Tips for 36 Hours in Hilton Head – Plus Some Additions

We’ve been back from Hilton Head for a couple weeks, and I’m still talking about it! A good, long vacation is so amazing because you get a chance to truly let go. Incidentally, when we were on our trip, The New York Times published one of its 36 hours stories for Hilton Head. We hit a lot of places mentioned like Coligny Beach and Coligny Plaza (where we biked often), Frozen Moo for yummy ice cream, the Harbour Town Lighthouse Museum, and Daniel’s for nighttime outdoor music and drinks. 

Here’s a list of things I would add to that itinerary:

Frosty Frog Cafe (Frosty's) – AHMAZING frozen drinks and kid-friendly during the day

Old Fort Pub – delish, fancy meal with great views

Reilley’s – lobsters on Mondays for $12.95

Gregg Russell’s kids’ show under the big oak tree in Harbour Town

Live music in Coligny Plaza (so close to where we stayed in South Forest Beach)

Clockwise: Old Fort Pub, Reilley's, Frosty's

In addition, bike riding is a huge part of the culture of Hilton Head…there are trails and families on bikes everywhere. Tandems, babies on the back, trailers – we saw them all and tried all but the tandem bikes.

This trip was really active for us. Each morning, since our fam was usually the first ones up, I would scoop them up so we didn’t wake up the whole house and head out for some exercise to kill two birds with one stone. Usually, I’d push them in the stroller or bike with D on the back up to the beach and then run/bike in the sand (soooooo hard) on the way back.

 

D rode his bike two miles to lunch & back; my morning jogging buds

My friend Kim also organized outings a couple mornings a week for the girls to bike to a barre class and back (with a stop for coffee and some goodies).

Oh, what I’d do for a little surf and sand right now…

Are we there yet? – How to survive 12 hours in the car with 2 kids under 3

Our cheery backseat drivers

I have to admit – I was anticipating some serious traumatization during our lonnnng drive to Hilton Head with D, who will be three next week, and S, who just turned one. For sure, I knew that Phil was dreading the drive. But, I’m happy to report that both of them pleasantly surprised us and were complete angels – even when our first day of driving turned into 12 hours on the road from crazy traffic.

Our secrets?

Splitting up the drive over two days, each way. Each time, we left in the morning and drove during daylight. I know others like to drive overnight, but this worked well for us.

Lots of snacks (graham crackers were our go-to distraction for the baby).

Stops for lunch and dinner so they could stretch their legs.

Lots of toys:

• iPad for D and iPhone for S (both in Fisher-Price Apptivitycases) loaded with new apps (PianoBall, Balls, Endless Alphabet, Elmo ABCs, SoundTouch, and Real Guitar were all awesome)
• Snack and Play tray for D
• Crayola Color Wonder coloring book/marker set
• Coloring books and crayons
• Melissa & Doug reusable vehicle sticker pad
• Doodle/erase board
• Board books

 

A mosquito-bitten Pickle with his sticker pad and Real Guitar app

I honestly can’t recall any moments of feeling frazzled from backseat craziness – just traffic during the drive down. To combat those moments of frustration, we turned to Waze. Pretty cool to get real-time info from other drivers and even have the opportunity to message with them. 

Screen cap of Waze, a super helpful traffic app

 Totally would get in the car with these two again for a long haul!

Real World: Hilton Head (family style!)

We’re back! We had a fantastic time away during our first family vacation as a foursome.

All of our prep for the long car rides and swimming really paid off – the Pickle was indeed a fish in water and I couldn’t have asked for two better travelers in the car (no frazzling moments to speak of!).

As a kid, I never did beach vacations. In college, no spring breaks on the beach (nerd). My first experience was almost 10 years ago while nannying for some friends during a trip to Topsail Island in North Carolina for nearly 2 weeks. I’m bitchy when I’m hot, so I didn’t think I’d be crazy about the beach, but boy was I wrong! But, it took me a long time to get back. Last year, Phil and I took Dylan while I was super pregs to St. Pete Beach to celebrate our friends’ wedding. The weather was cool and D and I both got sick, so we didn’t spend much time in the ocean or the pool.

For this trip, we shacked up with five other families in a huge house on South Forest Beach. 

 

Our super sweet pool and the view of the ocean/beach path from our deck

Some stats for you:

25 houseguests (12 kids, 11 parents, 2 babysitters)

8 bedrooms

7 bathrooms

1 awesome pool

This trip was a great blend of time with family and friends. Sooo clutch that we had babysitters along for our vacation so that we could spend some time out at night (hello, Frosty’s!). 

 

D was a maniac in the pool and Sienna warmed up by the end of the week. D would wake up in the morning, jump on me and grab my face and tell me two inches away, “Mama, let’s go in the pool AND the ocean!!!” And, that we did! The poor kid tripped and skinned his knees at least five times on our path from the backyard to the beach, so he was not a fan of the beach by the end of the trip. S, however, became a little daredevil and would power crawl into the waves. (Unfortunately, she also was a sand snacker.)

My little sand letters were a big hit with the kids!

I really, really liked Hilton Head because there was a lot to do, and I hope to go back. The pool and ocean were great, obviously, but you also could bike everywhere, there were lots of restaurants and there were other little areas to visit like Harbour Town, which hosts the iconic lighthouse.

As I mentioned, I loved Topsail, but it was pretty isolated. If you tire of the beach, you’re pretty much screwed. I’ve heard that it’s similar with the Outer Banks.

Where have you been that you’ve loved? Looking for ideas for future summers!