids.

I see SOMEONE has their ticker up and running!!!!!! Woo Hoo!

 

[MEK]

That's right, I forgot about that member rate, that's wonderful! I

It totally rocked. I hope they have a rate like that two years from now.

 

[KatMark]

Thanks for the blog on Shadow--enjoyed.

Shadow could definitely be 15; our Cookie is 14 and besides her not being able to see out of one eye, if you looked at her you wouldn't know she was 14.

 

[Wicket's Mom]

Talking about Shadow's age reminds me of an episode of King of Queens. Doug & his wife were looking at his old family videos. She noticed that the dog was in all of the videos & realized that the dog would have to be 28 years old! His parents couldn't tell Doug that the dog died, so they kept replacing the dog with look alikes! That could be Shadow's secret.

I will have to get that that Photobucket app! Thanks for the heads up.

 

[MEK]

Thanks for the blog on Shadow--enjoyed.

Shadow could definitely be 15; our Cookie is 14 and besides her not being able to see out of one eye, if you looked at her you wouldn't know she was 14.

Well, that makes me happy to know that she might be 15. I'm glad its not out of the realm of possibilities. She did seem old in her mannerisms, but not necessarily her appearance, if that makes sense.

Talking about Shadow's age reminds me of an episode of King of Queens. Doug & his wife were looking at his old family videos. She noticed that the dog was in all of the videos & realized that the dog would have to be 28 years old! His parents couldn't tell Doug that the dog died, so they kept replacing the dog with look alikes! That could be Shadow's secret.

That's great. I could definitely see Disney pulling that trick because it would eliminate the need for shadow 1, shadow 2, ect. I mean - do they keep renaming the dog or just call every dog Shadow.

I will have to get that that Photobucket app! Thanks for the heads up.

It makes it so cell phone pics never have to touch your computer.

 

[MEK]

After Frequent Fliers I got back to the villa around the same time as P & L. They took a really long walk. In fact, they walked all the way to the beach. But they never found the Disney Beach House. Instead, they went on the beach at the Marriott. They said the pool there was gorgeous.

We spent the early afternoon at the resort pool. I didn't take picks, but trust me, it was pretty empty. Refreshingly empty. It was nice because we each wondered back to the villa when we were hungry or thirsty. We read, we laughed, we gossiped, we people watched, and then we decided to go find the Disney Beach House.

Driving to the Disney Beach House was pretty easy. You basically go across the street from the resort. Everything in HHI is gated, so you actually have to go through a gate to find the beach house. No problem with our parking pass. It was easy to see how P and L originally missed the beach house. The walking path is on the left side of the street and it just sort of ends near some tennis courts. To get to the beach house you need to cross to the right side of the street, but P and L didn't know that.

Oh well - didn't matter - we were finally there.

There weren't many people on the beach and there weren't any chairs. I am under the impression that there are chairs and umbrellas during the peak season, but perhaps they are not available during off season. Unfortunately for us, all we had were our beach towels and that sand is seriously hard packed. Just about as hard packed as is possible.

Meet Baxter. He was on the beach with his mommy and he came over to greet us when we arrived.

This is a view of the beach house taken from the beach. Notice how you can hardly see it.

Another view

These condos were to the right of the beach house

We stayed on the beach until our a$$es were numb from sitting on the hard packed sand. Then we visited the beach house pool.

Here is a view of the beach from the beach house deck

I still had my distance lens on so its a little difficult to get the beach house perspective, but here's some pics of the pool

That lady may be in a long sleeve shirt, but I can tell you that it was hot outside. So hot that I took the plunge and went it the pool. And it was lovely - absolutely perfect! I remember posting on FB and Bill (saintstickets) asked if I had done any noodling yet? They actually DO sell noodles at the Mercantile!

Just for you, my dear readers, I took a peak in Shutters

Shutters is only opened from 11am - 3pm, so they were closing in about 5 minutes.

The menu

Drinks

Back on the pool deck I could check out today's happenings

Notice the Secrets of the Marsh Tour at 1pm. I really wanted to do that, but I didn't sign up because the rest of the ladies weren't interested so I opted for pool time instead. There was another Marsh Tour on Thursday and I was hoping to attend that instead.

Here's another cute Disney detail

One of the things I didn't know about that beach house was that there is a lovely indoor area called

Obviously I went inside to take pictures. What an adorable room.

Continued.........

 

[MEK]

Continued......

A place to catch up on TV

These boats were actually on the walls

Around 3:30 or 4pm we decided to head back to the villa to shower and get ready for dinner.

Our destination tonight was one of Ellen's (Podsnel) recommendation. She said that the view here was gorgeous. I was intrigued. When I visited the restaurants website I found they had happy hour from 5 - 7pm. Drinks while watching the sun set over the intercoastal sounded darn good to me.

Our destination.....

The Old Fort Pup.

It seemed like this was a good 15 - 20 minute drive. Again, the restaurant was actually located within a gated community. We were given a restaurant pass at the guard gate.

We got a round of drinks and sat outside on the deck

I had to shot around another group of people, so you really can't get a good perspective of the deck.

My companions

A view to the marina

Our timing was perfect. It was too long until we started seeing the start of the sunset

Now, its at this point that I took FAR TOO MANY sunset pictures, so I'll only bore you with a fraction of them.

Continued.........

 

[MEK]

Continued.........

Good Bye Sun.......

Ok - so I admit - I got a little crazy with the sunset pictures, but it was hard not to.

When we first arrived at the Old Fort Pub we weren't really sure if we were going to stay for dinner or head elsewhere. I guess that sunset drained the energy right out of us, so we decided to stay put and I'm very glad we did.

I really don't have any pictures of the restaurant. It's small and all the tables are lined up along the big glass windows which frame the back of the restaurant. In other words, there isn't a bad seat in the house.

Noting my fixation with the camera, another patron did offer to take our picture

I decided to have a beer so I tried an Allagash from Maine. I enjoyed it. Very good!

Rolls

View out the window

Entrees

P & L both ordered the same thing - this shrimp pasta. Doesn't it look yummy?

I will have to say that P and L did not mind me photographing food. In fact, L was kind-of getting into it and even handed me the butter to take a picture of. It came out blurry, so I didn't post it.

My entree - the tuna

As you can see its sitting on black beans and surrounded by carmelized onions and beets. I had it medium rare and it was just wonderful. What a great combo of flavors. Loved it!

Here is our dessert, which we decided to split three ways

It was made with bavarian white chocolate and berries. It was really, REALLY good.

The end result

I actually did take food notes this trip, but my notebook is upstairs and I am too lazy to get it. I'll check my note tomorrow and make changes if needed.

*Yawn* too tired now.

P and L totally surprised me when they treated me to dinner, which was such a nice gesture. It was really a lovely evening.

On the way back to the villa we spotted a store that we don't have here in Delaware - Steinmarts. We drove right by it, but decided to turn around and take a quick peak in. I mean, we are girls and all that. We got there about 10 minutes before the store was due to close. I actually bought a really cute pair of wedge sandals which are so high that I will probably never be able to wear them without hurting myself, but they looked cute with the dress I had on so I couldn't resist. I also bought a cute little wine holder which went with the theme of the villa. Another impulse buy, but why not.

So that closes our first full day at HHI. Just like when I visit disney the day seemed to fly right on by. We all went to bed by 10pm. Tomorrow we had a big day planned - We were off to visit Savannah Georgia!

Next Up - Hanging with the Spirits!

 

[Pinkocto]

You guys really had the perfect view at the restaurant, those sunset photos were just gorgeous!

There's something about hard packed sand that is just offputting. We were on some beach in Florida and there were hardly any other people, which would have been perfect, but the sand was just as hard as could be. It was just not right.

I hope you were able to get to that Marsh Tour later on, but an afternoon with friends is just so nice, glad you had a great time!

 

[rndmr2]

Nice update! Too bad the beach sand was too hard. That Beach house was cute inside. Beautiful pics of the sunset.

 

[dawnbu40]

I love the decor of the Beach House! So cute!
Your sunset pictures are beautiful! What a great view you had!
And that dessert looked wonderful!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

That's the weirdest thing about the sand! It really does look like you guys are sitting on concrete in that photo though! Once my friend and I went on a school trip to France and Italy, and when we were in Italy, we got to go on one of the beaches there. But the beach wasn't made of sand - it was pebbles...it was SO uncomfortable to sit on, but we were like "we're in Italy! We have to suck it up and sit here on the beach! When are we ever going to do this again??"

Love your sunset pictures! I love sunrises and sunsets, all the colors are so pretty!

Your dessert looks like it was awesome!

 

[MEK]

You guys really had the perfect view at the restaurant, those sunset photos were just gorgeous!

I'm so glad that we went there. That sunset was unforgettable. Ellen told me there are better places to eat, but my entree was fabulous. I loved every bite.

There's something about hard packed sand that is just offputting. We were on some beach in Florida and there were hardly any other people, which would have been perfect, but the sand was just as hard as could be. It was just not right.

It would have been fine if we had chairs, but we didn't and there was NO way they would have fit in the car. If I go back with Denny I will certainly bring beach chairs.

