Hi Friends!
Let me tell you, the last few weeks have been a complete whirlwind!! My wonderful friend, Emily, asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding on June 2nd in Chicago so I spent a few days there for that. She also asked me to be in charge of all the decorations, which was a complete honor. I enjoyed every single minute of it. Thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of your big day and congratulations Sean and Emily!
Unfortunately, I had to leave the reception a little bit early because my friends, Sabrina and Betsy and I had planned a trip to Hilton Head, SC and we had planned to leave the day after the wedding. I left the wedding around 8:30pm and arrived in Lexington around 4:30am, where Sabrina, Betsy and I left for Hilton Head immediately. I attempted to sleep as much as I could while Sabrina drove the first leg of the trip, but I didn’t get much rest. It’s about a nine hour drive from Lexington, but it took us about 10 hours with stops.
We chose to rent an Airbnb to help save some money. When looking for Airbnbs to rent, be sure to check the reviews, photos and amenities offered. Our host was very nice and easy to communicate with. We had an extremely good experience and would highly recommend going this route for your next vacation!
Our Airbnb was located inside a private beach and tennis resort. The ocean was just a short walk away! Since we had our own full kitchen, we chose to make our own breakfast and lunch meals. We bought nonperishable groceries before we left and went grocery shopping for perishable items once we arrived on the island. We had bacon or sausage, eggs and donuts each morning for breakfast and PB&J sandwiches with chips and fresh fruit for lunch each day. We chose to go out to eat each night for dinner.
Shortly after we arrived on Sunday, we went to the beach to relax after a long car ride. After soaking up some sun, it was time for a shower and dinner. We were going to go to a restaurant called A Lowcountry Backyard, but they were closed on Sunday. We looked up another place called Crazy Crab and headed that way, but when we got there it said they were closed for renovations! So we tried one final place called Chow Daddy’s. I ordered grilled chicken tacos with avocado and they were delicious! Sabrina got fried chicken tacos and Betsy got a chicken sandwich with pimento cheese.
After dinner, we came back and watched a movie for the remainder of the night. Well, Sabrina and Betsy did. I passed out because I had literally been awake for almost 40 straight hours from the wedding and driving.
After a good night’s sleep, we ate breakfast and headed straight to the beach. We had packed lunches to eat there as well. Everyone knows that when you go to the beach, sand gets everywhere. One way to help minimize this is by taking a fitted sheet and setting up four objects in the corners. It creates a “boat-like” sheet to sit on, keeping most of the sand out. Another great tip to get sand off your body is applying baby powder to the sandy site. While we were sitting on the beach, a man was fishing and caught a baby shark! He eventually released it, but it kept us out of the water for a while. We also saw some jellyfish in the water as well.
After cleaning up, we headed to The Salty Dog Cafe for dinner. The restaurant is located inside a private resort so you have to pay $6 for a daily pass. We arrived around 6:15 and there was an hour and 45 minute wait. However, we were okay with waiting because we really wanted to eat there. However, the wait really was not that bad because there are so many shops and things to do nearby. The hostess gets your phone number and they text you when your table is ready. They had a little convenience store in one of the shops so we bought a snack to help hold us over until we ate. We also went to the famous Salty Dog T-shirt Factory. I bought a purple t-shirt and teal koozie. Sabrina bought a navy hat, and Betsy bought a blue t-shirt. We only ended up waiting an hour for our table, so that was nice. We got seated by a huge window inside that looked out to the water; it was beautiful.
The Salty Dog is known for their seafood, which Sabrina and I aren’t huge fans of, but they do have other food as well. I was planning on getting the “Jake-zilla” burger, but I saw a picture of it in a catalog and there was no way I could eat all of that; it was ginormous!! So I ordered the kid’s version, “puppy-zilla.” It was still extremely big, especially for a kid’s meal, but I ate the whole thing because I was so hungry. It was so so good. It was a burger with pulled pork, onion rings, bacon and pimento cheese, topped with a pickle spear and hush puppy. I got fresh fruit as my side. Betsy got island-style shrimp and Sabrina got hush puppies and fresh fruit. After eating, we walked around Harbour Town and headed back to the Airbnb for an early bedtime because we planned to watch the sunrise the next morning.
