Road Trip Day #16 - #20 of 26

We hit a few snags trying to get to Hilton Head, but we managed to smooth them out and get on our way. Our "smoothing" included going to Wal Mart and buying a hitch rack to fit on the back of my Pilot so that all of our luggage could go with us! We had seven people total in the car, so that didn't leave much room for cargo. Of course, the rack had to be assembled, so David spent about an hour sweating in the sun to put the rack together and get it on the car. I am so glad that I married a patient man!

After we got on the road everyone got excited! We were amazed by how lush and green everything on Hilton Head Island looked. It was beautiful! We stopped for a bite to eat at Subway, then we went on in to our hotel, the Westin Hilton Head Island. We were greeted at the door by a bellman, and unpacked our car in a flash. Since we are lucky enough to travel with my hubby, who is a platinum member with Starwood, we were able to have our car valeted for free, and we were off to our rooms. David, the kids and I were in room 4005, the Smith family ended up in room 4008. They weren't very far apart, so it was nice.




Our balcony looked straight out onto the beach, and we were thrilled about that! The Smiths room had a partial view of the beach, too. Of course, about the time we got into our rooms and got settled a big storm blew up. That beach cleared out faster than you could imagine! The girls were disappointed that we couldn't go down to the ocean right away, but we just couldn't... There was no way I was going to brave that storm!


After the storm we set out to explore. The beach was great. The sand was pretty packed, so it didn't needle you to death when the wind blew. It wasn't crowded, which was great! Katie was boogie boarding like a pro within minutes, but it took Reese a few days before she would go in the water without being scared. We were in Hilton Head for nine days, and we made great use of that beach! We would usually go out right after breakfast and not go in again until late that afternoon. I took a few pictures there, too.








Breakfast each morning at our hotel was wonderful! We managed to get that for free, too. That saved us over $20 per person, per day, so that was great! Our waiters were always top notch, and the food was fabulous. The best thing about breakfast was that it wasn't over until 11am, so we were able to sleep in every day! That was perfect for vacation!

As you can see in these pictures, both of my girls still have sleepy eyes at breakfast. It was lovely to be able to sleep in for a change and still get a good hotel breakfast.

Our beach vacation was off to a great start!!!