Hilton Head

As you might remember from a previous post, my siblings and I surprised my dad for his 60th birthday in November by planning a family vacation to Hilton Head.  We took the trip in March, and it turned out even better than we could have planned!  The house we rented in Sea Pines was gorgeous, even better than the pictures online made it out to be - we were pretty amazed!  It was on a street of stunning houses...actually, the whole gated community of Sea Pines was stunning in every way.

It had a heated pool and hot tub as well, with a lagoon right behind it.

Did I mention that there are alligators everywhere in these lagoons?  That's right, in the lagoons, in people's backyards, along the bike paths...we saw quite a few of them on bike rides.  Just don't feed them and they'll leave you alone...at least that's what they tell me - aah!  I was freaking out over them everywhere we went.

Bike rides - the highlight of the trip!  They were dirt cheap to rent ($17 each for a whole week! of course, these were "off-season" rates, but I'm sure it's still pretty cheap anytime).  There are bike paths everywhere, with live oak trees and hanging moss lining the paths so you feel like you're in an enchanted forest or a Disney movie or something.  GORGEOUS.  Can't even describe how beautiful, the pictures don't do it justice.  We rode our bikes all over every day - it was awesome.  I kept track of our rides on my runkeeper app on my phone, and I put in 45 miles over the course of the week.

We biked to the beach a couple different times to play bocce ball.  The sand is nice and compacted down from the high tides and long flat beach (also perfect for biking on).  

Ben, Wes, and I went on runs through the trails every other day.  It was a great!  Mom, Jenn, and I went on a long walk one day as well.  So scenic...I would be a lot more motivated to workout at home if I had this in my neighborhood!

We had a putt-putt evening (Mom was the winner!)...

...a couple poker nights...

...lots of dining in...

...and lots of dining out!  

Our favorite restaurant was a Robert Irvine (food network star) restaurant called Eat!.  Food was fantastic and the prices were reasonable given the high-end food.  I'd highly recommend it to anyone visiting Hilton Head.

In fact, I would highly recommend Hilton Head to anyone!  Seas Pines, the area where we stayed, is the most beautiful (so I hear, and I would believe it based on my experience).  The beginning of spring was a great time to go because the weather was just warm enough (high 60s, low 70s...although it was cool the last couple days) and the crowds weren't there yet, so we had shorter waits at restaurants and the bike paths all to ourselves.  I hear it's humid in the summertime too.  It wasn't beach weather yet, but we didn't miss it.  So next time you're looking for a great spring vacation or family vacation spot, check out Hilton Head!!