summer 2025 June 20-25 Hilton Head Island

 We arrived on Hilton Head Island, Beaufort County, South Carolina in the evening on Thursday, June 19 after our campus visit at North Carolina State University.

Friday, June 20 - full beach day

Saturday, June 21 - beach time, boys played 18 holes at the Robert Trent Jones Oceanfront Golf Course at Palmetto Dunes.  They had their best golfing experience ever. 

We had a birding date at the Audubon Newhall Preserve while the boys were golfing.  We saw / heard 13 species of birds: cardinals, red belly woodpecker, downy woodpecker, great blue heron, vulture, black capped chickadees, tufted titmice, eastern bluebirds, eastern towhee, anhinga, yellow rumped warbler, and morning dove and barred owl calls.  Also saw a few turtles and an unidentified water snake. 

Family pickleball game in the evening!

Sunday, June 22 - I played an early morning round of disc golf at The Graveyard, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. It was a converted ball golf course.  The course is a par 61 and 7,000 feet.  The overwhelming highlight was stumbling onto a red shouldered hawk enjoying his prey.  The course was great, loved the layout and opportunity to play some long open holes and a couple tight water holes.  I threw 66. 

We went to the beach in the afternoon and then went out for seafood!

Monday, June 23 was another sunny day. Family went shopping and I played disc golf again. Shaved three off my score. We spent the afternoon at the beach and grabbed local pizza for dinner. 

Tuesday, June 24 was our last day and it turned out we didn't have any rain the whole trip. We went to the Harbour Town Light House, Sea Pines Plantation, Hilton Head Island. We also had another great afternoon / evening at the beach. 

Wednesday, June 25 was a travel day.  Here we are in North Carolina.