My friend and I drove down most of the way on Friday night and stayed in a huge hotel room. The bathroom alone was bigger than the office I share with 4 other people. Huge. And the breakfast the next morning was great.
We drove the rest of the way on Saturday and met up with my Former Co-Worker and his beautiful wife and their little girl. The condo we stayed at was pretty nice on the surface – plenty of room, nice view, washer/dryer, etc. But there were a lot of little things that were broken or damaged or didn’t work quite right that made us suspect that it had been a while since a maintenance crew had done a careful inspection. Not enough to disrupt the trip, but just a little… off.
The walk to the beach was only a few minutes – not bad even when loaded up with all the usual beach gear – though a little long when bleeding from a Kraken attack.
The island itself was… pretentious. All the business signs were small and tasteful – which made finding anything a chore. Some areas were gated and required a fee to even drive on that part of the island. Others would fine you for straying off the approved driving paths. It made the island pretty, but felt a little “better than thou” The worst was the gatepass – a story that ties into the story of the wedding.
See, my friend’s friend was getting married and she rearranged her Hilton Head Island wedding to accommodate when he was going to be there. So, we got wrapped in the trials and tribulations of the least organized bride ever. She invited us out to dinner the night before the wedding, but since this was after the rehearsal dinner, we wisely chose to eat beforehand. My friend and I were pretty much ‘on call’ waiting to hear back from her about dinner and it didn’t happen until 9:00. We split a dessert while the rest of the crew ate and called it a night when the jovial server (who called herself Aunt Pam), finally decided to bring the checks around.
The wedding was supposed to start at 7:00 the next day and we had been asked to arrive at 6:30 – and to dress in white shirts, black pants, and black shoes. Now, I balked a little at that – who wants to bring dress clothes on vacation? – but we were ready to go in plenty of time and headed out.
And got stopped at the gate. No guest pass, you see. We drove around this loop looking for the main gate, getting madder by the moment at the lack of signs and found another gate. No good, we were turned away and given vague directions. Finally found the well hidden main gate and security office and asked for a pass. We had to give the address, confirm that it was rental property, and indicate how long we were going to be there before getting a guest pass for the evening. I joked to my friend that the way we were dressed suggested that we might be the infamous “bus boy bandits” out for another raid.
Finally got to the wedding site and it wasn’t until 7:30 before things started. And… it was a very nice ceremony. The officiator was well spoken and the backyard venue with the lagoon was pretty. My friend and I – in our matching outfits – were apparently the only ones that got the memo. We were also the only guests, everyone else was in the wedding – including the brother-in-law of the bride in sneakers and a nice bowling shirt. (Really? Yes, really.)
After the wedding it was out to dinner at the Old Oyster Factory restaurant. We had eaten beforehand and it was a good thing, the food was crazy expensive. Two appetizers and drinks were over $40.00. The guy sitting next to me got a meal that I’m sure would have require a second mortgage if I’d ordered it. It was after 10:30 before we got out of there and made our way back to the condo. Everyone was really nice and it was an okay – if really long evening. Oh, and the one kid our table for dinner kept requesting origami and then kept crumpling them or unfolding them. I was able to salvage a few and I know they don’t last, but sheesh! Enjoy them for a few minutes before you savage them, okay?