Last weekend Tanner and I took our first vacation as a married couple to Hilton Head Island, SC. Tanner plays in an amateur tour in Eastern NC and each year they hold the tour championship in Hilton Head. All of the GolfWeek tours from all over the country come together and have a major tournament with luncheons, club demos, etc. We got to meet some really cool people and even though I don't golf, it was actually pretty interesting. Overall there was about 800 golfers in the tournament, the youngest being only 12 years old! We left Thursday and it took us about 7 hours to make the trip down; we stopped a few times and really tried not to rush, we wanted to take our time.
Once we got checked in to the hotel, we unpacked and I started on my hair and makeup. I'd left fresh-faced and wet-headed that morning since we left at 7am. Ain't nobody got time to go full glitz for a 7 hour drive. Once I looked half-way decent we drove over to Port Royal golf club to register and check out the competition. I begged Tanner to let me take his picture and he finally agreed.
Once we registered we headed to Savannah, GA to have dinner with Tanner's cousin Hannah and her fiancé Jackson. Savannah was only about 40 minutes away and wasn't a bad drive at all. I really wanted to get more pictures of that night but all I got was a picture of the sunset while we were coming over the bridge. Maybe next time I'll remember to take more pics...
Friday was the first day of the tournament. We woke up at 6, met some of the other golfers at a diner for breakfast and I dropped Tanner off at the course he was supposed to play. I headed back to the hotel to take a shower and get dressed then off to the Tanger Outlets I went. I'd planned an entire day of shopping in each of the 132 stores and couldn't wait to get started. I'd even made a list of things I'd wanted to find: pants, sweaters and a new purse. Little did I know as soon as I walked into Kate Spade I would find exactly what I was looking for. I'd also picked the right day because everything was 40% and I got a 30% coupon from one of the employees at the door. For those of you who can't do math, that's a 70% discount. The bargain queen inside of me was doing cartwheels when I saw this porter bag. I ended up buying it for a total of 75% off of the original price. Yay bargains!
After Kate Spade I went over to Gap and got a sweater and, surprisingly, wasn't in the mood to shop anymore. I think I was still on a high from the deal I got at Kate Spade that I felt like I should maybe stop while I was ahead, because I probably wouldn't find a better bargain that day. Now that my bargain queen self was happy, I decided to take a walk on the wild side. I headed back to the course Tanner was playing and hopped on a golf cart while no one was looking (after giving myself a pep talk to do it in the women's lobby) and jetted off to find my golf lovin' husband.
I found him on the 7th hole and followed him for the last 3 (he started on 10, so he'd played a full 18) and managed to get some really good pictures of him! Once his round was over we headed back to Port Royal for lunch and to check out everyone's scores. Tanner didn't play his best, but he had such a good time and is already practicing for next year.
We went back to the hotel after lunch and he took a nap while I freshened up and watched a little tv. For dinner we went to Giuseppi's Pizza & Pasta (thanks for the suggestion, Hannah!) and it was so good that we actually ended up going back Sunday night for takeout.
Saturday Tanner played a different course so after I dropped him of there I went to explore the beach. The sand was hot and the water was warm. I couldn't believe how great the weather was for mid-October. I'll definitely make a point to spend a whole day at the beach if we come back next year.
Tanner called around 2 and I picked him up so we could go check out the scores. After that it was getting close to dinner so we decided to walk to an Asian restaurant from the hotel. It was an Asian buffet that had Thai, Chinese & Japanese food. It was pretty good for the price, nothing spectacular.
Sidenote: Why do Asian buffets always have jello on their dessert bars?
After dinner we walked another 2 blocks down the street to a Pirate themed Putt-Putt course. We played both courses and I can say with confidence that I kicked his butt on the first one. I got 3 hole-in-ones! By the second course I was over it so I goofed around while he worked on his putting game. We met a really nice couple from the UK who were both here on internships at golf clubs. They said so far, they loved the states, go figure!
Sunday was the last day of the tournament and I let Tanner take the car to breakfast and the club. I spent the day packing most of our stuff and finishing the second season of America Horror Story Asylum on Netflix. It felt so great to just relax and not do much of anything. Tanner picked me up around 2 and we went to see the final scores of the tournament. We hung around until about 5:30 for the closing ceremony where they passed out all of the trophies. After that we picked up our pizza and headed back to the hotel to chill out and finish packing.
Monday we hit the road around 8:30 and started the trip back. Instead of going down I-95, we decided to take the scenic route through Charleston and Myrtle Beach. We stopped for lunch in MB and Tanner went to a few golf stores but wasn't really impressed. We made it back about 6 that night and had dinner with my mom. I started some laundry, and went to bed, only to get back to the grind on Tuesday.
Overall, we had a great time. Even though I didn't do much while Tanner was golfing, it felt wonderful to just be away from work and the stress of every day life for a few days. I'm so thankful that we had the means to take our trip, especially because it made Tanner so happy. Now that it's over, time to start Christmas shopping!!
