Here at Hilton Head until 4/11

[VMS]

We are here for our 8th annual trip. First six were in March or April, all with great weather. Last year was in August due to no full week off in the spring. Back to April this year. It is me, DH, DS(18), DS(15), DD(12). Drove down leaving CT at 5 AM on Saturday and we got here at about 7 PM with a lunch stop and a few gas station stops. Lots more cars on the road, many more minivans than SUVs as in the past. Also, lots of cars with luggage racks and multiple bikes.

Checked in early on Sunday (we spend the night at a local off-site hotel). We loved the building we were in in August (27), and it was available and ready, so we took it! Got our bikes, refillable mugs, and then off to Piggly Wiggly.

Sunday was cloudy, not super-warm, but warm enough for the pool. Happy to see a lot of familiar faces from the summer, including Rich and Lizzie who did pool games at 2. Said it was the first of the season, but we had never had pool games in the spring before. Another first -- they checked the room IDs at the pool! I am happy about that after having a friend back home brag about using the pool here.

Weather yesterday was better than forecasted. We did have a brief storm in the late morning (started out very sunny). We rode our bikes to the beach house after lunch, and it was so sunny and warm. We stayed a couple of hours. It did get VERY windy late yesterday, and today it is really cold. Supposed to only go into the 50s.

We mainly like to relax here -- bike riding, pool, ping-pong, just chill out. But they do have one new activity my daughter and I are going to do tomorrow. They have a bike riding activity over on Pickney Island. We have done the nature walk over there in the past, but we love to ride on the bikes, so we signed up for that right away. I think they can only take 10 people, and you must be over 12.

We ate at Grumpy Grouper last night -- first time on a recommendation from Chef Gordon. He has supplied us with almost all of our favorites we go to each year. We did all enjoy it. Great fish, but one son and daughter are not huge seafood fans. She had a really good fettucini alfredo, and my son had really good wings (and he knows his wings).

I will check here if anyone has any specific questions. We are at our "happy place".

 

[JVL1018]

Thanks for the report-the Pickney Island biking sounds cool-we haven't even gone on the walk yet-maybe this year.

 

[SLK1]

We were there last week. Be careful of falling palm fronds in the wind! It happened on our trip twice (once was to me, but I wasn't injured; the other woman it happened to had big gash marks in her forehead!). It's extremely windy in Orlando today, so I imagine it's pretty bad by the ocean. It's supposed to warm up tomorrow and the rest of the week. Have fun!

 

[Disneymom2266]

We were there last week. Be careful of falling palm fronds in the wind! It happened on our trip twice (once was to me, but I wasn't injured; the other woman it happened to had big gash marks in her forehead!). It's extremely windy in Orlando today, so I imagine it's pretty bad by the ocean. It's supposed to warm up tomorrow and the rest of the week. Have fun!

May I ask what are pond fronds? Are they in Hilton Head?

 

[dizneefamily5]

We are here, too! In building 26 - howdy neighbor . We are going to the outlet mall today for a bit. We went to the naturalist activity this morning and made cornbread over the fire and butter - yummy..........

 

[5forDiz]

vms and dizneefamily5 hope you both have a great stay

Wish we were there too, HHI resort !

 

[princessesrule4]

May I ask what are pond fronds? Are they in Hilton Head?

They are the branches of palm/palmetto trees. We have 2 palmetto trees in our yard and each lost one or two fronds in the wind yesterday.

 

[Simba's Mom]

We ate at Grumpy Grouper last night -- first time on a recommendation from Chef Gordon. He has supplied us with almost all of our favorites we go to each year. We did all enjoy it. Great fish, but one son and daughter are not huge seafood fans. She had a really good fettucini alfredo, and my son had really good wings (and he knows his wings).

Anyplace Chef Gordon recommends is well worth a trip. I really value his opinion when it comes to food. We haven't been to the Grumpy Grouper, but we'll be sure to try it out next trip. Thanks!

LOL, I understand about the palm fronds. One time at OKW, we watched an entire palm tree crash over one morning, when no one was nearby. Rather scary!

 

[SLM]

Have a great week! We also ate at the Grumpy Grouper on the advice of a CM on our September visit-we love seafood and really enjoyed it-I had to get my husband the t-shirt!

 

[msabol01]

We are here, too! In building 26 - howdy neighbor . We are going to the outlet mall today for a bit. We went to the naturalist activity this morning and made cornbread over the fire and butter - yummy..........

We're here as well. In Bldg 20. We did the Naturalist activity this morning as well (around 1030). It's our first time here and my wife is loving it... Now if we can only get it to warm up another 10-15 degrees!

 

[VMS]

Hi Dizneefamily5 and msabol01 --looks like our weather is going to improve as the week goes on. We have never had a day as cold here as yesterday. We didn't even go bike riding. Was interesting to see those few brave people in the pool -- with a lifeguard watching with gloves on!

We did a little outlet shopping too -- mainly at the Nike store. We also went to Kickin' Gator for some new flip-flops for DD and board shorts for DS. We also spent some time in Big Murgie's -- we love those 3 o'clock cookies. Finally got to Barnacle Bill's -- we have always heard so much about him, yet had never gotten there before. We bought shrimp and cooked it back at the Villa and boy was that fresh and delicious. We may go back for them another day.

This morning my daughter and I are headed for the Pickney Island bike tour. We are really looking forward to that!

 

[dizneefamily5]

It is warmer today. We did B'Lou's magic show and it was quite impressive. We are pretty scheduled today. The scavenger hunt at 1:00, Member Tour at 2:00, Photography at 4:00, and Campfaire at 8:00. Our 7 year old loves the scheduled events because she thinks it's too cold in the pool. We are LOVING it here.

BTW, we have 4 girls with us (ages 14, 14, 13, and 7). Say hey if you see us!!

 

[msabol01]

Hey! The magic show was great fun for both kids and adults. I thought B'Lou handled the crowd quite well. We did a dolphin tour this morning and it was COLD. It did warm up a bit towards the end.

Our daughter was pyched to actually see Shadow this morning walking with B'Lou. I'm guessing by the dog's age she's Shadow 2.

 

[JCLNJ]

We are also here and having a great time. We are in building 31. Took a 7 mile bike ride today and my son went to magic show. We are going to Nature photography this afternoon. We will also probably go to the campfire. We drove over to Pickney island yesterday and saw 2 large alligators at Starr Pond. We did the secrets of the marsh on Sunday afternoon and enjoy it, it was fun to walk around with the boots on and see the hermit crabs and snails. My kids are going kayaking with the teens tomorrow(DD 16, DS 14). Having a great time just wish it was a little warmer but it is improving.

 

[Conan the Librarian]

Welcome to the Low Country!

Don't forget to come over and visit Savannah!

 

[VMS]

Weather yesterday was much improved. My DD and I went on the Pickney Island bike tour which ended up only having 5 people signed up. Sandy and Rich were the CMs. What a great new activity -- surprised more people didn't take advantage of it. We rode around the island on the bikes they drove over and covered a lot more than you could on the walking tour. Started out cool, and then warmed up as we went along. Sandy pointed out a lot of wildlife, mostly birds. She provided a good amount of information. Rich brought snacks! He is always fun. Since this is a new activity, they wanted honest feedback about it and I think everyone enjoyed it. This is a great new activity for those with kids who are a bit older and outgrowing some of the things that they offer the younger kids.

After the ride we ate lunch and I played tennis with DS (15) at Palmetto Dunes. It was perfect weather for that. Spent some time at the pool and then we went to dinner at Just Pasta followed by Rita's for dessert. That is an annual tradition. We are noticing that the island does seem to be very busy - we just make sure we don't go to dinner too late, otherwise there are long waits. DD and I did make it to the campfire -- definitely the most crowded we have seen it in the 8 years. I think that may be because Sunday night's had to be indoors because of the weather, and if people are checking out on Friday, this would be the last opportunity for them. Was great to see Kate leading it -- we remember her from our August trip. Some new verses to the Boom Chicka Boom song -- love to hear those!

Weather looks great today -- I'm sure the day will be filled with biking and pool time. Maybe some ping pong if we get ambitious! Oh yeah, the pool table was gone when we got here -- being refurbished. Found out when we checked in on Sunday. I think it was back by Monday. Also got our member gifts yesterday -- most of us chose net beach bags with the vacation club logos on them.

 

[Halle]

Heading to HH next week has chef Gordon recommended any other places to eat? Many thanks.

 

[msabol01]

So who is Chef Gordon? As you can tell I'm a HHI rookie.

 

[Simba's Mom]

So who is Chef Gordon? As you can tell I'm a HHI rookie.

Actually, Chef Gordon hasn't been a chef at HHI for several years (we were fortunate enough to have him do "A Private Affair" for us in March, 2005, I think that may have been his final act of "cheffing") However, he's still very much at HHI, as a CM in the General Store. Here's a picture of him from that Private Affair (dinner just for DH and myself at the Beach House)-

 

[VMS]

Hi Simba's Mom -- I would often read your posts because many times we would be headed to HH right after your trip. I remember you had one of the last "A Private Affair" nights. We had one booked for early April '05 (we were fortunate enough to have done it on the three prior trips), and it did get canceled shortly before we left for the trip. They were the best!

Chef Gordon has recommended a number of places. This year he added Grumpy Grouper. Just Pasta was one of his as well as Old Fort Pub (more of a special occasion without kids kind of place). He also used to do great evening food events -- wine pairings, appetizers, etc. Those were the days!

The weather did end up being perfect yesterday. We did a lot of bike riding and soaking up the warm sun by the pool. Not scheduled, but responding to requests, Rich late in the afternoon did some music and trivia by the pool. We ate at Wild Wing Cafe -- we tend to go there once during our visits here. DD and I also did Goofy Bingo. They are very good here about making sure everyone is happy. The Mickey Tie Dye shirts is a popular activity, so once it is signed up, they just keep adding new sessions. They were doing those shirts for hours yesterday afternoon.

Last full day here today. We used the member room discount for tonight. I know a lot of people will be checking out today. We just feel we drive down so far to get here, the extra day is really worth it.