The Inn at Palmetto Bluff

Over the 4th of July weekend, Matt and I got to take a little getaway trip to one of the most amazing places we've ever been! The name of the resort is called The Inn at Palmetto Bluff. Matt found it on Trip Advisor's top 10 hotels in the US for 2013. I mentioned in my travel post not too long ago that Trip Advisor is one our favorite sites for researching trips. It is GREAT!

The funny thing though, is that Matt was actually on their website looking up two places I had found in St. Thomas for us to go for our vacation. Since he's better at the review-reading part, I left him with the job of picking which place looked better out of the two I had narrowed it down to.

So when he came back to me and said he found a place that he thought we would like even better, I said, "Great! Where is it?!"

And then he said, "It's is Bluffton, South Carolina."

"Blufton, South Carolina! Wait. Blufton, SC? ...Okay, give me one sec, I was thinking a little more tropical... kinda had the Virgin Islands on the brain... never actually heard of Blufton, SC..."

So then Matt proceeded to laugh and tell me I just had to look at the place and read some of the reviews.

And OH. MY. was I sold. Virgin Islands could stay on our list of places we want to visit because this place looked amazing!

And the best part? We could bring the pup. :) In fact, when Matt called to book the place, they asked us what our puppy's name was and if he would prefer a small bed or a large bed- HA! That was just the beginning of the service and hospitality we experienced in our too-short stay.

There is a 4 miles drive after the entrance that takes you to the resort

They gave us a CD to listen to for the drive

These were people that lived there and were welcoming us to the place. One lady described exactly where her house was, shutter color and all, in case we wanted to stop by during our stay- ha!

This is where we ate breakfast both mornings and lunch on our first day. Three words- sweet. potato. fries. aMAZing!

There they are- that little dipping sauce will change your life.

Everywhere we went, they would bring Tally out fresh cold water.

Little buddy was pooped by the time we were ready to finish our check-in and head to our room.

Getting a ride on the golf cart to our cottage

Our Cottage:

Our two bikes that came with our cottage- love riding bikes. :)

Our luggage had already been taken to our cottage, and Tally's dog crate was set up for us when we arrived.

All of this was complimentary, including the flavored waters and teas in the mini fridge. They even had half-and-half for the coffee in the morning!

I heard angels singing when I walked in this bathroom.

The shower had three shower heads and doubled as a steam room. 

Trying to get a pic of the shower seat and the ceiling faucet

Screened in porch

backyard 

Snuck this shot of Matt- he must have felt inspired to practice his golf swing ;)

Tally's doggy bed with a list of available amenities for the little guy. ;)

If you know Matt, you know the apple and orange were gone in the first 15 minutes. If you know me, you know the wine was opened that night. ;)

Bike tour for just the two of us while Tally napped in the cottage :)

The special Matt got us included a massage for me and a round of golf for him, so we went to check out both spots on our little tour.

The Spa

We hung out for a little bit at the spa... those white things in the background are birds- they call that little area Bird Island because there are always tons of birds there.

We found this fun playground with a zip line and decided we would love to bring our kids back one day... after we read the weight limit for the zip line and realized we couldn't try it ourselves.

Bocce Ball

Basketball

hahah... I found this in the cheese and wine shop and couldn't help but laugh after our trip two weeks ago!

One of the two pools- this one is for families.

One of the houses we said we'd be okay living in (understatement) ...yes, we decided to do a tour-of-homes on our little bike outing. :)

Dinner Night One:

Enjoying our complimentary wine before dinner. :)

I had to... we had the fan on above us but I just loved the idea of a glass of wine and a fire

Heading out to the Canoe Club for our first dinner

What I would give to eat this again RIGHT now. The cheese grits and spinach were SO good with the salmon! And those two little dishes are two separate dipping sauces for the salmon. Oh how I love a good dipping sauce. Or two.

Matt's meal... I should not have attempted to finish this post before making dinner. Brutal.

Saturday Morning:

Would you look at the sunrise over the water?! 

