Hilton Head

This week I'm recapping our quick trip down South. Below are a few photos from Hilton Head, South Carolina, where we stayed the first couple of nights of the vacation. I had zero idea of what to expect when we booked our hotel, besides that it was on the beach. Our resort ended up being on a private area of the island (very strange), where we had to check-in with a guard before driving to our hotel. Hilton Head is a perfect place for golf and tennis fanatics - I don't really care about either. But, the beach *was* beautiful, and watching the sun rise and set over the Atlantic, and walking along miles of white sand beach was so lovely. 

After a couple of days of that, we were ready to move on. As we were leaving the island around 11:00 a.m. to head to our next destination, I heard hooting from a nearby tree. I immediately recognized the Barred Owl call and raced towards the sound. Since we were heading to our car with all of our stuff anyway, I was lucky enough to have all of my camera gear on my back and grabbed a body and my longest lens. After looking for a minute I spotted four owls - one female, three males. It is mating season so I am guessing all the noise and activity had something to do with that. Spotting them was definitely one of the highlights of the trip - you'll see one of the males in a picture below, and then the snoozing female ignoring them all.