Home from Iceland for just two days, we take off on our next trip, over 5,500 miles and almost two months, south to Hilton Head, Savannah and Charleston, then north through eastern Canada, including the Maritimes.
We first head for Hilton Head on a special mission-- to celebrate Great Grandma’s (GG’s) 90th birthday. A full week of snapshots. This was fun with everyone coming—that means 19 people and 6 great grandkids ranging from one to 10 years old. Some will come from a few hundred miles away, relatively local. Others are coming from the Chicago area, and some a few thousand miles from California. The undisputed winner will be our daughter’s family, who came back from South Africa.
Obviously, nothing we’ll be doing this week will be spur of the moment, planning has gone on for many months, with giant kudos to Jim’s sister. Quite a gaggle! We’ll be staying in a RV park just outside Sea Pines. Everyone else will either be in rental homes or staying at Jim’s sister’s house.
We all arrive the same day—impeccable planning or just good luck. Our first destination …DUH..the beach with the kids!
Great weather and (everything being relative) not as hot as it has been. This is an introduction to the ocean for our little one from the Great Lakes region. And it is the first chance the mini munchies from California or Africa will have a chance to enjoy a warm ocean--and WAVES!
Such fun! This was the first of many trips to the water, a place that seemed to anchor the whole week.
The kids obviously loved it…learning to boogey board,
building sand castles,
finding shells and sand dollars,
watching the guys shark fishing. (Yes, they caught a few young sharks, but definitely catch and release!)
The beach really was a magnet for us as well. We took morning and evening walks with the dogs—when they could run free on the beach. This is a big leatherback turtle nesting area with many nests marked off, but none hatched on the stretch of beach we roamed during our visit.
One of our first group activities, thanks to Lacey, was a beautiful catamaran ride through the waterways.
The weekend theme was Maine and lobsters—marking an important part of GGs past. Our son really got into the spirit and wore his lobster hat the whole boat trip!.
Captured together on the deck, this was a great time for everyone to catch up.
Boats and water seem to be a great way to mix generations. We found the same thing on live-aboards SCUBA diving with our kids. A gentle beginning that set a great tone for the week to come.
That evening we had the big 90th birthday celebration—continuing with the sea creature theme….never “crabby”, Brian was a hit.
After the cake and festivities,
we got one final shot of Party Central.
The next days we took advantage of the island. This really is a playground—for kids and adults. We could bike everywhere.
We couldn’t pass up pictures at the Harbour Town lighthouse.
And the ancient Liberty Oak. The shape of the harbor resulted from the determination of the founders to save this tree.
We parasailed.
Grandpa took the grandkids on the pirate ship.
We also made it to the petting zoo, complete with a pony ride.
Evenings were busy too.
From "championship" jenga matches
OOPS. Somebody has to pull the last one...
We saw Gregg Russell—that was a great memory. Our kids had done the same thing with their cousins about 25 years ago.
We hit the Salty Dog.
And had a great last dinner at the Crazy Crab.
With a beautiful marsh and shrimp boat in the background.
Of course we couldn’t pass up a stop for the home-made Hilton Head Ice Cream.
Jim and I biked around Pickney Island Nature Reserve. Great unspoiled South Carolina….
The culmination of activities was the group shot. We never were able to get everyone to the dunes, but we got some great pictures with a perfect South Carolina background.
And harking back to our love of the sea…our last night, after all the kids had flown home, was spent at the peaceful shore.
From Hilton Head, we'll explore the Old South in Savannah and Charleston before heading north to Nigara Falls then into Canada, to Toronto, Montreal, Quebec and points east.
See you for more from the road...
Alberta
