We awoke to a quiet Hilton Head morning. This was our first day without the wonderful company of Kee and Colonel, who left for home the day prior. We took our time getting up and ready as we kept our social calendar pretty open for the day. We chilled in the room for a bit, allowing the boys to play with the new toys that Hunter got for his birthday.
Our stomachs indicated that it was time to forage for some food and Emily had picked a fun first stop for the morning, Duck Donuts. Since Emily is way more in tune with must see/do locations and eateries, she was all over this trendy new donut spot that was taking over the world, or at least the Southern US. The Duck Donuts location on Hilton Head Island had just opened the week prior so we knew that we probably wouldn’t be the only ones with a donut craving this fine morning. It turns out, we were right. The location makes their donuts fresh to order so it takes a little time and patience if you are going to partake in the hot, fresh donuts. I took the family order and got in line with 30 other helpless folks as we traveled together on what felt like a 30 minute hike that traveled 10 feet. To say they were still working out the opening day kinks would be an understatement. I think the employee who was pouring the donut batter had never heard of the word multitask, much less the concept, before. I was thinking I probably could have filled out an application, had an interview, and been hired to make my own donuts in the time it took me to wait for these clowns to produce our order. Luckily we received our donuts prior to the location closing down for the day, and I took our hot fresh treats out to my ravenous family waiting outside. The donuts were a cake consistency with your choice of drizzles and toppings. We each got a unique donut and enjoyed them on the bench just outside the location. To cap off my enjoyment waiting for this fine treat they were also the messiest food I have ever eaten. The experience was a good one, but we might not be rushing back there anytime soon.
To keep adding to Patrick’s favorite things list, our next stop was the only town in the United States that I hold a grudge against, Harbour Town. It has become a running joke in the family because Harbour Town thinks that it is so cool that it can charge you admission just to drive in. Oh yeah, and I am also super cheap when it comes to paying money for things that we don’t need. But I digress. We left Duck Donuts and pointed our car to the west side of the island which has a gated entrance that takes you into Harbour Town. I pulled my car up and had a tug of war with my six bucks as I reluctantly paid to enter snob-ville. Having almost dislocated the 70 year old security guard’s arm with my stinginess, we were finally in Harbour Town.
We took the scenic drive down the main street of the town that was lined with beautiful houses and waterways. We saw an enormous alligator sunning itself in one of the houses’ back yards. We worked our way to the shopping area and found a place to park so we could walk to the dining and shopping area. The town has a really nice selection of shops with most of them focused around tourist items and some art. The were a toy store that we agreed to take the boys to on our way out. Our main stop before lunch was a walk up the Harbour Town Lighthouse to get a view of the island. There of course were shops at both the top and bottom of the lighthouse, providing ample opportunity to load up on more cheap junk. We snapped some photos and enjoyed seeing the panoramic views before making our way back down the winding staircase to the ground level.
We worked up a Harbour Town hunger and we had our sights set on a location that we had eaten at during one of our previous visits, The Crazy Crab. The restaurant was perfectly located on the water overlooking the boats in the harbor. Emily enjoyed a margarita and I got an ice cold beer which hit the spot. Oh yeah, and we got food too! The food was good but not great, but the location made up for anything that the food lacked.
We finished up our lunch and headed over to the toy store so the boys could each pick out a toy. We followed that up by walking over to this beautiful tree-shaded playground where the boys had a blast running around and climbing on the different play structures. The sand was a unique addition to the playground making for a soft surface, but annoying to those who don’t like sand between their toes (i.e. Emily). We exhausted our exploration of the playground as well as the photo ops and headed back to the resort for a little afternoon chill time. For as much as I complained about the price of admission to Harbour Town, I have to admit we got our money’s worth.
After some relaxation and a few rounds of Super Hero Chutes and Ladders we summoned up some late afternoon energy and hopped on the bikes to Kilwin’s Ice Cream for a late afternoon snack. The ice cream hit the spot as the weather was just turning from warm to slightly chilly. Kilwin’s was right next to the the Shelter Cove playground, so we took the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors by letting the boys burn off their afternoon sugar rush.
The sun was lowering over the western skyline so we grabbed the remaining light to bike back to the resort. With a little more time before dark we took the opportunity to explore the grounds around the main building since this was our first visit staying in the section of the resort. There was a landing area just off the front desk check in area that had a ping pong table so we tried our hand at that with little success. We then explored behind the building where we found a quiet area with a hammock that overlooked the water. Well, it was quiet until we got there, anyway. The boys used the hammock as their personal jungle gym, barely escaping injury.
When we officially ran out of daylight we headed into the room, got our cozy clothes on and enjoyed some dinner. The boys ate cereal and french toast sticks while Emily and I ordered Giuseppe’s again. After our active day, we all got tucked in for an early night sleep which was much much needed!
