If you have never been to Hilton Head, SC then you really need to book a trip. And if you have, well, then you already know what an amazing place is it. We were so fortunate to spend a week there with my parents, sister and her boyfriend and no one had more fun than my daughter. The weather was perfect, the beach was beautiful and the crashing waves lulled me right to sleep every night.
We stayed at The Sea Crest Resort, which has a prime location right on the beach and just across the street from Coligny Plaza. This was ideal for a family vacation since Coligny includes enough shops and restaurants for everyone and even a Piggly Wiggly grocery for any forgotten necessities. I was bummed I was exempt from wine smoothies from the wine shop or spiked frozen drinks from The Frosty Frog but I certainly enjoyed all the food!
My family had never vacationed at this time of year before but we found mid September to be a really great time to do so. Everything was open, just less crowded and the weather was wonderful. Everything was very kid friendly and the restaurants we went to were so accommodating of our little diva toddler. We visited Harbor Town where we saw a beautiful sunset over the water, shopped and ate at The Quarter Deck right at the bottom of a real lighthouse. Shelter Cove is also a really fun place to go with more shops and restaurants, a full marina and live music. Coast was such a beautiful place to eat on the beach and I loved that it was welcoming to beach goers in bikinis just looking for appetizers and drinks as well as those there for a nice evening out. The Black Marlin had a really fun outdoor patio atmosphere with live music and amazing stuffed flounder. The Salty Dog Cafe is an iconic restaurant at a very cute place on the water and also had live music. Are you sensing a theme here?! And our hotel had one of the best beach bars around, Pool Bar Jim's. Fallon of course made her way to a stool and was served her very own smoothie and all the cups of fresh fruit she could eat.
I loved getting coffee from Coretta Coffee Co. at Coligny in the morning and walking down the beach or down the street next to our hotel to see all the beautiful private beach homes. We split our time between the hotel pool and the beach, although it was hard to pull Fallon away from her beloved tide pools. She truly was a beach baby, running right for the ocean the second we arrived and playing in the sand and waves all week long. Although Fallon won't actually remember this vacation, we captured so many memories on our cameras and in our hearts to share with her one day and I like to think that she will carry those moments with her always.
I highly recommend Hilton Head as a family vacation destination, especially if you have little ones! We are rookies at this whole traveling with a toddler thing but a few things that worked for us were driving through the night and sticking loosely with Fallon's routine at home. We left to drive down and home around her bedtime so that she would be tired and sleep most of the way and luckily that worked out. The condo we stayed in had the option to rent a full sized crib and we were able to have it in a separate room from the one Chris and I stayed in so she was in her own space, just like home. We brought our baby monitor and she was so tried from her days running down the beach and charming everyone she met that she went to sleep fairly easily at night. We let naps happen when and where they happened whether it was in the stroller on a walk, in the room or on the beach.
she did't want to leave!
Hilton Head is definitely a place we'd like to spend future vacations, but it will be tough to top this one!
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