You may already know that my family is kinda into Walt Disney World, but you may wonder how the heck we found Disney in South Carolina. Well, about five years ago, I bought an ownership interest in Disney Vacation Club, a sort of timeshare thingy they have mainly at WDW. I get a certain number of points to spend every year, and they “buy” me different accommodations depending on how busy they are at a particular time of year, where I want to stay, and what size room I want. For instance, for my annual points, Mike and I could stay in a regular hotel room-sized room at Disney World for two weeks in early January, or we could get a three-bedroom unit for my whole family to stay in for Thanksgiving weekend. (There’s also sorts of complicated stuff with banking points ahead to a future year, or borrowing from a future year’s points, but that’s not important here.)

Since these accommodations are essentially paid for already, it gives us a lot of incentive to use them for vacations. So part of our decision to go to South Carolina was dictated by the fact that Disney Vacation Club operates a resort on Hilton Head Island.

One of the things I appreciate about the way Disney does hotels is what’s known as “theming”: instead of just straightforward interior decorating, there’s a story being told through all of the design elements of the property. Hilton Head is themed after a low country fishing lodge from the ’40s or ’50s; hence, there were standards playing softly in the background outside the entrance to the front desk area, and our room was decorated with nature prints and fishing photographs that suggested what one might accumulate after coming back to the same lodge year after year. And there’s always a Disney touch — from our balcony, we could see this sign for a supposed seafood company:

(In case you can’t see him, that’s Mickey from “Steamboat Willie” as captain.)

We splurged a bit on this trip and went with a one-bedroom unit, knowing that we’d probably spend more time in our room there than we do at Disney World, and would be more comfortable with room to spread out.

This rather crappy photo was taken from the entrance of our room, with the kitchen area (with full-sized fridge and oven!) just to the right, and the living area on the left. Turning to the left took us down a short hallway to the bedroom and bathroom area. We had access to our balcony from both rooms, and quite a lovely west-facing view.

I tell ya, I’m starting to get a little spoiled by Vacation Club accommodations. They’re really very nice: roomy, attractive, well-kept and pleasant. And they’re actually a pretty good value — some combination of my family members would have gone that often anyway, and I figure I’m about one more stay away from breaking even on the whole deal.

One ought not go to Hilton Head Island island if one has no intention of going to the beach. We found two different ways to enjoy it.

Option A
We stayed at Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort, part of their Vacation Club time share thingy. It’s a lovely place, and while the resort doesn’t sit directly on the beach, they also have a beach house with a pool and snack bar. We rented bikes for the length of our stay, and we packed up our stuff one morning and rode the 1.5 or so miles to the beach house. On the beach, we rented some deluxe chairs and an umbrella, already set up. We got there just before high tide and swam right away in ridiculously warm water with some fun swells and waves.

Then we sat in our chairs and read or did crossword puzzles or napped or watched all the silly things other beachgoers were doing. I had, of course, slathered myself up with sunscreen before we left our room. No ordinary sunscreen, either: after my various difficulties with being in the sun and hives, I did my research and bought some superprotective zinc oxide stuff. I didn’t bring it with me to the beach, though; I just tossed a different tube in my bag as we headed out the door. I reapplied just after an early lunch, and then sat under our umbrella for a while.

And then I started itching. I broke out in hives everywhere the sun hit the second application of sunscreen. As it turns out, I hadn’t looked closely at the second tube of sunscreen before I put it on, and it contained oxybenzone, a common active ingredient in sunscreens that can cause a rare photoallergenic reaction. Not only did I itch horribly, but I think the reaction caused the sunscreen not to be effective because I ended up with a pretty uncomfortable sunburn. And the bike ride home kinda sucked.

Option B
We got up very early in the morning with hopes of catching a sunrise on the beach. The light was just starting to show when we pulled up at the beach house in our car. We walked out onto the beach — which was pretty well deserted — and found these fascinating formations in the sand left by the tide ebbing in the wee hours of the morning.

(Mike’s great with the closeups, huh.)

The tower in that last photo was probably only about an inch and a half high, and was made by a ghost crab, these tiny little guys that tunnel way down in the sand during the day to protect themselves from predators, and then come up to the beach at night to feed on insects. At low tide, you can see thousands of little penny-sized holes all over the beach, with bubbles of air coming up from them — it’s pretty strange. Anyway, as the crabs make their tunnels, they use some sort of secretion to harden the walls and keep from being trapped by a cave-in. When the tide washed out this particular channel overnight, it took the loose sand with it, but left the stronger tunnel in place, which leads to this strange miniature landscape.

We were probably there on the beach for about an hour or so, watching the incoming tide erase the channel it had made earlier in the morning, along with the seagulls and pelicans, who were doing some morning feeding. It was a bit overcast off shore, but I did manage to get a sort-of sunrise photo.

Can you guess which beach enjoyment option we chose for our last day?

Having your birthday while on vacation is pretty cool. (I need to make a point to do it more often.)

We got up really early and took a kayak tour with Ben Turner, owner and operator of Native Guide Tours. I had found him in the guide book put out by the Hilton Head Island visitors bureau, and based on the testimonials on his website, I was sure we would have a great time, and we sure did. Mike took this picture about two minutes after we’d started out into the May River:

Yup. That’s a dolphin. The May River doesn’t drain from freshwater creeks and streams; it’s actually an embayment fed by tidewater and rainfall. Its salinity level makes for a rich food web, and all sorts of sea creatures make their way into the area to feed (Ben called it their grocery store). This dolphin placidly surfaced and dove in front of us for a while, trolling for breakfast.

Our tour included high tide, and over the course of the 3+ hours we were on the water, we could see how it rose and fell.

Here we’re paddling right through the spartina — the abundant sea grass that shows up everywhere along the coast — at close to high tide. About an hour before this, with the water levels dropping, we had to find little channels between patches of what seemed like much taller spartina.

It was gloriously quiet, and I was so glad to be sharing this with Mike. One of the things I love best about him is that he’s patient enough to stand still and just watch for a while, because he knows he’ll see something cool eventually. And we sure did see a lot of cool somethings.

Finally, after a late second breakfast at the Squat ‘n’ Gobble (love that name!), we stopped by The French Bakery (which I had found on the web) and picked up the cake I had ordered for myself before we left.

It tasted absolutely as fabulous as it looks: four layers of white cake, filled with vanilla buttercream and apricot mousse, and iced with more buttercream. It was probably the best birthday cake I have ever had, and I wish I could get one from them every year.

Ooh! And Mike totally surprised me with his present: a very compact and lightweight cordless drill that has enough umph to drill into our hardwood window casings for hanging brackets, but won’t break my arm when I’m trying to use it holding it over my head. It’s fabulous! I don’t know that a lot of people would get too excited about such a gift, but it was so thoughtful: I know I complained out loud that his drill is too heavy, and he tucked that away and remembered it for me. All around, a fantastic birthday.

There’s more about the trip, but for the benefit of the lovely women at Wild Fibre in Savannah, Georgia, here’s my vacation s’n'b:


(Apologies for the lack of focus on that second shot…)

I had thought looking for yarn for my friend Kay’s scarf while on vacation might be a little silly in the south, so when I first walked into Wild Fibre, I was really surprised to find Malabrigo — toasty 100% merino wool — on display in front of the door. After talking with some of the folks from their Tuesday night knitting group, I realized there must be a lot of transplants from colder climes who either haven’t figured out bulky wool is a bit much for the low country, or knit for friends and family back at home.

I was made so welcome to their group and had a fantastic couple of hours of knitting while Mike was off checking out a local disc golf course. There are some storytellers among that bunch, I tell ya, and I was thoroughly entertained. Of course I didn’t leave empty handed, picking up a skein of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Solid in Bark, and a couple of skeins of Debbie Bliss Pure Silk in orange (for Kay’s scarf, I think — there’s more coming from WEBS for that). I was just getting ready to leave when I spied some R2 Paper near the register. I commented to Mike that I’ve been interested in trying it out, and darn it if he didn’t talk me into buying some. The enabling stinker. I walked out with six balls in blue; I have no idea what I’m going to do with them.

Since Cass St. closed, I’ve been sad not to have an LYS nearby, and would have been happy to have them back. Now that I’ve visited Savannah, though, I want Wild Fibre to come to Fort Wayne, instead.

Just got back from vacation. Much to write about. Watch this space.