My wife and I enjoy travel about as much as Rick Steves, and many of our trips take us back to some of our old haunts.
We love to make day trips to Chicago and southern Michigan, and we’re also quite fond of visiting friends and family in the Sunshine State and the Grand Canyon State as often as we can.
Returning to the same place certainly has its advantages, especially when you find great places to enjoy a meal, small shops you enjoy visiting, and trails you enjoy hiking or biking.
While we always seem to find something new when we revisit a place, we enjoy going to new places as well.
Our plan was to make a trip to Puerto Rico during the first week of October — a place where I lived for a semester while in college so that I could learn Spanish. Jen, however, had never visited the small tropical island that I called home for five months in 2001.
Hurricane Fiona hit a couple of weeks before we were supposed to go, and we decided it would be best not to travel to the Caribbean island.
Instead, we loaded up the car and made a roadtrip to the southeastern United States to a place I had never visited but a location that Jen knew quite well since her family always traveled there when she was growing up.
Little did I know at the time, however, but we would also end up in place whose name we all know too well: Bluffton.
After almost 13 hours in the car — not counting our pit stop in Mount Airy, N.C., so that I could see the town that was the inspiration for Mayberry on the Andy Griffith Show — we arrived on Hilton Head Island, S.C.
I have been to South Carolina a few times over the years, but I had never been as far south as Hilton Head.
Jen, however, has been there several times — so often that we didn’t need Google Maps once we got on the island as she guided us from place to place the five days we were there. The foot-shaped island is fewer than 5 miles wide and 12 miles long, but there is a lot of development that fills the beautiful island that attracts some 2.5 million visitors every year.
We arrived a little after the sun had gone down, and one of the first things I noticed was that there were no neon signs. I asked one of the store owners about the lack of neon sings, and she shared that they are not allowed on the island. It was a nice change from what we’re used to seeing in most cities.
There are a plethora of trails on the island that make it easy to bike, run or walk. Most mornings, however, we chose to avoid the pavement and instead walk along the beach.
The water was a bit too chilly for me to go swimming, but we thoroughly enjoyed the miles of beach walking. The beaches are also pet friendly. We didn’t take our Golden Retriever with us, but there were plenty of dogs to stop and pet as we logged our morning exercise miles each day.
The highlight of those morning walks was seeing a bald eagle as it dove toward the water to fetch a fish before flying back to its nest. It was the first time I have ever seen a bald eagle at the beach, and I just so happened to have my smart phone with me to capture a picture.
We also saw a plethora of dolphins in the ocean … and several alligators hanging around the small ponds near where we stayed. The receptionist warned us when we checked in that we would see several alligators and that we should keep our distance — a warning she didn’t need to tell me twice.
While the flora and fauna were stunning, the food we enjoyed on the island was just as delightful.
I don’t eat a lot of seafood, but I am a fan of shrimp and salmon. I think I nearly ate my weight in shrimp while we were there, enjoying it twice in one day on two occasions. It’s hard to find such fresh seafood in northeast Indiana.
While we enjoyed our time on the island, one of the highlights was an afternoon we spent off the island.
Hilton Head is located just 8 miles from Bluffton … Bluffton, South Carolina, that is.
We spent a Thursday afternoon in Bluffton, first visiting its famous farmers market that is located in the historic downtown. In addition to vendors selling locally grown vegetables, fruits, flowers and plants, there were also food vendors and live music.
Following a tasty lunch in the park, we explored the downtown, the Bluffton General Store and a myriad of small shops around Bluffton. The city is about three times as big as our Bluffton, and it didn’t take us long to realize it would be a nice place to live.
I’m not sure when we’ll return to South Carolina, but our next trip there will certainly include another stop in Bluffton to enjoy more time in beautiful city … and so that I can sample some savory shrimp that I saw on several menus as we explored the downtown.
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