Pre-Trip 2 Broke Guys (and a dog!) and $200 French Fries?! multiple short trips

Who:

Tony:

Wait, a little more recent, please (but remember the blue tufted sofa for later.)

"Hidden Mickey" ears behind me? It's actually a wall mural with ocean waves.

Brian:

That picture of him is 8 years old, but still adorbs.

...and sometimes Kylie:

60 pounds of German Shepherd/Chow Chow love & anxiety. She is as old as that picture of Brian, and also adorbs!

 

[Pat Di]

Wow! Thank you, @Pat Di ! I'm glad you enjoyed it and impressed that you read it in one afternoon! (I have a Tuvalu report to catch up on that will take me weeks!)

I think the last Tuvalu report (also one of my favorites!) took me a couple of days - I have been engrossed in all of the great trip reports and really slacking off at work It's a good thing that I'm pretty caught up with them so far.

 

[monykalyn]

As usual silently lurking and actually LOL'ing-you really need to compile these stories in a book.

In about ten minutes, she remembered she was mad at us

Ahhhh she is just the sweetest. Love your Kylie descriptions too!
I also lurk on Tuvalu's TR's

 

[Tony the Tigger]

As usual silently lurking and actually LOL'ing-you really need to compile these stories in a book.

Ahhhh she is just the sweetest. Love your Kylie descriptions too!
I also lurk on Tuvalu's TR's

You lurker, you! Thanks for unlurking!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

While our eyes and prayers are on the Carolinas, my story coincidentally picks up at Jeff’s wedding in Hilton Head.

I won’t bore you with too many details, but I left the booking to Brian. Ergo, we flew from Fort Lauderdale to Jacksonville, rented a car (wait ) and drove the rest of the way.

The “car”

It was a monster Mercedes black SUV. When we rolled up in that, people thought they were about to get “whacked.”

No, that is not what he reserved. This was some kind of upgrade. Incidentally, this was a great company (not nationwide yet) that meets you at the airport terminal with the car! (I first thought it was the shuttle to take us to the car. Nope. It was the car.) Loved that service, and the price was very good.

I thought the license plate was funny, though:

Godz gud (presumably “God is good”) over “Imagine” by John Lennon (“Imagine there’s no Heaven - no religion, too...”)

I never liked that song.

Anyway, I really needed this very short trip because between our two trips was Record Store Day, and that is super duper hectic.

Here are the first people to arrive at our original store to wait in line. It was about 9PM. (We opened at 8AM the next day.)

And here are the first to arrive at the new store, about 10PM:

Nice family!

Didn’t know what to expect from the new store as far as a line in the morning. This was taken about 20 minutes before we opened (it grew more by then)

There was a similar pic at the old store, I must have deleted it.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Jeff & Billy’s wedding was at the Hilton Head Sheraton. We drove there directly from the airport to meet everyone for a cocktail or too many. (Brian and I stayed at the Days Inn to pinch pennies.)

The next morning, I went out to buy new pants to wear to the wedding lol. There was a great Macy’s type store that was having a sick sale just until noon, so I grabbed a few things.

Then we met them at the hotel again - pool, beach, drinks...

Re: drinks: I invented an aloe-Rita by ordering a shot of tequila to pour into my aloe drink. The bartender just poured it right into my plastic bottle.

Jeff & Billy pics:

Those cupcake cakes cake were aw-ful. I tried both flavors. Neither worked.

Don’t cheap out on the cake!

Jeff puts me to shame in the penny pinching department.

The whole day was very nice, a lot of fun, and meaningful. Brian got up to say something. Jeff’s (divorced) parents had a moment at our table when his dad came over from his table and said to his mom, “We done real good, ain’t we?” When I told Jeff, his mouth fell open and he got choked up. The two parents hadn’t spoken in many years.

We went to brunch with them the next morning at the diner next to the Days Inn which mercifully serves alcohol.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Hilton Head map:

Doesn’t it look like a sneaker?

