It's taken a couple weeks for me to write this post. I'll get into that later in a different post, but we have been quite exhausted with a family crisis. Unfortunately the crisis has just begun and will continue to exist for a long time.
Our family trip was wonderful. It was quite a long drive, nearly 17 hours with the little ones. They held up well on the ride down and we actually made very good time. We loved watching out the window and seeing all the different cities as they passed by. After 10 hours on the road we decided to pull into a hotel and call it a night. The girls were restless and uncomfortable in their car seats. We ended up stopping right outside Knoxville Tennessee.
We got up bright and early at 5 AM the next morning and hit the road hard. We ended up pulling right into Disney's Hilton Head resort at 3 PM precisely. Just in time for check in! We spent the day stretching out our sore backs and walking around the grounds to see all that it offered. The hotel room was absolutely beautiful and of course no expense spared. This is Disney after all!
The next morning we woke up and actually went out to eat for breakfast. The service outside of Disney was so-so. It's definitely on an island pace. It takes forever to get a waiter and the food takes even longer. We swung by a Piggly Wiggly to pick up some groceries and headed back to the room.
The weather was overcast and rainy, but we wanted to make the best of it. We headed back out to a small children's museum that was recommended by the travel guide. That place was a crazy hot mess! It was more like a glorified daycare. And I think every other parent on the island brought their child there to do something on a rainy day! We only ended up staying not even an hour because it was so chaotic and wild! I would hate to have to clean that place up at the end of the day. Although I must say they have every possible craft or toy there for kids and they allow them to color, glue, cut, or rip whatever they want. There were several different themed rooms with dress-up items and make believe stations. It probably would've been really fun if it wasn't so completely jampacked.
After naps and little bit of playing outside at the resort, we went out for pizza at an amazing restaurant called "mellow mushroom". It was so good we would drive back to get it in a heartbeat! I ended up taking Isla for a swim later that night and we saw a cool campfire show put together by the Disney staff. Stories and songs followed by Smore's.
Our next day there was our beach day. We based it on the weather forecast. It was sunny, hot, and absolutely beautiful. The beach was stunning and not very busy. Aside from the actual resort, Disney also has its own private beach house. It had a huge pool and a splash pad for the little ones. The restaurant there was very good as well. It was definitely pampering on the beach!
The sun was hot and we all got a lot of color. The girls were absolutely mesmerized by the ocean and it's enormity. The beach was interesting as well because it hardened in the sun to the point where you could ride a bike on it like a road. It also expanded when the tide went down. At midday, it tripled in size. We stayed all day probably until about 3 o'clock until we needed to head back for naptime. I wish we could have squeezed one more day out of Hilton Head just for the beach.
Our following & last day there was a beautiful day as well. Isla and I woke up early and spent all morning at the pool. Estelle came and swim along with us to until naptime. The weather was predicting rain in the afternoon so we made the best of the morning and lunchtime. After the girls woke up later we decided to do a little shopping. We wrapped up our last night at an amazing steakhouse where we had a very delicious meal and a couple cocktails.
Here is my overall impression of Hilton Head Island: the negative.
You definitely don't feel like you are on the island. Especially if you're not on the ocean. We were actually on a marsh which was pretty, but definitely not the waves of the ocean.
It is busy and has a major highway running through it. It's confusing as well because there are roundabouts instead of stop signs or stoplights.
All the shopping and restaurants are scattered around in little patches. You can't just go to one place and shop all day like in a little downtown. You have to drive from spot to spot to spot.
Island time is a different pace. It's slower and more laid-back which is nice except when you have a hungry two-year old.
The positive.
The beach is beautiful and you could just spend hours there basking in the sun. Disney of course is always five star.
The food, once you finally get it, is absolutely delicious.
There are unlimited things to do on the island.
After Hilton Head we drove over to Savannah Georgia for two nights. I was looking forward to Savannah more than anything. I am such a history nut that I was so excited to tour all the old buildings and hear all the great stories it had to share.
I was shocked to find out that it's actually a large city. It has extremely confusing city driving with one-way roads. I was expecting a more small-town feel like Geneva. Nope, it's huge and busy!
Our hotel was only a few blocks away from the major downtown. It was walking distance from every direction to anything you needed. We were in the historic district, so of course walking around was picturesque.
It ended up only being an hour drive from Hilton head Island. The first thing we did was found some parking and walked to the Lady and Sons restaurant owned by Paula Deen. It was heavenly deep-fried southern food at its finest. I got the shrimp and grits and oh my goodness it was the most delicious thing I ever put in my mouth! Service was amazing and prices were reasonable. We didn't wait more than 10 minutes to get a table. We were supposed to go the following night to have dinner, but decided to cancel and just do lunch instead.
We killed some time before check in because we got there so quickly. We walked around downtown and found our way over to the famous Colonial Cemetery. The cemetery was started in 1817 from the yellow fever epidemic. But some of the headstones do date back a little further. What a creepy/cool old place. The Spanish moss on the trees made it so eerie! If only the girls were older we would definitely do a haunted cemetery tour!
We checked into our hotel, let the girls nap and try to unwind for a little bit. We did end up walking to Forsyth Park later that day. It was beautiful and the sun was just starting to set. The only thing I didn't like was there were lots ofbeggars and homeless people. We didn't want to bother with any of that so immediately headed back to the hotel. We ordered pizza in from mellow mushroom again, It was so good we needed one more night of it.
This was our full and final day left in Savannah. We woke up early and got ready for the old Savannah trolley tour. This was seriously worth every single penny!! We started off with the whole family, all four of us, going on the tour. I thought the girls would enjoy the ride around town and all the different sites, but unfortunately after 30 minutes they were over it. We got off one of the stops and walked around to get some lunch. We took some food to go and headed back to the hotel yet again for a nap. Thankfully, I have a wonderful selfless husband who let me go right back on the tour, start all over again, and see the entire 90 minute show. I am so thankful he let me do that because it truly was the best part of being in Savannah. All the beautiful homes, history, & stories were just amazing.
At the end of the day we went to River Street to find something to eat. During the old trolley tour they brought us down onto the riverfront and I noticed many old restaurants. We found one that looked kid friendly and gave it a try. Great food. I honestly cannot remember the name of the restaurant. If I think of it, I'll repost it. All these buildings were created out of an old cotton factory from the 1700s. Some businesses date back as far as 1754. That is before America was even a colony! The history is just incredible!
Our last night was a good one. We all rested well and woke up early in the morning to get home. It was a long 17 hour drive home as well. The girls did not tolerated it as well this time, because I'm sure they knew what they were in for. However, we did make good time and stopped very few times. We pulled into our driveway around midnight Friday night. The next day was a day that I'll never forget. It is a day that changed our lives forever. And I will soon be writing about that in another post. Below enjoy some beautiful pictures of our gorgeous trip...
The grounds at the resort
Campfire stories
Savannah architecture
More beautiful history
