Hilton Head Residency Part 3: Arriving in Hilton Head
We left my sister's house in Atlanta after breakfast on Monday, January 2 and drove east toward Savannah before turning north into Hilton Head and my first ever visit to South Carolina.
Our only major stop along the way was to stretch our legs and do a little walking at Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park outside Macon. There we took a nice short Birdie-friendly walk which allowed us to walk past the Earth Lodge to the Great Temple Mound. It was unpleasantly warm even in January, and despite the nice flat paved path I was still happy to return to the car.
We got into Hilton Head in the early evening. M had found us a nice condo to rent for a month in the Shipyard Plantation on Hilton Head. In this case, "Plantation" means "gated community" with the inevitable golf course(s) attached. Our condo was on the end of the building and a first floor master suite with a really great walk-in shower and two more bedrooms with attached bathrooms upstairs. The pool was understandably closed for January, but the beach was an easy 10 minute walk away. It worked quite nicely for our purposes, but I don't think I'd like living there, as anything aside from the beach required driving, often a substantial amount despite the short distances.
For the remainder of our trip, I used roll over PTO to have a three day weekend every week. While I was working from the kitchen table, M took Birdie out to do various daytime activities like beaches, nature centers, playgrounds and the like. After work I sometimes wandered out to the beach. We took longer weekend jaunts.
It turns out that when you're already working remotely, working remotely from a new location is pretty much the same as working remotely from your own home. The biggest difference was that after work the necessary chores were limited to cooking and clean up, laundry, groceries, and a small amount of house cleaning. Everything else was not my problem to deal with, so I did have more free time in the evenings than I would at home, which I mostly used for reading or walking on the beach.
The skies were consistently very sunny, something that never happens in January at home. The temperature fluctuated wildly, from seventy degrees down to forty degrees and back, but usually held steady in the high fifties / low sixties. M and Birdie were able to spend most days outside. One other thing we noticed is that it feels very dark on Hilton Head at night. Sea turtles nest on Hilton Head, and when they hatch they head toward the closest light source, which prior to humans was usually the moon on the ocean. In order to keep them from being confused, Hilton Head has made a major effort to cut back on artificial light visible from the beaches, and since the entire island is ringed with beaches, this effectively means that the entire island has far fewer street lights (and less bright ones) than our area in Cleveland. I actually really preferred it, but M found it challenging to drive at night at times. It was definitely noticeable.
In addition to the beach near our condo, M took Birdie to several other beaches during our visit. M's favorite beach was Fish Haul Beach, which is on the northeastern end of the island. The prevailing currents here make it a good island for seashells, and depending on the tidal levels it could have tidal pools or long stretches of sand.
When the beach didn't appeal, there was a really great playground near our condo complete with a giant pirate ship, and boardwalks over the water. Fun note: Hilton Head has alligators. I hadn't realized that they could handle the colder weather north of Florida, but they absolutely can. We saw a few in Shipyard Plantation sunning themselves on the golf course on nice days, but it was generally too cold for them to be very active. We still kept a very close eye on Birdie near the water, just in case.
One other attraction that M found in our first week was the Coastal Discovery Museum, which long ago was the hunting lodge for a rich man from New York City and is now a well preserved piece of nature whose hunting lodge has been turned into a museum. It's affiliated with the Smithsonian. There are boardwalks over the marshes, flower gardens, live oaks and plenty of things to see. I would visit with M and Birdie later in the trip and enjoyed it greatly.
From January 3 to January 6, I worked during the day. M and Birdie checked out the island - it turns out Birdie LOVES the beach. We cooked our own meals. And then on Saturday, January 7, it was time to do a road trip.
Our only major stop along the way was to stretch our legs and do a little walking at Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park outside Macon. There we took a nice short Birdie-friendly walk which allowed us to walk past the Earth Lodge to the Great Temple Mound. It was unpleasantly warm even in January, and despite the nice flat paved path I was still happy to return to the car.
We got into Hilton Head in the early evening. M had found us a nice condo to rent for a month in the Shipyard Plantation on Hilton Head. In this case, "Plantation" means "gated community" with the inevitable golf course(s) attached. Our condo was on the end of the building and a first floor master suite with a really great walk-in shower and two more bedrooms with attached bathrooms upstairs. The pool was understandably closed for January, but the beach was an easy 10 minute walk away. It worked quite nicely for our purposes, but I don't think I'd like living there, as anything aside from the beach required driving, often a substantial amount despite the short distances.
For the remainder of our trip, I used roll over PTO to have a three day weekend every week. While I was working from the kitchen table, M took Birdie out to do various daytime activities like beaches, nature centers, playgrounds and the like. After work I sometimes wandered out to the beach. We took longer weekend jaunts.
It turns out that when you're already working remotely, working remotely from a new location is pretty much the same as working remotely from your own home. The biggest difference was that after work the necessary chores were limited to cooking and clean up, laundry, groceries, and a small amount of house cleaning. Everything else was not my problem to deal with, so I did have more free time in the evenings than I would at home, which I mostly used for reading or walking on the beach.
The skies were consistently very sunny, something that never happens in January at home. The temperature fluctuated wildly, from seventy degrees down to forty degrees and back, but usually held steady in the high fifties / low sixties. M and Birdie were able to spend most days outside. One other thing we noticed is that it feels very dark on Hilton Head at night. Sea turtles nest on Hilton Head, and when they hatch they head toward the closest light source, which prior to humans was usually the moon on the ocean. In order to keep them from being confused, Hilton Head has made a major effort to cut back on artificial light visible from the beaches, and since the entire island is ringed with beaches, this effectively means that the entire island has far fewer street lights (and less bright ones) than our area in Cleveland. I actually really preferred it, but M found it challenging to drive at night at times. It was definitely noticeable.
In addition to the beach near our condo, M took Birdie to several other beaches during our visit. M's favorite beach was Fish Haul Beach, which is on the northeastern end of the island. The prevailing currents here make it a good island for seashells, and depending on the tidal levels it could have tidal pools or long stretches of sand.
When the beach didn't appeal, there was a really great playground near our condo complete with a giant pirate ship, and boardwalks over the water. Fun note: Hilton Head has alligators. I hadn't realized that they could handle the colder weather north of Florida, but they absolutely can. We saw a few in Shipyard Plantation sunning themselves on the golf course on nice days, but it was generally too cold for them to be very active. We still kept a very close eye on Birdie near the water, just in case.
One other attraction that M found in our first week was the Coastal Discovery Museum, which long ago was the hunting lodge for a rich man from New York City and is now a well preserved piece of nature whose hunting lodge has been turned into a museum. It's affiliated with the Smithsonian. There are boardwalks over the marshes, flower gardens, live oaks and plenty of things to see. I would visit with M and Birdie later in the trip and enjoyed it greatly.
From January 3 to January 6, I worked during the day. M and Birdie checked out the island - it turns out Birdie LOVES the beach. We cooked our own meals. And then on Saturday, January 7, it was time to do a road trip.