Shawn and I left Thee Ohio for 9 days on a vacation to Hilton Head Island; this was our first vacation since our honeymoon that we spent alone. It was so nice just to be together.
We spent 2 days driving down, 5 days on the island and 2 more days returning. On the way down we went through the Smokey Mountains (beautiful) and drove through Gatlinburg before staying the night in Ashville, North Carolina. Gatlinburg was crazy to say the least. It is part Las Vegas, part Ohio State Fair, part Coney Island, part Sturgis (as in South Dakota - lots of Harleys), part tractor pull; all of these on steroids.
After driving bumper to bumper through the town and the same way back out, we were amazed by the thousands of people on the street. Ripley's Believe It Or Not is there, but they should put a display on Gatlinburg in there because we just couldn't believe the attraction of this place.
Ashville, North Carolina was also quite a destination, however for very different reasons. We went there so we could tour the Biltmore House. The grounds around the mansion were absolutely beautiful (125,000 acres when it was built and now a mere 8,000 acres) and the mansion itself was amazing.
View of Front Yard and House
The Conservatory and Greenhouses
It is 175,000 square feet and has 250 total rooms and 64 fireplaces, with 74 bedrooms and 43 bathrooms (built at a time when most didn't have a single bathroom indoors).
These were among many of the beautiful flowers, gardens and innumerable varities of plants
Main Dining Room
Library
Mr. Vanderbilt's Bedroom
Mrs. Vanderbilts Bedroom
The little town of Ashville was quite a happening place. It is one of the most popular retirement locations in the United States. It must also be home to a number of colleges because the downtown area was a bustle of activity with liberal arts people everywhere. The restaurants were all busy and the street musicians were out in force. We had a great meal on the pation of a little French restaurant.
We left Ashville and drove another 5 hours to Hilton Head Island. We traded a week of our time share for a condo near Sea Pines Plantation.
The Famous Lighthouse
The island was great; the beach was great; the food was great; the veg time was great; the alone time with Shawn was great; the weather was great, the water was warm, etc. etc. etc. We took our bikes and i'm glad we did, because the entire island is connected with bike paths. Part of the beach sand (when wet) is actually so fine and firm that you can ride your bike on it. That was pretty cool. It was a great, relaxing 5 days.
While there we took a half-day excursion to visit Savannah, Georgia. It reminded me a little of New Orleans, without all the drunks and adult entertainment. We took a trolley tour around the city for a couple of hours and enjoyed the scenery and the restored architecture.
The downtown area is built around 27 parks, each with a different memorial, feature, purpose
One of the parks
Typical Restored Home (Spanish Moss-Normal)
We left Hilton Head on Saturday morning and spent that day and most of Sunday traveling home to Columbus, with stops in Charleston, South Carolina, which was a marvelous city by the sea with block after block of beautifully restored homes. I could easily live there........9 months out of the year (skip the really hot/humid June, July and August). We stayed the night in Beckley, West Virginia and enjoyed two meals at Tamarac thanks to the chefs from The Greenbrier.
What a great trip this was. We loved hilton Head Island and plan to return as often as our travels permit.
