Hilton Head

So over July 4th weekend a group of our cousins decided to plan a trip to Savannah. After some review of schedules and a date chosen we quickly realized Savannah was going to be a bit pricey. SO this really cool cousin (who travels to the beach quite a bit) offered to plan the trip to Hilton Head for this past weekend. It only took about 137 e-mails to organize the trip. Unfortunately the really cool cousin, Kristi, had a co-worker who bailed on her at the last minute and so she had to stay and WORK instead of going to the beach. That really sucked. But the rest of us plowed ahead. Below are the things we learned on our trip.

• When 7 people plan a trip to the beach and are really excited about going - its will rain the ENTIRE weekend.
• When 6 people get up and get ready and go to the beach even though the sky is black - 15 minutes after they get situated on the beach the bottom will drop out of the sky and it will down pour like a monsoon for the next 4 hours.
• Kristi can not be guilted into driving 2 hours and 45 minutes in the rain to be stuck in a condo with us - I can't imagine why. She will check the forecast on her own - so there's no use in trying to lie and say the weather's nice.
• Rick is a registered OBGYN expert and is an official guide for the laws and quirks of South Carolina.
• The H.H.I.B.T resort will hand you a 300 page restaurant book if you ask "where's a good place to eat, we aren't familiar with Hilton Head".
• There are many restaurants located along New Orleans street - it took Tad & Rick 30 minutes of reading the 300 page book and riding in the car to realize that. This was a fact Kelly & I had pointed out after a 30 second review of the book before we pulled out of the H.H.I.B.T. resort - but boys are slow learners. We never found New Orleans street.
• When Tad has been up for over 36 hours - all meals he has consumed in that time counts as "today's meals" and thus that type of food or restaurant is automatically nixed - like Ribs & BBQ.
• Rick really likes Greek food and highly recommends "It's All Greek to Me" restaurant - even though he's never eaten there.
• When Kelly's craving american local tavern food and a vodka tonic she will end up ordering a quesadilla and a beer (I think this rule only applies when she's been worn down by riding aimlessly in the car with me, Tad & Rick for an hour).
• Kelly can stretch a quesadilla ordered at dinner on Friday to light lunch and a late night snack on Saturday. She would have had some more to eat on Sunday if Rick hadn't finished it off.
• When Rick says he has a tick he really means he has a nasty piece of something stuck to his arm.
• We will forever use the phrase "Hey... when did this happen?" when refering to Rick & Kelly's relationship and marriage.
• Rick loves Sticky Fingers and South Carolina BBQ. For the record, Jim & Nick's BBQ doesn't serve South Carolina BBQ. They serve Alabama BBQ - however their hostess isn't aware of this information.
• Kimberly loves to fill out comment cards and isn't afraid to be honest. For example, if a restaurant's hostess isn't aware of the type of food they serve in the restaurant she's working in - that will be noted on the comment card.
• If you eat at Jim & Nick's BBQ ask for Steve as your server - he's really good.
• Julie loves Spanky's and it was the highlight of her trip.
• Our review of the food at the H.H.I.B.T. resort cabanna bar goes like this - the cheese sticks are pretty good, the chicken fingers are a good value, the nachos were probably really good last week, the wings are NOT naked and really not that good.
• When six people have planned a trip to the beach and then get stuck inside a condo because it is raining they will devise their own way of having fun - like hitting marshmellows with a tennis raquet at eachother and at objects outside. For the record it was Julie's idea to stuff cheetos in the marshmellows before hitting them back at the boys.
• The security guard at H.H.I.B.T. resort doesn't know why Rick can't get a cell phone signal.
• Elliott & Kimberly proved that both men & women look good in seersucker pants.
• The Crazy Crab at Harbour Town is pretty good. However if you order the seafood platter like Elliott did - you will begin to throw up about an hour after you eat until you've thrown up all your food and part of your small intestine. But hey, if you're wearing seersucker pants you still look "hot" throwing up.
• When you have food poisoning the thought of eating a handful of salt or drinking peppermint water (Rick's suggestions for nausea) doesn't make you feel better.
• At 1:45 am "Last Call" at the H.H.I.B.T. resort Pirate bar not only means last call for any type of drink, but also means last call for quarters and pool games - even if its a tie breaker.
• If you choose to report a group of drunk people who just left the H.H.I.B.T resort bar, got in their cars and drove off - to the security guards they will inform you that their jurasdiction at the H.H.I.B.T. resort doesn't include the front parking lot. They do however watch drunk people leave the bar, get in their cars and drive away every night. We were stumped as to why anyone would go to this bar if they weren't staying in the resort - but who knows.
• Rick had a serious studdering problem when he was young, so d..dd..ddd...don't ask him about it (he's really sensitive).
• At some point over the weekend we all picked up saying "Oh Snap" which Kelly finds really annoying.
• The picture below is why I feel really unphotogetic after I joined the Thompson family. Notice me - it took a few pictures to get one this decent - in all of them I am fully aware I am being photographed and looking at the camera. Now look at Julie in the background- a perfect picture of her when she isn't even paying attention to the camera! Seriously you can NOT take a bad picture of this girl (meanwhile it takes a million takes to get an "alright" one of me). I'm just glad my kids have her genes.