USA

As I am a Marriott hotel credit card holder, I sometimes prioritize staying with this hotel chain as a means to rack up points and qualified stays to leverage them into future, grand vacations. 

So when we saw that Marriott had a resort on the beach in Hilton Head Island (a truly prime location on the beach and perhaps the biggest property as well), we knew what we had to do. We snatched up a partial ocean view room and planned for a nice long weekend right on the water.

While we do think this one is a fair bit expensive for what you get (granted, everything is expensive in Hilton Head), if accessibility to the ocean is of utmost importance to you, the Mariott Hilton Head Resort & Spa will not let you down.

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Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge is a 4,053-acre park managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. It is a collection of salt marshes, forest, and tidal creeks on protected land located between Hilton Head Island and Bluffton, South Carolina.

In fact, prior to visiting Hilton Head I had no idea that this park was there, and only thought of stopping for a visit when heading out to Bluffton to explore more Hilton Head breweries. Naturally, as soon as I saw the sign calling out the national wildlife refuge, I knew I’d have to return for a visit.

And what a visit it was!

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Hilton Head is comprised of just one island located off the coast of South Carolina. But if you take the time to explore all corners, it really feels like there are two Hilton Head Islands.

One is the public side of the island home to the main beach, a plethora of shops and restaurants, and more. The other is Sea Pines Plantation Resort- a semi-private community on the southern end of the island that is only accessible to members and those who pay the day rate to enter ($9 per car in early 2021). 

These have a night-and-day difference between each other as the former is commercial and busy while the latter is quiet, nestled within the trees, and relatively devoid of commercial businesses outside of Harbor Town.

So while we could make the argument that the day rate to enter Sea Pines is worth it alone to simply take in the beauty of the island in a more peaceful environment, we would rather talk about a specific attraction you can see after entering- Sea Pines Forest Preserve.

The fee is worth it just to visit this one alone.

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One place that has always been on our Pennsylvania bucket list is Kinzua Bridge State Park. This 339-acre park in northcentral PA is famous for one particular reason- it is home to a railway bridge that was once the tallest rail bridge in the world and it was almost completely destroyed by a tornado in 2003!

You don’t see a sight like this one every day, and it was a spot we wanted to visit for years.

But there was one problem with why we never did. Kinzua Bridge State Park is remote. Thankfully, we added this one on as a detour from a recent weekend trip, and in this one we want to share a bit more why you really should check this one out sooner rather than later- if you can make the logistics work at least.

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