And this vacation was another winner. We all arrived on Saturday afternoon for check in. Our family left Friday night after Allison got home from her internship. She was able to make arrangements to have some time off by making up for the hours during the week, as well as reading a few books on women in business. She had already written her paper that was due for the internship and turned that in. She really only has to work 10 hrs/wk to fulfill the classwork, and she is working a 30 hr work week. So on Friday, I dropped off Cookie at our friends house, stopped in to say Hello to my mom, drop off her laundry and let her know we were going out of town. We stopped overnight in Fayatteville near Ft Bragg on the way down and arrived late in the afternoon on Saturday after picking up some groceries.
I guess Ellicott City made the weather news on Saturday July 30th
when a strong storm rolled through and dumped 7 inches of rain in 1hr. Old Town Ellicott City apparently was devastated. It sits at the top of a river and the town dips down towards it, so half of the town was under water. Shops and restaurants ruined, cars washed down the road and crashed into store fronts. Some of the cars floated down into the river with drivers inside! Two people actually died. And then the road buckled and collapsed. What a mess. In our neighborhood, there were spots with flooding along the roads to the point that some people had to be rescued from their cars along with power outages. Also flooded basements. Looks like our house sits up high enough and avoided the damage according to our neighbor who was watching the cat. But it sounds like a few sink holes are popped up. The neighborhood is already collecting donations to help out the town-cleaning supplies and funding to help anyone who lost their house as their are many people living over the shops, businesses and jobs in downtown EC. That little town sure has a history of big problems but I am certain it will make a comeback. We needed rain in Maryland, but not that much!
Meanwhile, we enjoyed our trip down South. It was a bit stormy Saturday night, but Sunday was clear and we all headed to church and the beach afterwards. The house sits just off the path down to the ocean at the North Side of the island so it is quick access. We also have our own pool which is nice for a quick dip or lazy float by the bar. We took a break during the heat of the day to see the new Star Trek movie which we all really enjoyed. We also enjoyed the movie theatre reclining seats and free popcorn refills. Sunday evening the whole family gathered to celebrate Thanksgiving! We had an incredible dinner thanks to Susan Potts planning skills. In the evening a few of us decided to take in an evening game of Putt Putt golf.
On Monday half of the family headed out for a deep sea fishing excursion on a large boat. It was primarily a boat ride as we did not catch anything but rocks on the reef below. But a beautiful day to be out on the water. Tom and the rest of the gang decided to visit Savannah, GA. They stopped into Paula Deen's restaurant for lunch and the kids gave everyone a historic walking tour while playing Pokemon Go!
On Tuesday our family enjoyed our bikes as we rode along the beach and then down to a local marina. We stopped off at World of Beer to sample their brews and enjoy a huge German pretzel and finished it off with an ice cream treat at Kilwins! Allison and Scott were excited to see this Michigan favorite ice cream and fudge shop and enjoy their Superman Ice Cream. Meanwhile, Eric Seitz had to drop his wife Sarah off at the airport. She was busy job hunting back in Indiana for teaching positions and wanted to get started before the new school year began. Unfortunately she was stuck at the airport all day waiting for her flight. It was delayed in Charlotte due to local tstorms. At least she enjoyed extra vacation days as Eric and Sarah arrived in Hilton Head the week before. That evening, Allison, John Potts and I tried an evening kayak trip in the bay. This was John's first kayaking experience. I may have won him over. We topped the night off with a firework show from the seat of our kayaks. What a wonderful, new experience! The weather was beautiful-cool and no bugs. The guide strapped a few glow sticks on the front of our kayaks to light our way. We just had to watch out for the bigger boats coming in to watch the fireworks in the marina as well. The rest of the family attempted to join us for the firework show, but it was difficult to find parking at the marina, so they went off to see the Ghostbusters movie instead.