5:45am came awfully early, but the view was so worth it. There were so many jellyfish washed up on shore; it was crazy. After walking along the beach for a while, we headed back to the room to eat breakfast.
We went back to the beach until lunch time and then ate back at the room and explored some of the shops around the island. There was this super cute shop called Branches that had some home decor items as well as a flower shop. They even sold macarons! It was definitely my kind of place. Y’all know I gotta get my home decor fix, even while on vacation.
We were dead tired from being up so early so we went back to the room for a short nap before dinner. We chose to go to A Lowcountry Backyard for dinner and let me tell you, this please is AMAZING!!! Not only the food, but the over-all atmosphere is fantastic as well. The environment is just like the name suggests: a backyard. They have indoor and outdoor seating, but the outdoor is under a giant umbrella with string lights. The ground is covered in mulch and you sit at picnic tables and chairs. There is even a little spot where families can play games. A live performer plays music during your meal as well. It is so darn cute!
We all shared an appetizer of pimento cheese with flatbread and tortilla chips. Y’all. I don’t know what it is, but South Carolina is obsessed with pimento cheese. Literally every restaurant we went to had pimento cheese somewhere on the menu. It was sooo good!! For our main meals, Sabrina and I ordered their homemade meatloaf (made with potato chips instead of bread crumbs) and Betsy ordered a crab cake sandwich. Our food and overall experience was so fantastic that we decided we were going to eat there the next night too.
After our bellies were full, we decided to play a round of putt putt golf. When we got there it was pretty crowded. We had to wait to take our turn on the first couple holes, but after a while it wasn’t bad at all. I did terrible; scoring a 71 on a 56 par. Betsy got a 62 and Sabrina won with a 58! We headed back to the room for a good night’s sleep before another full day at the beach.
Our last full day at the beach was definitely an interesting one! We were out in the water when all of a sudden I heard a little boy scream. I turned to look in his direction and I saw a SHARK in the water about 20 feet away from us!! Okay, it wasn’t a full-size, jaws-type shark; it was a baby. However, it was still probably 3 feet long and very close to us, so we high-tailed it out of the water. The shark was probably less than 10 feet from the shore and we were deeper than that. The lifeguard said that they had seen another one about 50 yards from the shore, which was probably the mom. Needless to say that definitely kept us out of the water for a while! It was a little scary, but also exciting for sure! We enjoyed a nice lunch on the beach while soaking up as much sun as possible. Maybe a little too much, because we all got burnt, despite using five bottles of sunscreen the whole trip!
After we got cleaned up, we headed back to A Lowcountry Backyard for our second meal there. This time we got to sit outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. We all loved the pimento cheese appetizer so much that we all got our own with all flatbread instead of tortilla chips. We were in HEAVEN. It’s so good y’all I can’t say enough about it. We each ordered a side to go with it as well. Betsy and I got side salads and Sabrina got a fruit cup. They are also famous for their banana pudding so we each got our own and it was BOMB. We were so happy. If y’all ever go to Hilton Head, you HAVE to eat here!! 10/10 highly recommend.
Earlier that morning I noticed that I couldn’t find my Salty Dog t-shirt or koozie anywhere. We searched the Airbnb and my car and it was nowhere to be found. So I called the restaurant to see if I somehow accidentally left it there. After a little bit of waiting they told me they had it!! I was so happy. So after we ate dinner we headed back to Salty Dog to go get it. Yes, we had to pay the $6 to get in again, but I didn’t care at that point because I got my shirt and koozie.
We headed straight to the beach to see the beautiful sunset. We took a few pictures and some people walking by were kind enough to take a picture of all three of us. After the sun had gone down we headed back to the room to relax for our last night.
In the morning after we finished packing we headed to the beach for one last walk before we headed home.
I’m so glad I got to go on this girls trip! It was just what I needed after a crazy-hectic few days before. Relaxing on the beach just does something good to the soul.
Thanks for stopping by y’all!
xoxo,
Alyssa
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