Hilton Head, SC
We continue our search for where we should live. The list is getting shorter, and we had an amazing opportunity to explore an area that was on our list: Hilton Head, South Carolina! Karel’s sister and brother in law, Lenora and Dan, asked if we would like to join them at their timeshare in Hilton Head- we took the opportunity to use our extended Companion Pass and jumped at the generous offer! The 2-bedroom, 2-bath condo was very comfortable and roomy, and this gave us a great opportunity to visit!
It had been too many years since we saw Lenora, and even longer since seeing Dan, who was just getting ready to retire- Congrats, Dan!
I can see why Hilton Head is a popular vacation spot- it was amazing! Lenora and Dan have been going there for several years,and I see why. The island is beautiful, with lots of trees, and just has a peaceful feeling.
We saw deer several times:
And of course, the beach is huge (it is an island!) and clean. We went to Coligny Beach and saw a couple dolphins:
There are some stables on the island, and we visited the public stables a few times to see the horses and give them carrots- Lenora loves the horses, and I see why!
While there we visited a couple 55+ communities in Bluffton, including the huge Sun City development. When Sun City is completely built out it will have 10,000 homes and 4 or 5 amenity centers, with pools, gyms, craft rooms, pickleball courts, tennis courts, etc. It is amazing, and you can get all over in a golf cart! We enjoyed seeing them, but they are “off-island”, and about 45 minutes to an hour from the beach, so we are crossing them off our list. And unfortunately Hilton Head itself is way too expensive, so while we are glad we visited, it won’t be where we are moving.
We were staying in the Sea Pines section of the island, and they have the best speed limit signs:If you are going the speed limit or less you get a thumbs up or a happy face, and if you are speeding you get a frowny face- I tried to get a picture 4 times, but only got 1 picture (my drivers were not cooperative!):
We also looked for the planet parade, where the planets were lined up- the 4 that we could see were very cool! The picture doesn’t show all of them, but here are some that are pretty bright:
And here is another beautiful sunset:
We extended our stay in South Carolina by zipping up to Myrtle Beach for a couple days to see Karel’s brother and revisit the 55+ community in North Myrtle Beach. We enjoyed visiting Jim’s and Rob’s new house which is BEAUTIFUL! They are really enjoying having more room with no stairs, even if it isn’t right on the beach- it’s still pretty darn close! We enjoyed some great meals, including crabs! Jim and I dug in, but Jerry and Rob just don’t get it!
The community we were looking at is almost built out, and prices have gone up about $50,000– yikes! We had an appointment to meet with one of the sales agents, and we were early so we wandered over to the amenity center, and were greeted by many friendly residents who were playing pickleball- they were so nice and really made us feel welcome! We aren’t really in love with any of the lots that are left, and for the price, we should LOVE everything! So sadly, we continue to look. We will be heading to back east this spring/summer, including South Carolina for 6 weeks, so fingers crossed we find what we are looking for! We’ll keep you posted, so stay tuned!
We flew in and out of Burbank on this trip, and when we went over the Grapevine on the way home, it was snowing!:
