sport: Hilton Head Vacation

After a very full day in Savannah we hopped in the car for an easy 45-minute drive over to our favorite island- Hilton Head! We spent that first day just walking on the beach, soaking in the sunshine and letting our minds switch into vacation mode. It was nice not having any set agenda for most of our trip so we just wandered where we wanted, ate at whatever time we felt like eating and took naps on the beach whenever the mood struck us! Total relaxation mode.

We stayed near the Coligny Plaza which is our favorite little spot for the two of us. There are plenty of condos to rent and you're next to tons of shopping and restaurants. Walkable options everywhere, or hop on your bikes and go a bit further to even more great places. Hilton Head is such a relaxed environment and at the time of year we went- it felt empty most of the time! Since we beat all the Spring Break/Easter/Summer crowds- we got a great deal on a gorgeous condo right on the beach. We went through VRBO.com for the second time and couldn't be happier.

It was fun getting into a routine during our short week there. We woke up pretty early most days and Jared would head out for a beach run/workout and I'd sit on the patio eating breakfast and reading blogs with the ocean waves crashing as my background noise. Talk about perfection. I could definitely do that every day for the rest of my life and be fine with that. :)

A few Shout-Outs & Recommendations:

Hilton Head Diner- Does not get enough love on TripAdvisor but we tried this place for brunch and loved it so much we ate there twice! We had breakfast food there but they've got a huge menu and everything sounded delicious. Plus, they're open 24/7 which is convenient. I may or may not have ordered a massive stack of chocolate chip pancakes. Okay, I did. And I didn't get a photo because I couldn't wait to dive in...

Frosty Frog Cafe- Okay, they are known for their adult beverages but their FOOD is so tasty! Their chips and salsa are so incredibly fresh and delicious and totally worth the heartburn. Jared and I have tried their wraps, burgers and even pizza from here and everything is yummy. Plus there are TVs everywhere so we stalked the NFL free agency drama going on while on vacation- can't miss that!!

Hilton Head Bicycle Rental- HHI is a very bike-friendly community so there are dozens of places to rent bikes for the week, but this is the one we've went with two years in a row. They seem to have the best prices around and usually if you reserve yours two weeks in advance there will be an additional discount. They deliver/pick-up right to the place you're staying so there's no hassle at all.

Bomboras Grille- This place was recommended to me by some people at work because lo and behold, this place is basically a Bengals restaurant- the owners are originally from Cincinnati. Our head coach Marvin Lewis has a home in HHI and he and wife frequent this place. Plus on Sunday's during football season supposedly it's a sea of orange and black so we had to stop in. We ate some ridiculously good lunch here and met the incredibly nice owner who greeted us with a WHODEY when he saw Jared's shirt :)

It's hard to sum up all the fun we had but it was truly one of the best weeks ever. It was fun having a few random strangers ask about when I was due or if we knew what we were having, etc. No one had asked me yet so it took me by surprise but I won't lie, I loved the attention and loved telling people we had a little boy on the way. The owner of the putt-putt place we went to was so happy for us he even gave us a free game to celebrate!