Dad has been saying for years that Hilton Head is one of his favorite places in the country. This morning we headed south to check it out for ourselves. It was nearly a two-hour drive to get there. We had no idea what to look for there, so we tried stopping at the first welcome center we saw, and we found that it was closed and completely empty. Not a good sign!
Next we saw a sign for a country store and welcome center, so we stopped there. Turns out the country store and welcome center are no longer there, but there is a brand new coffee shop and the proprietors had some maps left over from the welcome center. They laid the map out for us and I asked them what they recommended we see. One of them told us about an old fort on one end of the island and a lighthouse on the other end of the island. Those sounded good to us, so we first headed to the end of the island where the fort was. We came to a gatehouse and we told the woman inside we’d like to see the fort. She said she was sorry, but the fort was private so we couldn’t go in.
So, okay, we turned around and headed toward the opposite end of the island. On the way, we stopped at a Dairy Queen for lunch and we took the map with us. We discovered that there was a list of things to do on Hilton Head, so we chose three we’d like to try. The first was the lighthouse. After lunch, we headed toward the lighthouse and came to a gatehouse. It was going to cost $6, but we were prepared to pay it. The woman was about to take our card when the man noticed we had a motorcycle on the back of the truck. He said, “Sorry, they don’t allow any motorcycles in here.” I said, “Even if it stays in the truck?” and he said, “They won’t even let the homeowners bring them in unless they promise to put them right in their garage.”
By this time we were thinking, “This island is full of rich snobs!” It really colored Mark’s mood for the rest of the afternoon.
The second place we had marked on the map said it had shops. We were envisioning little specialty shops and gift shops. Instead, it was basically a mall with places like TJ Max and Starbucks.
We turned back around and noticed a Veterans Memorial Park. “They can’t keep us out of this one,” I thought, “because Mark is a veteran.” We finally got to stop and see something.
The entrance to the park
A memorial bench and statue of an older veteran
The monument
There was a circular arbor around the center space.
There was a pond with an observation deck built out into it.
This would make a good tree for kids to play in!
There was a bench swing along the path. We sat on it and took a selfie. Shortly after this picture was taken, we kissed, and a woman who happened to be walking her dogs past at that moment said, “Aww!” 😉
So we went on to Honey Horn Plantation, Gullah Trail Tours, and Hilton Head Coastal Discovery Museum. I had been thinking it might be a plantation like from Gone With the Wind. It wasn’t. Still, we looked around the museum and the grounds for the forty-five minutes we had before they closed.
This was the museum. I think it might have been the only real house on the property too.
It had a nice porch.
They had this turtle in a small aquarium in the museum.
Mark is always interested in boats and ships.
Out on the grounds… I think this is a camelia.
I was eager to see the butterfly habitat, only to find that they are in chrysalis form right now.
On the nature trail, I saw this tree full of birds. I went to an observation deck over the water where I could photograph them without disturbing them. I had to use my telephoto lens.
One of the smaller white birds
This was the largest bird in the tree.
It spent a fair amount of time preening.
Still preening…
Another bird flew away.
I wasn’t sure if some of the smaller birds were its babies.
I also saw this interesting black bird in the tree.
Mark got bored waiting for me to finish with the birds!
He took this shot of me.
As we were leaving the island, we stopped at a Scottish shop and looked around a bit. Now that’s what we mean by “shops”! Further down the road, we saw this:
I don’t know if this is where Arnold Palmer golf’s or what. I don’t follow golf, but at least I recognized the name!
So, Dad, I don’t know what makes Hilton Head your favorite place, but we were kind of non-plussed.
“non-plussed”? That putting it lightly…… what do non-plussed mean anyway???
I love that picture of you! I saved it!!!