OurCoast.com :: Outdoors

Courtesy Best Read Guide

You look to your beloved, and she doesn't like what she sees in your eye. It lacks a certain gleam, and she is worried. She breathes a fragment of song. Here it comes, that old ennui ... You used to laugh at her Marlene Dietrich impression. Now your shoulders slump. You sigh.

"That's that," she says. Your lethargic reverie is broken, and you look at her questioningly. "I have had enough," she says firmly. "We're going to Hilton Head." Hilton Head, eh? South Carolina?

The island is but a 45-minute drive from Savannah, through the beautiful Lowcountry of South Carolina. Your beloved took the liberty of tossing (literally) your golf clubs into the trunk, for Hilton Head has a number of renowned courses. She assures you that you will have the time of your life. "I personally want to go horseback riding. Last year, Elizabeth went riding at the Lawton Stables, and she absolutely fell in love with her horse." You think to yourself that her husband has a long face.

"Perhaps we should take a boat ride out to Daufuskie," she says. "All wilderness and history. We can rent a golf cart, just like on Fantasy Island, except they're pink, and zip around the island." Wonderful, you think. A pink golf cart. You hope your beloved hasn't packed a camera. "I brought a camera. Anne and Evelyn will want pictures." Swell. "Oh, honey, let's rent bicycles. You can get a bicycle for two at Pedals. I want to ride it up and down the beach, just us. I hear sunset at the Olde Fort Pub is spectacular. And there's an old Civil War fort there, and a widow's walk. What say we climb the widow's walk and watch the sunset? I'll let you hold my hand. ... When Mac and Tay were down here last spring for that golf tournament, oh, you know, what was it? They had bagpipes and cannons?" You mutter between dispirited teeth: The MCI Heritage Classic. "Right. Anyway, they went to a darling club called The Big Bamboo. They said it was like going back to the 1940s. Afterwards, they went to the Barmuda Triangle. Whatever you want, they've got it. One place, the Red Wolf Lodge, has cigars and backgammon." The last cigar you had was at your brother's bachelor party. You don't even know how to play backgammon. "I'll teach you how to play backgammon if you teach me how to smoke a cigar. Do we have a deal?" She reaches across the seat. Holds out her hand. You remember why you fell in love.