Everyone who knows me knows I’m a savings freak. I shop On-Sale only, use coupons, rebates, savings apps, and am a member of over 20 different “points” programs. I get freebies in the mail & I’m all about budgeting. I say all this to let you know the many travels I write about have been fugal initiatives funded by savings, gift cards, & rebates. Now, on to the Hilton Head Adventure!
I had oftentimes heard of Hilton Head Island but never been & was thrilled to have an opportunity to go. South Carolina was a state I’d never ventured to before. I was so excited to be there I took the first photo-op I got.
The drive to Hilton Head wasn’t too bad. Once we got out of the mountains in North Carolina, it was a relatively smooth drive. South Carolina was pretty flat. The only serious traffic congestion was on I95.
We stayed at the Best Western about 1 block from the beach. Not a bad walk at all. The hotel was quaint & the staff friendly & accommodating. Our first room stank as though only men had pee’d there for an extended amount of time, so they moved us the next day to a ground floor level room – no Febreeze needed 😉
On our first full day I asked my husband if we could rent some bikes. He obliged & we rode to the Pines to see the sights. The locals told us that we would need to ride down near the entrance and then ride along the beach and then come back into the community to gain admittance. They neglected to tell us that riding along the beach was like towing a tank behind your bicycle! Well, at least that’s what it felt like for me. My husband had no trouble whatsoever! He flew down the beach with complete ease and left me in the dust, literally. I had only managed to pedal a short distance before I had to get off and push the bicycle. There was such a heavy drag on the back wheel it was almost impossible for me to pedal. I figured, “Great! I’m left… all alone… I will sun burn and die of dehydration on this stupid beach while pushing this stupid bicycle. My back hurts, my legs hurt, I’m going to die here…in the sand…on this beautiful beach. I’m thirsty. Can’t stop though. If I do, I’ll just sit down & be lost forever. Crap! I’m too old to even get my face on a milk carton. No kids will identify me. Adults will just step over my limpless body assuming I’m taking a peaceful little nap. Then an alligator will come out of the ocean & drag me into the water…because they drown their prey. There could be an alligator in those bushes!” At this point, I got back on the bike & eventually found my husband who’d peddled back to find me and ask me why in the world I was so far behind.
“Watch me”, he says, “it’s easy. Look, I haven’t even broke a sweat. Why are you going so slow?” I can’t remember my response, but I’m sure it wasn’t pretty.
We finally made it into the Pines & after peddling 3 freaking miles we figured out that there was absolutely nothing to see in that community! In my mind it was a waste of money to rent the bikes, a waste of time, a wasted day that I could have been laying on the beach like a lazy old fart while my husband swam in the ocean.
So this total endeavor was about three-and-a-half to four hours long and by the end of it, we finally made it back to the hotel, I felt like death. I realized how seriously out of shape I was and I realized that South Carolina is not quite as flat as it looks when you’re riding a bicycle. We parked the bikes on that day and although we had paid to rent the bikes for an entire week, I don’t think we ever got back on them.
The great thing about the hotel and the entire Community where we stayed is everything was totally within walking distance. The walking didn’t hurt me near as bad, so we walked a lot after that. We looked at some of the shops and we found a unique mom-and-pop restaurant to eat at every evening.
Overall it was an absolutely fabulous adventure & I’m so glad we went 😉