Chapter 15: Scoop Of Chocolate, Scoop Of Vanilla, Don’t Waste My Time.
In the interest of not wasting your time, I’m going to blitz through the rest of our Hilton Head diversion in this update. We really did a whole lot of nothing on our last full day and I have a sneaking suspicion that I’m going to struggle to make it seem interesting. One might wonder why I didn’t recognize this fact sooner when it came to, oh, just about any part of my previous trip reports.
We slept in once again (read: 7:00 a.m.) and our friends spoiled us rotten with yet another Giant Bag O’ Bacon. We are indebted to them forever.
Sometime around mid-morning, we decided to take the kids out mini-golfing. I think we picked this course because it had a couple of holes in and on top of a big fake cave. If only more real golf courses were built that way.
It’s a little hard to see Drew in the shadows in this photo, but he’s bending over next to the hole. Drew can’t be bothered to waste time playing golf as it’s meant to be played. He has no interest in tee shots, approach shots, or strategy. Drew likes to pick up the ball, walk to the hold, place the ball next to the hole, and then knock it in. He shot a course record 18 for the day.
We filled up the van with gas on the way back in preparation for our departure the next day and then returned to spend the rest of the day at the resort. We had lunch in the room, and then Julie took the older kids to an afternoon program near the pool where, for a fee, they could tye-dye shirts and pillowcases with Mickey ears on them. So, if you’re keeping track, we refuse to give our kids free s’mores at the campfire but do pay extra for tye-dye shirts. It’s this kind of crackerjack decision-making that has led us to be the envy of parents worldwide.
Meanwhile, back at the room, I got Drew down for a nap and then did something wild, crazy, and completely out of character. In fact, I don’t know if this has ever happened before on an Oblivious Family Vacation. You are hereby witness to history. Are you sitting down?
I took a nap, myself. It was nice.
I woke up in time to go out on the balcony and see everyone enjoying the horseshoe pits below.
After they returned, the kids got changed and we headed up to the swimming pool. They wanted to test out the CM’s claims about the water being heated. I did not go in. I remembered that the air was not, in fact, heated, and wasn’t ready to test the limits of my endurance. It looked nice from the outside, though.
Scotty tried out the waterslide.
The verdict:
All of the kids had a good time in the pool. And the adults were quite happy outside of it.
We did some early –evening family photos near the playground.
And that was pretty much it for the day. It was our friends’ anniversary, so we offered to take their kids for the night while they went out for dinner. We just ordered pizza to the room so we wouldn’t have to attempt to go anywhere with six kids.
Later that night, there was a special meet-and-greet at the Community Hall. Pluto was making an appearance. This was Drew’s first meet-up with a Disney character. Thankfully, he wasn’t freaked out and did really well.
And that was it for Monday.
Tuesday was my birthday, and we chose to celebrate by driving 7.5 hours (not including stops) to Virginia Beach. I didn’t want to drive all the way back home, which would have been a huge haul, but finding a place to stop along the way became a problem. If I’d stayed somewhere along the I-95 corridor, I would have had to drive home the next day on I-95—and that would have been the day before Thanksgiving, one of the worst travel days of the year. Driving a little longer to Virginia Beach gave us an alternate route to Delaware along US 13, which would be much less crowded. Also, I could get an oceanfront hotel cheaply in the offseason for my birthday.
Once again, we suffered from Disney Departure Procrastination, same as with any other Disney property. We made one last stop at the Live Oak Lodge, taking note that the Christmas decorations were starting to magically appear.
We went inside and got some free coffee in the lobby. Our friends were disappointed, however, as they had been hoping for more hot apple cider. So a CM took it upon himself to run all the way down to the snack bar (near the pool) to get them cups of hot cider. Yeah, they’re sold on Disney magic now.
The drive sucked. As you would expect. At one point we stopped in a McDonald’s for a potty break and got some fries for the road. Drew had suckered convinced his parents to buy a stuffed Pluto in the gift shop after meeting him the night before, so he made sure his Pluto was well-fed.
It was night-time by the time we arrived in Virginia Beach. We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express (because cinnamon rolls) right on the boardwalk. Our room had a nice view of the ocean, not that we could see anything in the dark.
We had dinner at a place called
Lager Heads, a burger joint on the boardwalk. They had some neat combinations on the menu and good burgers. I ended up getting a Texas Brisket burger, mostly so I could have BBQ and a burger together. The menu did have several bacon options, but the Bag O’ Bacon supplies had me satisfied on that front.
I think I was more taken with Sarah’s decision to order BBQ Brisket Nachos from the appetizer menu as her meal. I remember my teenage days when I used to be able to eat like that. Good times.
The Virginia Beach Christmas light display was up on the boardwalk, so we chose to drive through. They close off the boardwalk for several blocks and line the drive with Christmas lights. For a small fee, drivers can drive right on the boardwalk and enjoy the display. They even have a radio station playing Christmas music you can listen to as you drive. It was a nice way to cap the evening.
No Christmas light display is complete without Horace, the Christmas Dinosaur.
Don’t believe me about our view: Here is the sunrise the next morning:
Not much to tell about the next morning, as we drove home to Delaware. The most interesting part of the drive was at the start: to cross the Chesapeake Bay, we had to drive across the
Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. It’s a 17-mile combination of bridges and two tunnels that crosses the bay from Virginia to the Delmarva Peninsula and a fairly significant engineering achievement.
The tunnels are present to allow shipping to move from the bay to the ocean without interruption. This gives you the unique opportunity to drive along a bridge and see a ship crossing directly in front of you, appearing to block your path. It’s hard to see in this photo, but a ship was crossing the tunnel at that particular moment.
And that’s about all I have for this getaway. All in all, we really enjoyed ourselves at the Hilton Head Resort. More than once we’ve caught ourselves looking through our photos and wishing we could go back soon. We’d definitely love to spend more time there—it’s a great place to get a taste of Disney in an unexpected location. And we had surprisingly great weather for late November, too!
I have yet to stay at a Disney resort where I didn’t feel like there was something special about the place that made it rise above your standard resort. This place felt special, too. I would still rank Aulani, the Wilderness Lodge, and the Animal Kingdom Lodge higher among my personal favorite Disney resorts. But after that top 3…this one might be next.
Hope this little South Carolina diversion was worth it to you!
Coming Up Next: Good news! We’ve finished the drive across Nebraska!
WHOA!
