We woke up at 7:00am, packed up and drove to the front to check out. When I say packed up, we only brought in the bags we needed, so it doesn’t take us long. Since there was a Denny’s out front, we decided to pass up the free continental breakfast for a real breakfast. We finished and were on the road by 9:00. There were a lot of cars on the road, what I’d call a steady stream of traffic, but we moved along nicely. I drove through North Carolina and continued until we stopped for lunch at 12:30pm. At this point, we were well into South Carolina. We found a travel plaza off one of the exits and ate at the Blimpies. After we finished, Judy took over the driving, since I was getting tired and had developed a slight headache.

    We made good time to exit 8 and were at Hilton Head by 4:30pm. This exit wasn’t there when we went in ’96, but we knew it was being built. What a difference it makes. The CM who checked us in was Krisztina and I quickly took note of the pin-laden lanyard hanging around her neck. There was a cute Minnie’s cheerleader pin that caught my eye, but since my stuff was still packed, I made a mental note to come back later and trade her for it.

    We didn’t get one of the buildings I had requested. I asked for one of the buildings around the pool, or building 18, which faces the marina, but we got building 16, room 1612, which also faces the marina and was just as good a choice.

    We settled in and unpacked, then went to Scott’s Fish Market for dinner. It was quiet, maybe only two other tables were occupied. I think there was a party in the back room. I had the mahi mahi special, Judy had the salmon, Seth had the grilled tuna and the girls split a pasta primavera. When my entree arrived, it was mahi mahi, but not the special. It was the choice from the regular menu. The server, Paul, offered to correct it, but it looked good, so I told him not to bother. In addition, it turned out to be as good as it looked. As we were finishing up, Judy asked something about the Piggly Wiggly and Paul warned us that most stores close early in the off season. Therefore, Judy and the girls left Seth and me, to finish eating and pay. After paying, Seth and I walked back to the resort. First I stopped at Live Oak Lodge and made my first trade, trading one of my Snow White pins with Krisztina for the Minnie pin I saw earlier. I was hooked. Then we went to Broadcreek Mercantile. I bought a lanyard for my pins and we went back to the room.

    I had promised Judy to tape Chicago Hope for her, thinking it was new. For some reason, the VCR was not connected to the TV, nor plugged in. Seth hooked everything up, but we missed the beginning. I was saved by the fact that it turned out to be a repeat.