(Jeez, I hope those folks are OK.)

Notice anything else about the map?

Need a close-up?

Find the Days Inn where we stayed, and look just a few lines below it.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

 

[Tony the Tigger]

We really didn’t have much time, had to drive to Jacksonville in time to return the beastmobile and fly home.

But...it’s Disney. And when would we be back here again? And it was just blocks away!

In a very short time, we wandered the grounds, shopped, and ordered lunch for the road.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

We enjoyed reading some of the signs.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Details.

Could’ve used a nap in that - but already running late!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Lunch. You can probably guess what I ordered based on past TR’s. (There’s no “vegan” in “vacation.”)

Of course.

The pulled pork sandwich. (“Hidden” Mickey?). It was very good with the slaw. Not CBR good, but definitely up there, and hit the spot.

Brian had the SW chicken salad.

Shopping while waiting for the food:

Brian bought this hat:

I bought this pin, er, Christmas ornament.

I’m an accidental pin collector now - I’ve bought so many to hang on the Christmas tree! (vs. a $20 actual ornament.)

Random bucket of puppies!

Sad to hear the resort is closed since Florence, hope it’s not too bad.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

I think I forgot to post this “Christmas ornament” from our water park day trip:

 

[Tony the Tigger]

We really had to hustle, and of course, we were late. The car company was great, they said whenever we got there was fine, no late fees.

Made our flight, came home to love the puppy, and put the shells we found on the beach at Hilton Head...

...into our jar of shells on the kitchen windowsill, with shells from all over Florida & the Keys, New Jersey, California, etc.

 

[susan lees]

We enjoyed reading some of the signs.

View attachment 314310View attachment 314311View attachment 314312View attachment 314313View attachment 314314View attachment 314315

Eh! Now I want to know how far pofq is

 

[Tiggerish]

Just curious, how do you hang pins on the Christmas tree? I can’t imagine it.

I’m a pebble collector. I have a jar of pebbles from my travels.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

And the missed opportunity: @Tiggerish was there at HH at the same time! We had talked about it so far in advance that we both totally forgot the other was in town lol. I don’t know if she was on the premises when we picked up our lunch, but that was our only chance to swing by, anyway.

Next time!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Just curious, how do you hang pins on the Christmas tree? I can’t imagine it.

I’m a pebble collector. I have a jar of pebbles from my travels.

I used to try to use the pin backing - now I just leave it on the card and put an ornament hanger through the hole in the top! (Never said I was fancy lol.)

 

[Tiggerish]

I used to try to use the pin backing - now I just leave it on the card and put an ornament hanger through the hole in the top! (Never said I was fancy lol.)

That’s brilliant, actually! Some of the cards are nicely decorated too.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

That’s brilliant, actually! Some of the cards are nicely decorated too.

Also it retains the value of the pin (in case we are ever destitute enough to cash in our Christmas trip memories.)

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Lunch. You can probably guess what I ordered based on past TR’s. (There’s no “vegan” in “vacation.”)

View attachment 314327

Of course.

View attachment 314328
The pulled pork sandwich. (“Hidden” Mickey?). It was very good with the slaw. Not CBR good, but definitely up there, and hit the spot.

Brian had the SW chicken salad.

Shopping while waiting for the food:

View attachment 314325

Brian bought this hat:

View attachment 314329

I bought this pin, er, Christmas ornament.

View attachment 314330

I’m an accidental pin collector now - I’ve bought so many to hang on the Christmas tree! (vs. a $20 actual ornament.)

Random bucket of puppies!

View attachment 314324

Sad to hear the resort is closed since Florence, hope it’s not too bad.

I love this resort! The CM's are the best, and I hope they also didn't suffer any damage from the hurricane, We missed our trip their this year, but cannot wait to get back next year. Thanks for the pics, and I see that they have a couple of new activities on the board. Something to look forward to next year.