R & R & R South Carolina Style

As I mentioned last week, we took a trip to South Carolina.  Our original plan had Les traveling a week before me for his annual Georgia cycling trip with Lance.  About a month ago there was a flash flood in Georgia and the road to Lance's cabin was washed out.  The road would not be reopened in time for their trip, so that part of the trip got canceled.  I was originally going to fly into Atlanta, meet up with Les, then we would drive to Hilton Head Island.  Thanks to Southwest Airlines, we were able to easily change our flights and we both flew in to Charleston instead.

 

We arrived in Charleston on Sunday evening and checked into the Barksdale House Inn.  This was a home built in 1778!  The staff was very welcoming and we enjoyed our brief visit.  We reserved a rental car but didn't pick it up until Monday afternoon, so after a wonderful breakfast on Monday morning we left our luggage with the office and headed out to explore Charleston for a few hours.

A day in Charleston does not disappoint!  The old homes and churches are beautiful.  

 

"Almighty God has been worshiped on this site since 1680"

There is SO much history.  This is a time capsule for Fort Sumter, the location of the first shot fired that started the American Civil War.

 

We have been to Charleston before and I will happily go back, but our destination for the week was Hilton Head Island, about a two hour drive from Charleston.  I searched VRBO for a condo and I am very happy with the one we chose!  I am learning that many larger condos are often a similar price to something smaller.  The choice between a studio with a "kitchenette" (microwave, mini fridge) vs. a two bedroom, two bath with full kitchen and laundry is kind of a no brainer to me when the price is similar.  We wanted to be able to eat most of our meals in the condo so we wouldn't have to deal with wearing a mask.

 

 I loved the colors of the kitchen, and it had everything we needed.

My driver is looking a little tired.  Or is this the face of contentment?

Our first stop after the condo was The Mixx on Main.  I'll share all our great eats in a special Friday Foodie tomorrow, but let me just say that the food on Hilton Head was outstanding!  We only ate out three times, but each one was excellent.  After filling our tummies, we headed to Harris Teeter to pick up groceries.  The rest of our stay consisted R & R & R = rest and relaxation and recreation.  In other words, sleeping in, walking on the beach, and riding our rental bikes.  

Hilton Head has approximately 60 miles of multi-use trails so we knew we wanted to rent bikes.  With almost 30 bike shops on the island, you would think renting a bike would be simple.  And it would be if all you wanted was a beach cruiser.  From experience, I know that riding a beach cruiser is only good for short rides and we wanted more than that.  I spent quite a bit of time before our trip checking websites and finally found Atlantic Bike Rentals.  They had 21 speed hybrid bikes with disc brakes - definitely more our speed!  They were delivered directly to our condo on Tuesday and we rode Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for a total of 50 miles! I didn't take any pictures while we were out riding, but here is Les checking them out.

The beach in front of our condo was so cool!  At high tide it looked like this:

But when the tide was out, there was a large sandbar.  We took our chairs out and enjoyed the beautiful weather and almost completely empty beach. 

Check out at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday arrived much too quickly, then it was a day of travel.  We drove from Hilton Head to Charleston, then flew from Charleston to Nashville to Los Angeles.  We had a wonderful trip and came home completely refreshed!

Never Again

Have you ever gone to a new place or tried a new experience and thought to yourself, “I’m never doing that again!” Tell us about it. 

It took me about three seconds to come up with the answer to this question ~ Timeshare Presentation.

I think it was about 12 years ago.  A co-worker of Les' had a great deal for us to stay in a new resort on Maui.  We found super cheap flights and decided to go for it.  There was only one catch - we would need to go through a one hour timeshare presentation some time during our stay.

The presentation started off great.  Beautiful pictures of beautiful people in beautiful places.  Page after page.  We passed the one hour mark and our new friend kept right on going... and going...

We had booked another outing (I think we were going parasailing) and needed to be at the dock at a certain time.  When the presentation passed the 90 minute mark we started trying to leave.  We were NOT going to buy anything that day.  That is when our new friend really started putting on the pressure.  When we said we had to leave he tried to stop us.  It was not a pretty scene.  I think he even threatened to take back the gift certificate we were suppose to receive for attending.  He was very angry about watching a potential sales commission walk out the door.

In case you're wondering, here is a little info about timeshares that I found at The Street:

The American Resort Development Association (ARDA), a trade group for timeshare companies, said in 2012 that the average cost of a timeshare is around $19,000, with an annual maintenance fee of $660.

