Sunday, August 26, 2007

Thinking of going to Hilton Head, South Carolina?

There's something spectacular about southern beaches – and Hilton Head, SC is undoubtedly one of the finest beaches on the east coast. South Carolina has 187 miles of coast and Hilton Head Island is the largest barrier island, in fact Hilton Head is the second largest barrier island on the east coast.

I've always planned on retiring to a southern beach and my goal is to visit one southern beach each year until it's time to retire. We've spent a good deal of time at the Outer Banks of North Carolina and several years vacationing in Florida. It's time to start exploring Hilton Head South Carolina – and I've found an excellent source for information about Hilton Head, vacation rentals, oceanfront villas and real estate – www.islandgetaway.com. I was able to find a variety of oceanfront and near ocean homes to choose from. Each home has an assortment of pictures, a list of amenities and a calendar to check on the availability.

Unlike many other east coast beaches, Hilton Head, SC offers a milder climate year round. In addition to world class beaches – Hilton Head is known for its golf courses and there are over 20 public golf courses on Hilton Head.

South Carolina has miles of ocean front beaches and with out a doubt – our next vacation will be on Hilton Head, SC.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Ledgelawn Inn of Bar Harbor

Lizzie and I really had a wonderful time in Bar Harbor last week. It was a welcomed get away, even though we were already away. Just under a 3 hour drive from Lisbon, Maine where we were staying, the drive was very relaxing.
The Ledgelawn Inn is a huge old mansion that now serves as a Bed and Breakfast. Lizzie was not anticipating a great place, because it did have a vacancy when so many other places had none.
The bed in our Puffin room was very uncomfortable. It seemed like a really old mattress that they had placed a feather bed upon. Not having WiFi was another let down, but it did give us more of a reason to be out checking out Bar Harbor and the rest of Acadia Park.
Below is a video of me walking to get coffee in the morning. The outside of LedgeLawn Inn is visible at the beginning. I had made several other videos but this is the most suitable for the blog.
Our general opinion of the Ledgelawn Inn is that we would not stay here again because there are so many other places to stay.
Next time, Lizzie says she will not make reservations ahead of time if we are just coming up for a day or so, but will wait until we are in Bar Harbor to find lodging.
I myself would like to stay at the Bar Harbor Inn or one of the other places that are down closer to the water.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Maine Vacation:Bar Harbor


Lizzie was online for almost half an hour looking for places up north, and she finally found a place for tomorrow night at a Bed n Breakfast in Bar Harbor, which is about a four hour drive from our present location in Lisbon, Maine.
She was not able to use any of our affiliate programs(darn) because they don't have bead and breakfasts listed.


We are staying in the Puffin Room of the Ledgelawn Inn in Bar Harbor. I am sure we will have more to say about it, but Lizzie does not have high expectations, because it was available when nothing else was vacant.

Well anyways, we are looking forward to the drive north to Bar Harbor, and will certainly have a wonderful time.

Check out our Maine Vacation Pics on Flickr

Maine Vacation | Lobster Feast

Our weeklong vacation in Maine is halfway through, and we have had sea food of one type or another almost every day.Lobster and Clams
One night my bro and I went down to Lewiston and bought lobsters and clams at Gendrons Seafood. Altogether, we got 17 lobsters and 17lbs of clams.
It was some good eating for sure. I had not had lobsters for quite a few years, and was only able to eat a little under 3 before stopping. I also was a bit rusty on what parts to eat and what not too eat. I did remember not to eat the brain, but cleaning the tail slipped by me on my first one.
The steamers, which I polished off a couple of plates worth, were quite tasty as well. Once I remembered to rinse them in hot water I was golden.

Lizzie, who is not a seafood fan, had a taste of my lobster, but was happy to eat crab cakes. She did have half of a lobster roll, which is lobster and mayo on a toasted roll.
Other Seafood meals other than lobster included haddock platters at LL Beans in Freeport, and Fish n Chips, and clam chowder at a place in Portland. But the Lobster feast tops the meals that we have had since being here in Maine.

Friday, August 10, 2007

Maine Vacation

Lizzie, my brother, and myself are heading to Maine on Saturday night to visit relatives and check out the scenery. My brother talked us into going, since I have not been up to see my Dad's side of the family in quite a few years.

While there, we are also planning on attending the Great Falls Balloon Festival
which starts on the 18th and runs through the 20th.

Other activities include working(we will be bringing computers), swimming, eating lobsters and clams, and visiting the LL Bean outlet. We may do a few other things while there, but this is going to be an unorganized vacation.

Further Maine Vacation postings will follow.

Rehoboth Beach - Brighton Suites

Rehoboth Beach
Lizzie and I had a short little trip with her daughter to Rehoboth Beach. We left for the beach on Monday morning about 630am, and were at the Rehoboth by 11am. The day started out raining, and upon arriving at Rehoboth, it seemed to clear up quite a bit. Since it was raining we started out our Rehoboth trip by visiting the Factory Outlets that line Rt 1 outside of Rehoboth. We both got shoes at the Clarks outlet store, and Lizzie also bought a cook book at the hot sauce outlet.
Being we had Lizzie's daughter and her daughter's friend a long, once the sun started showing its head, they started bugging us about heading out to the beach.
At the beach, we were greeted with a 72 degree ocean, with high tide at about 330pm. The waves were really small at about 2' to 3' ft, but occasionally a big one would catch us by surprise and throw us about.

At 330pm, we were then able to check into our room at Brighton Suites Hotel, which is about a block and half away from the beach and located in the middle of Rehoboth's shopping district. Many restaurants are with a block of the Brighton Suites, so food choices were plentiful.Brighton Suites - Rehoboth Beach
The hotel also has a pool, small fitness center, and restaurants in the same building.

Brighton Suites Hotel has beach chairs and beach umbrellas for their visitors to use for free. In addition to this, another great feature for the beach going guests are changing rooms and a shower for use after the beach which can be used before check-in and check-out. We did not take advantage of the chairs or umbrella, but we most certainly did take advantage of the shower before heading back home.

The hotel does not have the newest furnishings, but it was more than adequate, and far superior to some 2 to 3 star hotels that we have visited. One superior feature about BrightonSammy's Kitchen Suites is that the entire hotel is non-smoking(applause).
Our room had a king size bed, with another room for the girls that had its own TV and a sleeper sofa that house keeping came and made around 8pm.

While the girls were eating their dinner we got from Sammy's Kitchen(Chicken fingers and Fries), Lizzie and dined across the street at Cafe Zeus.
Cafe Zeus has gourmet cuisine at its finest, and a mighty fine cheese cake that won the best Cheesecake award in a Rehoboth Chocolate Festival. Lizzie agreed that it was a mighty fine cheese cake. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera that evening because the dinners were artistic master pieces that tasted as good as they looked. Lizzie and I both would visit the friendly Cafe Zeus again. Next time I am going to have to try their Absinthe, just because it seems so sinful.

Other restaurants that we ate at during our short beach trip included Thrasher Fries(the girls), Grotto Pizza, Louie's Pizza, and Sammy's Kitchen.

Several stores that we stopped at included all the five and dimes on the board walk, but in particual we liked Ryan's Gems and Junk. We also stopped in at the Zach's Deli and Convenience shop numerous times for drinks.

In spite of all the people at the beach(the most Lizzie had seen in twenty some years), we both would still visit Rehoboth again. Lizzie loved the town because it was so artsy, I just liked it for its family atmosphere.


Be sure to check out the Rehoboth Beach Picture set.

Got any good Rehoboth stories, let us know.