On Weds, we planned an evening trip into Savannah to participate in a Ghost Pub Crawl to help Allison celebrate her 21st Bday. We spent the day shopping and beach combing. Late in the afternoon, we headed to Savannah for dinner in our favorite haunted pub, Moon River. We finally got to see the unfinished upstairs level(too haunted to open up to dinner guests) at the start of our tour. We missed the basement tour as it was closed for a private party. We all laughed nervously when the street lights outside the bar started flashing on and off as our guide spoke of the different souls haunting Moon River. Mark S decided to stay and enjoy their new outdoor Beer Garden while we wandered the streets of Savannah to visit 4 other bars. It was very hot and humid, even in the late evening. I was surprised at the number of Irish Bars in Savannah. One bar served over 75 different types of scotch, and the other bar was so tiny our group barely fit inside. Their specialty was whiskey with pickle juice shooters! Yuck! And of course, each place had a few ghosts. (Which we did not see). But we enjoyed the stories, the drinks and the tour. Scott was unable to join us as it was a 21 and over tour. He was actually not feeling well, so he stayed home in bed. Looks like he was catching a cold. Allison also was complaining that her allergies were kicking in down South. Too much something in the air.
On Thursday half of our fishing group decided to try our hand on a small boat. 6 of us headed out in the morning-Dad Seitz, Eric Seitz, myself, Allison and Scott and Susan P. We caught a few small tuna off the reef while trolling, and then headed in to the mouth of the bay for shark fishing. We were very excited to catch about 3 big sharks a piece, but they were not the right kind to eat so we had to throw them back. It was just fun reeling them in, although we stopped pulling the big ones into the boar(about 3ft long). ONe smacked Dad Seitz with his tail and gave him some good bruises on his legs. And they were very bitey! It was a beautiful morning and we all had a wonderful time out on the water with a terrific Captain. They even cleaned our fish and we spotted a few big dolphins near the pier begging for fish scraps. Later that day we planned on returning to Savannah to take Scott on a Haunted Walking Tour, but he was still not feeling well and we were all a bit too tired. We took Allison out to a Tiki Hut on the beach for some umbrella drinks and to do a little beach store shopping. Afterwards, it was an easy evening with dinner out at the Oyster Factory for the whole family, followed by a walk on the beach. Except I stepped into a huge hole up to my knee on the beach in the dark. I do not suggest doing this! I would rather have spotted a sea turtle like Mark! The turtle nests are all over the beach, but no hatchlings yet.
On Friday I spent the morning with Scott at the CVS Urgent care clinic. He had a fever, and he could no longer hear out of his ears. The cold medicine helped, but it looked like he was fighting an ear infection. We arrived early in the morning at the clinic, only to find several other people in front of us with ear infections. We decided to do some shopping before his appointment. Afterwards, we headed out with antibiotics and ear drops. I think I need to take stock in CVS Urgent Care! We then met up with a group to see the new Suicide Squad movie after lunch. Tom was able to download some free movie tickets. I thought the movie was fun and it included some cameos of Batman and the Flash along with all the bad guys. That evening we decided to try something new. A small group of us signed up for a 2.5 hr Jet Ski Boat tour, Craig Cats, in the bay. We had an evening ride, and all of us had an incredible time. The boats are 2 seaters, side by side. We didn't get too wet and we had a blast zipping around the waves and the bay. We spotted a few dolphins and stopped to rest to watch the sunset while sipping on a beer before heading in. What a fantastic new experience. Thank you to my newly skilled driver, Eric Seitz for taking the helm! Although he made me a little nervous around the turns. I was not in the mood to flip over, but they claim it is impossible to turn the boats(just nosedive into the waves). We had a great tour and even some time for free play. And we got to see where they filmed Forrest Gump for the water scenes and Vietnam. After our great boat ride we celebrated the evening with a pizza dinner.
We really enjoy the Seitz Family vacations and Hilton Head was a perfect place to visit. Looking forward to future trips together!
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