Hilton Head at Christmas. A day by day trip report.

[LJC1861]

Well, we arrived here at the resort at 1:30 p.m. to find our lovely one BR unit ready and waiting for us. We are in 1216 which overlooks the boardwalk and the marsh. It is perfectly quiet and just wonderful.

We have been to the Mercantile and I have sent good wishes from everyone here at the DIS to Gordon, who is back from his vacation.

Lisa and I are looking forward to enjoying some of the activities here at the resort in the next few days, including Christmas Caroling around the resort tomorrow afternoon.

Today before we checked in we had lunch at Signe's and in just a little while we are headed out to get in line at the Sea Shack for dinner. These are two of our favorite places and we wanted to make sure we were able to eat there.

Tomorrow we are headed to Dye's Gullah Fixin's for lunch.

I will post more day by day.

Linda

 

[Simba's Mom]

Thanks so much for this trip report. I'm right there with you in spirit. What was good for lunch at Signe's today? We've eaten breakfast there, but never lunch. We've always meant to try lunch, but haven't-yet! And how was the Sea Shack? Last time we went there, it was too crowded. But I really enjoy it there. Please, keep reporting!

 

[LJC1861]

Lunch at Signe's for me today was their chicken pot pie. It was solid chicken, mushrooms and veggies and seasoned with an unusual spice that was SO unbelievably good. It was accompanied by a fresh garden salad and multi grain bread.

Dinner at the Sea Shack was fried flounder accompanied by mac and cheese (not so good) and a green salad. We also had a cup of she crab soup as an appetizer. The soup was delicious but SPICY. My portion of flounder was easily a full pound.....2 large pieces. Lisa had popcorn shrimp and it was an equally large portion. When we mentioned that the mac and cheese was on the cold side they brought us out another side of our choice, in this case french fries that were VERY hot and fresh. We generally get there right at opening, and tonight were among the first people seated. With the Sea Shack it is best to get there before opening, even in slower times. By the time we were done, there were no tables left. I love this restaurant because the food is good and fresh. They hand bread the seafood as you order it and that is impressive. It is not fancy, and you MUST follow the rules.....be ready to order, know how you want your fish cooked, know what sides you want, do NOT sit before ordering and stand to wait where it is suggested you do so. You will eat on plastic plates with plastic tableware, but the prices are several dollars cheaper than any other seafood place in town.

After dinner we braved the Tanger Outlets. In all honesty, there was not much there that we had to have, and when we asked there will not be much more on sale the day after Christmas than there was tonight. So, we now have that crossed off our list and will enjoy the resort and the beach the day after Christmas.

Tomorrow we are going to have lunch at Dye's Gullah Fixin's. In the afternoon we will be Christmas Caroling here at the resort. There are more fun Christmas themed activities on Christmas day as well.

So far we are LOVING our HHI Christmas and are talking about making it an annual tradition.

Linda

 

[mickeywho?]

We'll be there next week! How's the weather? We're trying to figure out what to pack!

 

[LJC1861]

Today was a bit on the cool side, with cloudy skies. Tomorrow is supposed to be a bit warmer....60 ish, but cloudy. Christmas Day is going to be rainy and warm. Saturday and Sunday brightly sunny and cooler....mid 50's.

For us, coming from Asheville NC where we had 12+ inches of snow and 20-30 degree temperatures, this is heaven!!!

Linda

 

[jamie@dvcstore]

Hi LJC1861,
Thank you very much for sharing your live trip report. It sounds like you are having a great time. I will look forward to more updates.
Happy Holidays!
________
Nasty_flowerxxx

 

[LJC1861]

Lunch today was Dye's Gullah Fixins. RUN....don't walk to this marvelous little restaurant!!!!!

On the buffet today was fried chicken, fried pork chops, smoked sausage, rice, fried okra, sweet potatoes, black eyed peas, collard greens, mac and cheese, corn bread and for dessert warm sweet potato pound cake. This was truly one of the BEST meals I have ever had.

All the food is made from scratch, from Dye's grandmother's recipes. You can taste the love in every bite. She was saying that she has lots of catering orders and that even though she had time earlier in the week, she "don't do it that way" and likes everything to be REALLY fresh. So, she was in the middle of mixing up yeast rolls and several more sweet potato pound cakes today so they would be really really fresh for a pick up this evening.

We liked it so much we are going back on Saturday for dinner.

Weather is sunny and cool and right now I am off to go Christmas Caroling around the resort with the CM's and other guests.