We I enjoyed coffee time on the porch. Matt still enjoyed it, just minus the coffee. Why do I want him to like coffee so bad? Is that normal? And, of course, Tally enjoyed it too, also minus the coffee.

So something must have scared the little guy while he was exploring in the bushes because he suddenly came running in and jumped up on my lap and started licking my face! Little buddy... probably saw his first chipmunk. In that case, maybe he was coming to tell me because he knew I'd be excited.

So then we set out on a little morning walk...

These were stationed all over the resort- with bags on one side and a little container on the other... very convenient!

If you can't tell, we took our phones for most of our outings, so the pictures aren't as great, but how pretty is that water?! (Yes, we live in the city... it doesn't take much nature to excite us)

Breakfast at Buffalos. I decided against the sweet potato fries again since it was breakfast, but it was hard.

Tally telling me he's not ready to wake up yet. :)

Kayaking:

On our way... now that's an outfit. Matt actually laughed when he saw me and wanted to take this picture. haha- I was going for practical not fashionable- I needed shoes for kayaking in case we got out on the rocks (that's what the concierge said- safety first), needed the hat to block the sun, and needed the bathing suit for after kayaking. So, yeah, that's how this look was born.

Matt's obviously so much cooler than I am.

A close up look at Bird Island

a TURTLE! I love turtles.

Did you know you can take panoramic shots with an iPhone?! I didn't til this little kayaking trip- pretty cool!

The Pool:

This is the adults-only pool

Pool-side buffet

Corn hole before heading back to pick up the pup

Tally's first bike ride:

What a little love!

Dropping me off at the spa for my massage!

A fancy smancy robe and comfy sandals- no one was in the room, but I probably would have taken this shot anyway. I don't take complimentary massages lightly.

Another fire as I sat with my neck warmer and flavored water and some kind of peach cookie. Just a typical day for me. ;)

After my massage, Matt and Tally came back to pick me up (even though I had my own bike, haha), and the ladies wanted Tally to come in and visit. He ate it up...

...and decided he didn't want to leave with us. We'll blame it on the heat. 

Love this little guy! Look at that face (his, not mine)

And off we went back to our cottage! Such a dream world. Gah, I want to go back!

We dropped Tally off for a nap and went to the pool for a little while before our next adventure...

A Mercedes?! For us?! Ummm, okay

So here's the deal. The resort has a partnership with Mercedes Benz where the dealership gives the resort their newest line of car for the guests to take out during their stay. Had we stayed longer, we could have taken the car out for the whole day, driven to Hilton Head, shopped, ate, and returned to the resort that night. But since we were only there for three days, we wanted to fit as much in as possible during out stay. So we just took it out for an hour. Such a fun hour it was! 

The funny thing is I was just taking in the views when Matt was driving and didn't really think I was all that in to the whole sports-car-thing... and then I got in the driver's seat...

And no, I did not strip... although this picture totally looks like I took the whole go-out-for-a-joy-ride to a whole new level.

We stopped and took some pictures...

...and then it started raining. We weren't entirely paying attention to the part about how to put the top back up during our short tutorial, but we managed to figure it out.

This is Blue- one of our favorite workers on the property

Fire, wine, and cracker, night two :) 

We had another delicious dinner, this time at the River House Restaurant- I don't think there's a bad meal at any of the restaurants!

Our last day:

Tally letting us know he wasn't quite ready for a morning walk

While Matt played his golf round, I went to the pool and then starting packing up for checkout.

I think he realized we were going to leave soon- love that face. :)

After checkout, Tally and I went to sit outside under the trees. I read a book while he enjoyed his first ham bone. :)

Then we went to pick up Matt from the golf course! He said it was one of the best experiences of his life- ha! Love it. It was apparently the nicest course he ever played, and he had a personal caddy for the entire round! He said he felt like he was on the PGA Tour. :)

We had one last meal at the River House restaurant before heading out around 5:30. 

Tally was just as sad to leave as we were

Car Pics:

Love this sleeping position- haha, what a cutie :)

Pit stop for the pup :)

All I can say is GO to this place! Such a great getaway... I cannot wait to go back one day!