I do think the hard packed sand has some advantages - like for riding bikes or running on the beach. But, you're right - it does seem strange. I think it might be because Hilton Head has such dramatic tides. That hard pack sand is often the ocean floor.

I hope you were able to get to that Marsh Tour later on, but an afternoon with friends is just so nice, glad you had a great time!

Stick around and I tell you what happened with the Marsh Tour.

Nice update! Too bad the beach sand was too hard. That Beach house was cute inside. Beautiful pics of the sunset.

Thanks! Yeah - the hard packed sand was a little rough on the tush! Of course, I have more padding so I made out better than my friends.

The beach house was adorable and watching that sunset was definitely a highlight of my trip.

I love the decor of the Beach House! So cute!
Your sunset pictures are beautiful! What a great view you had!
And that dessert looked wonderful!

I loved the Beach House. I could definitely seeing cooling off there on a hot summer day. So darn cute.

Watching that sunset was sooooooo fantastic. Almost as good as that scrumptious dessert!

 

[MEK]

That's the weirdest thing about the sand! It really does look like you guys are sitting on concrete in that photo though! Once my friend and I went on a school trip to France and Italy, and when we were in Italy, we got to go on one of the beaches there. But the beach wasn't made of sand - it was pebbles...it was SO uncomfortable to sit on, but we were like "we're in Italy! We have to suck it up and sit here on the beach! When are we ever going to do this again??"

I find it very interesting to note the different surfaces that make up beaches. In Vero the beach was very grainy /gravely like, but they had the best beach chairs there (for a price). I would definitely sit on some pebbles to visit a beach in Italy! Nice!

Love your sunset pictures! I love sunrises and sunsets, all the colors are so pretty!

Thank you! That really was a memorable sunset and if I ever return to HHI (which I better) I could easily return there just to watch it again!

Your dessert looks like it was awesome!

It was delish and see how low calorie it was with three people splitting it.

 

[Roxychica7]

Myrtle Beach is like that too..really hard sand, definitely doesn't feel good on the backside!

LOVE that purple hued sunset picture you took..what a great spot for dinner and company!

Your tuna sounds delicious and that last picture of your dessert is too funny!!

 

[manntra]

Wowza ME!!!! GORGEOUS sunset pictures!!! Absolutely stunning!!! What a beautiful spot and looks like a wonderful dinner! I DO NOT recommend shopping after drinking we took an intermission during V&A and I bought some things from Basin...the next morning I had no idea where they came from!!!! Stupid sake!!!

I like the little surf chairs that you can sit right up to the edge of the water. Of course that would be the only type of chair to fit in my car anyways Beach house and pool area looks really cute!

Tracy

 

[MEK]

Myrtle Beach is like that too..really hard sand, definitely doesn't feel good on the backside!

It's great for running and walking though. I don't like sitting directly on any sand - hard or soft, but if I have to pick one, the decision is easy.

LOVE that purple hued sunset picture you took..what a great spot for dinner and company!

Ahhhh.....the power of photo editing. I tried editing as many different colors into the pics as I could. Purple looked pretty cool on the computer. I wonder how it would look as a real picture?

It was an awesome spot for dinner.

Your tuna sounds delicious and that last picture of your dessert is too funny!!

The tuna was probably my favorite meal of the week because I love tuna, black beans, and beets. It combined a lot of my fav foods in a dish with amazing flavors.

And see what happens when you have 3 girls and two of them are skinny? Portion control.

Wowza ME!!!! GORGEOUS sunset pictures!!! Absolutely stunning!!! What a beautiful spot and looks like a wonderful dinner!

So glad you like the pictures. I probably took at least 40 of the same shot. What is wrong with me???? It was a lovely spot and dinner was delish.

I DO NOT recommend shopping after drinking we took an intermission during V&A and I bought some things from Basin...the next morning I had no idea where they came from!!!! Stupid sake!!!

Sake - yum!

That reminds me of the time I drank almost a whole bottle of wine at dinner and ended up with a pair of roller blades. I actually DID use them!

But for the most part I should avoid shopping after drinking because those shoes I bought are just ridiculous. They would be fine if I didn't have to walk anywhere!

I like the little surf chairs that you can sit right up to the edge of the water. Of course that would be the only type of chair to fit in my car anyways Beach house and pool area looks really cute!

Tracy

I know the chair you are talking about. That's what we needed. But fortunately we had chairs at the beach house to rescue our numb backsides!

The beach house and the pool were really cute. I can imagine them getting really crowded, but it was perfect for off season.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Beautiful pictures! I don't think you can have too many sunset pictures. The view looked terrific, and the shots you got are great.

I remember that hard-packed sand from Myrtle Beach. Definitely takes some getting used to. Still, the resort looks to be a great spot and facility.