Off to Hilton Head, where we have reservations at a Marriott Vacation Club rental...yes, yes, yes, we took advantage of a great deal for a room (condo really) and we only had to sell our first born...no, no, we just needed to listen to a selling spiel on the vacation club for 90 minutes...
We didn't need to listen to the spiel until Tuesday (11/1) and in all reality it wasn't that bad. We had an individual agent named Tom, who was from The Netherlands. He was apparently a body guard for someone at the Dutch embassy in Washington for many years..and he looked army-like. When I first saw him, I thought that it was going to be a hard sell, but we didn't feel pressed to purchase. He shared the point program (vs. the buy-a-"time") program and expanded on the various benefits and such...for some people it may be a fit, although more flexible than time shares, the point system is still expensive for the average person...apparently they are working on a buy back system, which would be a good thing for people as twice during this trip we have had discussions about people not being able to get out of the yearly maintenance contracts. Also, this is the first time I've ever heard that there was a grace period for buyers remorse.
We stayed in a two bedroom, two bath condo(with laundry!) just minutes away from the beach. The beach with little to no surf, it was like being in a lake. Here we did the beach thing and made nice connections with the staff. There was a group of young ladies who were sort of like Julie from the Love Boat, activity directors...they were fun and I'm not saying that because all three of the activities that we did involved free alcohol, although that didn't hurt :)
I'm feeling a bit disjointed as I have been neglecting the blog, in favor of basically doing nothing...sorry about that...so I'm not relaying everything in chronological order...
Arrival was a bit challenging because parking for Alex was not available onsite...here the destruction from Matthew was a bit more visible as there was still a lot of trees down and piles of stuff out on the lawns from people's houses which were flooded...that piece of it was was very reminiscent of the flooding after Irene...I feel a bit bad about not offering to help in some way, knowing what they were going through, but I just didn't seem to have it in me....both Wilson and I have talked about volunteering along our journey but I guess now was not the right time for us...twinges of quilt were definitely felt by me.
Here we entertained friends from Vermont - go figure...Our friend Richard was here doing a tennis camp with Dudley (former owner of Maple Valley in Plainfield - where they made great hummus with parsley). They stopped by for snacks and a quick visit. Our friends Geoff & Ellen were also in the area and spent a night with us...so much fun! They actually were here to visit Pickney Island Wildlife Reserve. Ellen's grandfather owned the island before deeding it for the reserve...owners of an island, how cool is that!
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| Wilson, Geoff, Ellen, and me |
Leave Myrtle Beach Campground 9:50 am (11/2)
Rte. 17S► (517E which was a detour to Wilson's old stomping ground from the winter of 2014-2015 - Isle of Palms where we had lunch at Coconut Joe's. At Coconut Joe's there was a couple from Fairfax, VT sitting right beside us...go figure - Wilson had a Patty Melt in honor of me, so he says...what a "ham"burger)
Back on the road to Hilton Head - 17S►95S►462E►278E
Arrive 4:15ish then another 45 minutes to straighten out lodging for Alex, in room by 5:30 pm
Mileage 217.7
Gas is generally around $2.04/gal on the island...they get you though, because they have "club" pricing which is discounted....we're always on the lookout for good gas prices :)
Oh so fun to have the Vermont folks down there. Is that where Janet and Dudley live now?
ReplyDeleteNo, they live in FL. I don't remember exactly where, but it was within driving distance to HH. I think maybe 5 hours away.
ReplyDelete