Linda

 

[WolfpackFan]

We love Dye's also. That is the kind of food I was raised on. We've only done the lunch buffet. I want to try dinner our next visit. When we were there we were the only ones in the restaurant.

 

[LJC1861]

We were the only ones in the restaurant as well today for most of our meal. It was heavenly! We are going back for dinner on Saturday night to order off the menu. Dye was telling us that everything she serves is made from scratch, every day. Nothing canned or frozen is used. She was then telling us that she is doing lots of catering orders and even though she had time to do some things earlier in the week, she is making most everything today so that her customers will get it up to the minute fresh. She even waited until lunch time to make yeast rolls that will be served later tonight....so that they will be fresh.

The sweet potato pound cake that she served for dessert was still warm from the oven when we ate it and was melt in your mouth good. I would kill for the recipe.

I have also just gotten back from Christmas Caroling. It was SO much fun! The activities staff does such a great job with everything and both kids and adults had a great time.

Linda

 

[RobDoc]

Thanks for the report(s)! We won't get back to HH until late February so your comments offer something to look forward to!

 

[Simba's Mom]

Christmas Carrolling sounds like such fun! And it sounds like you're picking such great places to eat. Where's this Dye's? We'll look forward to trying it AFTER chicken pot pie at Signe's. I love chicken pot pie, I get it every time at 50s Prime Time.

 

[LJC1861]

Dye's is in Pineland Station....a smallish strip mall just a few miles back down 278 from the resort. You have to walk through the open section of the mall, past the little duck pond to find the restaurant. It is charming! The decor is very old school, with lots of knick knacks all over. There is oilcloth on the tables and lots of good old comfort all around. Reservations are a must...even at lunch as she has been known to turn walk ups away, even when there is no one else in the restaurant. This is because there are some days when she only does a lunch buffet and she makes everything from scratch every day, and I imagine she does not want to make food that people are not going to eat.

Try it, you won't be disappointed. I will let you know what we got and how we liked it when we order off the menu on Saturday night.

Linda

 

[LJC1861]

Merry Christmas fro Hilton Head Island.

It is blissfully quiet here this morning. There are lights and garland on many of the balconies and Christmas Tree lights twinkling from Christmas trees placed in windows. It is also rainy and windy, with a tornado warning for most of the morning. I should also add that it is 65 degrees here this morning and will get up to 70 ish later on. We hope to go swimming if the weather clears.

Right now, it is time for pumpkin pancakes and bacon then on to presents.

Linda

 

[mickeywho?]

Loving your report! We leave here tomorrow and can't wait to get there!!!!

 

[LJC1861]

I am now completely spoiled. I LOVE being in a one bedroom unit. It is so nice to be able to cook, do laundry when needed, and spread out a bit.

Tonight we had a standing rib roast, baked potatoes, broccoli, our favorite wine and cheesecake for dessert. Can't do that in a studio! The bigger balcony is also nice, and the table would be great to use in warmer weather.

Before dinner, just as the sun set we took a walk around the resort. There were families enjoying Christmas dinners all over the resort. Many of the balconies are decorated with lights, garland and the occasional inflatable Mickey. Everyone we passed wished us a Merry Christmas and we did the same in return.

We are now settled in for the night with some good Christmas movies on TV.

Tomorrow we are hoping to hit the beach for a long walk in the morning and maybe do some biking in the afternoon.

Linda

 

[SamSam]

Thanks so much for your wonderful trip reports. We have never stayed at HH, but would definitely like to. Your report makes me want to stay there even more than I had before.

 

[Doctor P]

We get to HH from WDW this afternoon (we will check into the DVC resort tomorrow). Thanks for the trip report to get our appetites whetted for our return to one of our favorite places!

 

[SLM]

Merry Christmas and thank you for the great trip report. I am writing your restaurant choices down for our trip in June. We were there for a week in Sept 2008 and found some great places, but missed both of these. Does Dye do dinners or only lunch?

 

[LJC1861]

Dye's does both lunch and dinner. About half the week she does a lunch buffet, and the other half you can order off the menu. I will get the specific days when we go back tonight.

She also sent us a menu. I will post some of it later.

Right now, it is off to the beach!!!!!!

Linda

 

[5forDiz]

Enjoying your TR. Our family HHI too and hope to get back there this summer. We have yet to try Dye's and hope we will be able to do that then.

What a lovely place to spend Christmas

Best wishes for Happy Holidays & New Year