Read those ARDA numbers again. You are paying almost $100 per night in maintenance for a week’s stay and you already paid $20,000 for that week.

As you can see, this is not a small purchase!  I don't know about other people, but Les and I would never spend this amount of money without careful consideration.  We never buy large ticket items without a lot of research and budgeting.  We've taken some amazing vacations, but we have planned them for months. We certainly wouldn't buy in a pressure situation such as that one.

We finally escaped the building with a very angry presenter walking us to the door.  We looked at each other and said, "Never again!"  And we have stuck to that commitment.  I can't tell you how many offers we have been given through the years - "Come see our timeshare..."  "No, thank you!"  Each time it has happened, Les and I have just looked at each other and laughed.  "Never again!"

Have you ever had a "never again" experience?

Maui R & R & R

A few weeks ago we flew to Hawaii.  Instead of our usual Hawaiian Airlines flight #1 to Honolulu, we flew to Maui.  It's been a while since we went to one of the other islands and had some down time.  Of course for us it's never just Rest and Relaxation, there's always some Recreation involved, too.

Our first stop on our way from the airport was Maui Cyclery in the town of Paia.  The store is the sponsor for Cycle to the Sun - a bike race UP Haleakala Crater.  If you've ever been to Maui you've seen lots of ads for riding down the crater, but there are some who ride up it, and others who even race up.  The ride climbs 10,000 feet over 36 miles and reaches gradients up to 18%.  We stopped at the store so Les could pick up his race packet - yes, Les would be racing up the crater on Saturday, but I'll get back to that...

By the time we left Paia, we were ready for some food.  Leoda's Kitchen and Pie Shop has become our favorite stop on our way from the airport to Ka'anapali.  I had their amazing Avocado and Cucumber Sandwich.  I can't remember what Les had, but I do remember we both had pie.  Our vacation was off to a great start!

This is not Leoda's, but it does describe what happens when you eat too much pie...

We checked in to our favorite Maui condo - The Aston Mahana at Ka'anapali.  There was a slight glitch in our reservation, but we were finally in our room and ready to relax for a while.  The views from our ocean front room just can't be beat!

Molokai island

We arrived on Wednesday and took Thursday and Friday as full on R & R.  Les got his bike ready and went for a short ride and I went for a short run, but there was a lot of napping involved, too.

Lanai island

We had an early start on Saturday morning to get to the race on time.  We both knew quite a few of the riders (the race is capped at 200.)

After an Hawaiian blessing, they were off!

I knew I would have plenty of time to wait, so I headed to the nearest coffee shop.  I ended up spending two hours with a lady whose husband was also in the race.  We shared stories about family and adventures.  My plan was to drive to the summit and hopefully see Les a few times along the way.

I stopped at the Visitor Center and watched Les go through.  Then I drove a few more miles to see him again.  I cheered for every rider who came by.  It's a grueling race and I know even a few words of encouragement can mean a lot.  I was at the summit when Les came across the finish line!

He had been sick for about 3 weeks leading up to the race.  This is no easy ride at 100%, so I was happy to see him finish with a smile!  This was Les' fourth attempt and fourth successful finish on this ride.

It was a very clear day at the top.  In the distance are Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii...

We had all day Sunday to enjoy ourselves before heading to Oahu on Monday.  I went for another run, while my cyclist got some much needed rest!

We found a fun new breakfast place - Slappy Cakes.  This is one of the rare times when neither of us had a phone with us and we wanted to take a food picture!  We got to make our own pancakes right at our table.  We chose our batter and our toppings, then had fun cooking and eating.

That's our vacation in a nutshell!  What are your summer vacation plans?

Whale Watching!

We are really enjoying our time on Maui.  I've been very mellow, recovering from my marathon.  Les rode up Haleakala on Wednesday with a group from Maui Cyclery and had a great time, beating his best time by 61 seconds!

The only thing I wanted to do this time was take a whale watching trip.  We have been to Maui many times, but always in May for our anniversary.  This is one of the greatest places for whale watching, but the whales have headed back to Alaska by May. 

Our two hour trip yesterday did not disappoint! 

We followed one group of four for quite a while, then spotted a second group of two in the distance. 

 
We didn't catch the second group, but caught a third group of 4-5 as we were heading back to the harbor!

The animals are so massive.  Our boat was 40 feet long - the whales are 45-50 feet!  

The whales are in the Hawaiian waters to mate or give birth. 

The males will fight to prove their strength and attract the attention of the female.

God did creation right!