5/10/2014
Coastal Nature Discovery Tour
The resort has a variety of activities and excursions which can be reserved by either calling the activities line from your room (dialing 42) or by visiting the Broad Creek Rentals window down by the pool. An overview of the activities can be found in the weekly newsletter that is available at check-in from the Live Oak Lodge. The daily breakdown is also listed on the activity board outside of Broad Creek Merchantile. After an easy phone call, we were all set up to do the Coastal Discovery Nature Walk. We were told to meet at the campfire pit about 20 minutes before the departure time (at 1:30pm). While we waited, we signed up for more activities at the recreation window and then proceeded to start a game of corn hole. My parents dominated us and ended up being winning the game.
The recreations cast member, Robin, walked up as our game ended and introduced herself. She said that another family had cancelled, so it was just going to be our small group going with her. We followed her to the far end of the resort and loaded into a van. We did some small talk, introducing ourselves, where we were from, that it was our first visit, ect. She shared how long she had been living in South Carolina and what kind of activities she does for Disney. She was very friendly, personable, knowledgable, and accommodating. A short ride later, we arrived at the Coastal Discovery Museum located on Honey Horn Plantation.
The plantation property was absolutely gorgeous. The museum house itself seems like it had been recently renovated and displayed a lot of information on the island, native plant and animal species, Gullah history, the plantation itself, and more. We were able to spend as much time as we wanted in the museum and went at our own pace. Overall, we probably wandered for about 30 or 40 minutes through the three exhibit rooms.
After we finished with the museum itself, Robin took us outside to see the rest of the property. We started by going out on the little boardwalk behind the house. It was low tide right next to the walk, so we were able to see hundreds of tiny barnacles and periwinkle snails clinging on to the swamp grasses.
From there, we continued to walk the whole way around the plantation.
The overall tour lasted about 2 hours. It was warm that day and we did a lot of walking, but Robin let us take it slow. It was such a beautiful place and this experience helped immerse us into the South Carolina Low Country. Wanna know an added bonus? This tour was absolutely
free. Yep, included in the resort stay!
We headed back to the van and thought we'd be going back to Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort, but Robin asked if we wanted to take a pit stop to see if we could spot some gators. Of course we jumped at the chance! We were taken to Jarvis Creek Park and headed down to the pond. Sure enough, small gators were gliding through the water.
The other neat thing about the park is that it has a ginormous live oak tree. Look closely behind those long, low branches
That's the trunk!
After admiring so many wonderful things, Robin took us back to the resort and we said our goodbyes. We were so impressed that she was able to spend so much time with us and tailor the experience to our interests. If any of you want to learn just a little more history about Hilton Head Island, this is a great excursion!
We ended our day by going out to dinner at One Hot Momma's. This came highly recommended through some of the users in the Facebook group I follow, so we thought we'd try it out!
Chocolate Ribs
Hand-pulled Pork
Had to try the Chocolate Ribs
we're all about novelty food items. Sounds gross, but it was great. Overall, One Hot Momma's had good BBQ. (Although, I'm spoiled and have sampled BBQ from many parts of the US, so I'm not sure if it was
the best). I actually think Chris' brisket was better tasting than the pulled-pork. The cornbread was delicious, so we ordered extra of that.
After dinner, we stopped by the Merchantile to pick up Mickey Ice Cream Bars for dessert. From there, we went back to our villa, changed into pjs, and ended the day by watching Frozen. My parents had not seen it yet, so we had to fix that problem.
Frozen treats!
It had been a long, fun-filled day. Immediately after the movie had ended, we all went to bed!
To be continued