Live from Hilton Head June 15th-25th 2008, Anyone Else?

[gingermouse17]

We booked our ressie with points Sun-Thurs and asked for a cash ressie with the DVC discount for Friday and Saturday. There was one available. They can link the reservations. Hope this helps!

Thanks

 

[MagikMom]

Hi everyone,
We just rented a minivan for our drive to HH. We rented a van because ours has too many miles on it and we are just worried that it won't make it. This will be our first time driving as a family for any long distance. I'm just a little worried because it will be me, DH, DD 15, DS 12. My parents are coming too but they are driving in a seperate care (lucky them). We are driving from Mass and it is an estimated 16 hour drive. We are planning to stop and stay over night somewhere on the NC/SC line. We are due to arrive at HH on Sun June 22nd. I am looking at this as an adventure. I am going to pack a cooler so we don't have to stop for food, the kids will have their ipods, game boys ect., and I will have my book. DH and I will split the driving. Here's the problem. He does everything "COMANDO" style. I'm afraid he will be a giant ball of stress if we hit any traffic AT ALL. The plan is to leave at 4am on Sat and drive straight thru (bathroom breaks of course) until we hit our overnight destination. We shouldn't hit a lot of traffic on a Sat, right? I've heard that getting thru NY & DC are the worst and then it should be smooth sailing. Anyone ever drive from Mass? Does our time frame plan sound good? Which states have the strictest penalties for throwing your husband out the window and leaving him on the side of the road?

 

[JVL1018]

I live right outside of NYC and on Saturdays the traffic isn't bad at all. What time will you be hitting the NY area?
We usually leave here around 7 or 8 am on a Saturday, no traffic issues thus far in 6 or 7 trips. We are in Baltimore 3 hours later and then DC another hour after that and we have had no problems at all, regardless of the times we've left, Saturday mornings have always been smooth sailing for us down through VA.

 

[MagikMom]

We will be leaving our house at 4am so we will Probably hit NYC around 8am.
I see by your little Picture of DH that he is firefighter like mine!

 

[MinnieGi]

The DC/northern VA can be a nightmare even on a Saturday, just to warn you! We live in DE so quite a bit south from you and it takes us a little over 2 hours to get to DC. We left our house @ 8:00 am last Aug. on our drive to HHI and thought we should be golden since it was Sat. and we'd be arriving in DC around 10:00. AAAAAhhhh - we were fine till we got to the beltway and started slowing down, but still moving. When we arrived in Northern VA at the "mixing bowl" we stopped and sat in traffic for more than two hours. It was all just traveling traffic, no accident. The high speed lanes were open but even they came to a stand still for miles before merging in. Talked to my cousin who lives in NOVA and she said during the summer especially they avoid I-95 like a plague if they can.

On the way home we thought it wouldn't be a problem b/c we would not be hitting DC/NoVA until late evening but again we were wrong!! (Now this was a Friday around 8:00 pm). We were again in stop and start traffic and we could see the southbound lanes at times were completely stopped how they were when we came down.

This year our plan is to leave here in DE around 3:00 or 4:00 am so we are out of the DC/NOVA area before most of the traffic gets on the road!

We also arrive on June 22nd in HHI. We actually plan to stay at the Hampton Inn on HHI on the Sat. night we drive down so we can then have a whole beach day and resort day that Sun. Hopefully our room will be ready early, but if not we plan on heading over to the beach house! Cannot wait, we had such a great time there in Aug.!

Good luck on your drives, hopefully you will not run into too much traffic!

 

[MagikMom]

Thanks MinnieGi. I'm going to look into some possible back roads to take if we hit a lot of traffic on I-95. He is VERY tense in traffic. I'm OK because I am used to it. I commute back and forth to Boston everyday for work! So you will be there the same week as us. Any Kids?? If so what ages? I have a DD 15 and DS 12.

 

[PBader]

Just checked the DVC website and got my two days! So glad I can cancel my cash ressie for those days! We can't wait to go back to HH!!!

Glad it worked out for you

 

[PBader]

Which states have the strictest penalties for throwing your husband out the window and leaving him on the side of the road?

Good luck on your drive, sounds like the kids will be occupied. My sis is driving from KY (we are flying into Savannah) and when we drove we hit major jams through the mountains in Tennesse. I think you'll have pretty good driving. Hopefully, you won't hit snarls in DC. What part of Mass. do you live in? My grandma lives in West Roxbury and my aunt lives on the Cape.

 

[MinnieGi]

Thanks MinnieGi. I'm going to look into some possible back roads to take if we hit a lot of traffic on I-95. He is VERY tense in traffic. I'm OK because I am used to it. I commute back and forth to Boston everyday for work! So you will be there the same week as us. Any Kids?? If so what ages? I have a DD 15 and DS 12.

We do have kids but much younger, ours are DD 7 and DS 3 1/2. We are taking friends with us and their kids are 8 & 6, both boys. We'll be on the beach every morning and by the pool in the afternoon! Both DH's in the group hope to golf a few days, weather permitting. (In Aug. we had temps. of 105+ and neither was able to golf. Also don't miss the Tues. night pool party it was such a blast last year!!

