We made a quick stop to check out Cahill’s

Bluffton, SC, a farm offering impressively tasty looking fresh grown vegetables and a restaurant offering delicious smelling southern food.

https://cahillsmarket.com/

We drove through Bluffton, SC

a very quaint, upscale coastal town with lots of interesting restaurants. We definitely want to come back to spend some quality time here.

https://www.visitbluffton.org/

We decided to check out Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge

Hilton Head Island, SC ($0).

Come prepared as there are no facilities, water or shelter from the elements. There are palm trees, palmettos and oak trees covered in Spanish moss everywhere and a number of trails. The advantage to visiting at this time of year is that there will be far fewer biting bugs.

This is where we locked our keys in the car…

Lucky for us we have Roadside Assistance from Ford who were able to let us, finally, back into the car.

https://www.fws.gov/refuge/pinckney-island

After that experience we decided that we needed some good food to cheer us up

We went back to Publix for 6” subs to take to Coligny Beach. Yes, they are good enough to eat 2 days in a row and we appreciate that they are relatively cheap and healthy.

We went for a walk along the beach. There were other couples out walking (this is a heavily populated area) but not so many that you would feel crowded. There are some nice sitting areas and facilities by the entrance.

https://www.hiltonhead.com/coligny-beach-park/

Since this is our last night on the road for the next few weeks

and today did not go at all to plan we decided to get dessert from the Fresh Market and bring it back to the hotel while we waited for the rain to stop.

We checked into the Palmera Inn and Suites

Hilton Head, SC ($115) It’s a king size bed with a roomy sitting area, a full kitchenette with a breakfast area and a small balcony. Super nice. This is an extra good deal considering that several of the other hotels we looked at in the area are now charging $150 cleaning fees, even just for the one night, plus we’ll get $11 in credits towards future booking’s with Booking.com). I did find the bed a little bit too hard to be comfortable sleeping.

https://www.palmerainnandsuites.com/

Fortified by sugar, we headed back out in the rain

to drive around and look for Christmas Lights. We found a few shopping areas with good lights, a park and a neighborhood with really a good, unique display.