Hello, Hilton Head

School started back in Charlotte this week, and summer is winding down. I absolutely love fall and I will be glad for a merciful break from the heat, but like always, sad to see the days of flip flops and beach time come to an end. We usually save our vacation for the end of the season, so we just got back from spending a few days on Hilton Head Island.

Hilton Head is one of our happy places; Clint has always loved it since he was a kid and he introduced it to me when we were first married. Over the years and all of our visits, we've developed a certain set of vacation memories and traditions that we always look forward to going back to whenever we visit.

Our first day, if at all humanly possible, we have dinner at Hudson's Seafood House on the Docks. They've weathered three major storms in the last four years, but luckily even though there have been some changes and renovations, it's still the same Hudson's we have always loved.

Dockside at Hudson's. Let the vacation begin.

If you don't have hush puppies at Hudson's, did you even go to Hilton Head? 

We sat looking out on the water and absolutely feasted on shrimp, oysters, and what I will fully certify as the best hush puppies in the entire world. I'm not kidding when I tell you that even their steamed broccoli is delicious (I mean, don't fill up on it or anything, but it is good).

After a grocery store stop to fill up on the essentials--you know, the important things like bottled water and Chex Mix--we checked into our condo rental in Harbour Town at The Sea Pines Resort. We were only a few steps away from the iconic lighthouse, plus all the shops and restaurants, including the Harbour Town Bakery that we love for our vacation breakfasts (carrot walnut muffins are the best way to start your day). Best of all, this was our gorgeous, marshy view from our patio:

Room with a view, indeed.

I'm not going to brag and tell you that everything was perfect, let's be real. The king-size bed in the master bedroom was almost definitely made of concrete and we spent our first night tossing and turning and aching from the sheer discomfort of it all. On day two, we discovered that the guest bedroom had two of the softest, coziest full beds ever. And so, we spent the remainder of our vacation sleeping in the same room together, but in different beds, like a couple out of a 1950s television show. It was one of the strangest vacation experiences we've had in a while!

When your husband becomes your roomie. Sweet dreams are made of this.

We got in some near heavenly, sunny beach time, reading and enjoying the sand and the ocean. Give us a beach chair and a cold beverage, and we are perfectly content for the remainder of the day.

Ah, vaycay. I wish you could come around more often.

Of course, we wouldn't consider it a vacation without plenty of good food. From lobster rolls to fresh fish to shrimp and grits (and a crab cake or two), we got our fill of all the goodies that the Lowcountry has to offer. Seafood, seafood, and more seafood...and a good meal was had by all.

Skullcreek Boathouse lets you mix and match your own ceviche ingredients.
Ours had shrimp, conch, ahi tuna, and calamari.

Oysters on the half shell at the Crazy Crab.

I don't think we missed a single delicious thing to eat! 

Saturday was our last full day before we were due to head home, and to put it mildly, the weather did not cooperate. We were so proud of ourselves for being up bright and early and making it to the (increasingly cloudy) beach club by 10:00 a.m. It started sprinkling as we walked down to the beach, and thank goodness the umbrellas were already out and open because it quickly turned into a downpour. I mean one of those Forest Gump kind of rains where it's coming down sideways, at an angle, and even from the ground up it seems. We huddled under an umbrella and not-so-patiently tried to wait it out. Just a little passing shower, right?

After a half hour of pouring rain, we made a dash for the car and did what any sensible vacationer would do: drove across the street to the Plantation Golf Club and ordered Bloody Marys to keep us company while we passed the time.

Into every vacation, a little rain must fall?

About an hour later, the sun came peeking through. We hoped that meant the rest of the day would make up for the morning deluge, so we drove back to the beach club, unloaded all of our beach belongings yet again, and set up to enjoy one last day soaking up sunshine. But right after lunch, dark clouds started rolling in again. The lady beside us, after a quick check of a trusty weather app on her phone, announced that we were in for a half hour of light showers and then we were clear for the day. I don't know what app she was using, but it was dead wrong. We huddled (again) under an umbrella, swathed in towels with our teeth chattering as we got pelted by rain. During a lull, we ran for cover to the beach bar and sat with the rest of the beach goers and waited for another hour as it absolutely poured. Finally, around 4:30, we gave up and admitted it was a washout. However, as you may recall, last year's Stancil vacation was rudely interrupted by Hurricane Irma and an emergency evacuation flight from the Bahamas, so a rainy day in Hilton Head is not what we consider the end of the world.

Once we showered and got dressed, the weather had finally improved and we managed to get one last gorgeous sunset out of our trip. We enjoyed a glass of rosé and our amazing view one more time. Later that same night, we had four deer walk right by us out there, not more than six feet away. Clint said that experience alone made the granite mattress worth it.

Patio perfection.

After dinner, we headed to another favorite vacation spot: the Salty Dog Cafe down at the South Beach Marina. It's vacation tradition to listen to live music out on the Salty Dog's deck; in fact, one of the performers who is a regular there--Dave Kemmerly--has been entertaining us for years now. He even sang "Happy Birthday" to Clint way back on his 30th birthday!

That's Dave, playing in the background. It's like going to see an old friend.

We came, we saw, we relaxed. Now we are home, the laundry is finally done, and almost all of the sand has been shaken out of our belongings. Our Clemson season football tickets were delivered and waiting for us when we got home, which I consider the signal that fall is almost here, and I'm thankful we were able to wrap up our summer on a Hilton Head high note. 

Thanks for the memories, Hilton Head! See you next time!