Since you are used to driving in traffic, could you maybe jump in the drivers seat as you near DC/NoVA?? Would that help DH if he was not driving??

I know RT. 301 can take you around the NoVA and DC area but it goes pretty far from that area and goes into DE which is good for us, but probably not what you want to do. We should have jumped onto Rd. 301 last year coming home but we had already passed the exit when we got stopped in traffic. Maybe some DC area locals know some backroads for you.

Oh, I don't have a count down, so I was excited to see yours and how close the trip is getting!!!!

 

[JVL1018]

We will be leaving our house at 4am so we will Probably hit NYC around 8am.
I see by your little Picture of DH that he is firefighter like mine!

He is!

I think you'll be okay-like a PP poster said, I think if your husband drove the first 4 hours and then you switched to get from NJ-VA, it would be good since you don't mind traffic(again not that I've ever run into much on a Saturday).
My husband starts out the trip, drives 4 hours from here down the NJ turnpike, past Baltimore and DC and into Northern VA where we stop for lunch and switch drivers.

 

[PBader]

Just giving this a bump, I noticed someone pulled up a 2004 thread

 

[MagikMom]

PBADER: I live in Framingham......20 minutes from West Roxbury, 1 hour from the Cape!

 

[PBader]

That's cool. I will be up there May 16-19th for my grandmother's 90th birthday. I was hoping to get some Brigham's coffee icecream with hotfudge and jimmies, but Chrissie from my EBPC cruise said most of them are closed

 

[MagikMom]

That's cool. I will be up there May 16-19th for my grandmother's 90th birthday. I was hoping to get some Brigham's coffee icecream with hotfudge and jimmies, but Chrissie from my EBPC cruise said most of them are closed

Sadly, it's true. Most of them are gone. I THINK there might be one on Rt. 16 in Wellesley though. It's close to West Roxbury. The sell Brigham's ice cream in the stores around here so if you can't find an actual Brigham's you can pick up a container and make your own Sundae!

 

[PBader]

My sis still hasn't had her waitlist come through. I told her the offer still stands for them to share our 2 bedroom for the 1st few nights until their ressie kicks in.

 

[LVSWL]

We can't wait!! We have to get through a little bit more school/AP exams and such and then pack up the car. Should be a tight squeeze with all of the WDW and HH stuff, but that's ok! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE HH!!!

 

[PBader]

School will be over here before we know it. Adam's last day is May 22nd and his graduation is May 23rd. Party at our house on the 24th---I really need to get working on the announcements and invites.

 

[LVSWL]

Wow! you are a year ahead of us! We are just now looking at colleges and starting the whole process. How exciting for you. HH will be a nice trip for the family to kick of the summer!

 

[Plutofan]

Hi everyone,
We just rented a minivan for our drive to HH. We rented a van because ours has too many miles on it and we are just worried that it won't make it. This will be our first time driving as a family for any long distance. I'm just a little worried because it will be me, DH, DD 15, DS 12. My parents are coming too but they are driving in a seperate care (lucky them). We are driving from Mass and it is an estimated 16 hour drive. We are planning to stop and stay over night somewhere on the NC/SC line. We are due to arrive at HH on Sun June 22nd. I am looking at this as an adventure. I am going to pack a cooler so we don't have to stop for food, the kids will have their ipods, game boys ect., and I will have my book. DH and I will split the driving. Here's the problem. He does everything "COMANDO" style. I'm afraid he will be a giant ball of stress if we hit any traffic AT ALL. The plan is to leave at 4am on Sat and drive straight thru (bathroom breaks of course) until we hit our overnight destination. We shouldn't hit a lot of traffic on a Sat, right? I've heard that getting thru NY & DC are the worst and then it should be smooth sailing. Anyone ever drive from Mass? Does our time frame plan sound good? Which states have the strictest penalties for throwing your husband out the window and leaving him on the side of the road?

Part of our family is doing the drive from NH. It will be my sister and our Mother who is in her mid 70-'s and her husband in his mid 80's. They will be arriving on June 21. We will be coming from Texas to HH to meet up with them. Good luck. This will be our third year making our yearly trip to HH/WDW.

 

[PBader]

Wow! you are a year ahead of us! We are just now looking at colleges and starting the whole process. How exciting for you. HH will be a nice trip for the family to kick of the summer!

I was really suprised when we started looking at school and tuition (especially out of state)--I had put some $$ away, but not would have been needed for a 4 year program especially if he lived in a dorm. But it is a fun time, they grow up too durn fast!
I really thought Adam was all set to start a 12 month business program in January, but he has decided that he wants to join the Navy. He really threw me for a loop, we had talked about that a few years ago and then he hadn't mentioned it for a long time. He currently uses 2 inhalers for asthma (just started the 2nd one) and it isn't possible to use them in the service. Wasn't what I had in mind for him. But he really wants to do this. He is seeing his dr Thursday to see if there is any possible way to get off of them--I told him I didn't see that happening, but he said he wants to try.