Category: 2024

DAKLeave a comment

Greenville, 2024

Arriving late on a Monday, we spent 5 days in Greenville, SC on the final leg of our trip. As was the case in Jekyll, the “super” El Nino, dampened our weather a bit this year. However, we still managed two 20+ mile bike rides, some running, walking and a swim for exercise. The downtown Residence Inn had a very nice work out facilities and the hotel overall was extremely well maintained and managed.

Greenville, in my opinion, has one of the nicest downtowns that I’ve been to. It’s very well integrated with its natural surroundings, has paths throughout, is well maintained, is growing at a controlled pace (very well planned), and is a very walkable, new mid-size city with plenty of restaurants, breweries, and entertainment venues.

View of the new Marriott Grand Bohemian Lodge in downtown Greenville, SC
Continue reading

DAKLeave a comment

Jekyll Island and Georgia – 2024

Jekyll Island has become a familiar second home for DAK as a peaceful and warm break from the grey and cold Michigan winters. This marks our fourth consecutive year enjoying the “splendid isolation” of this island.

Once again, we stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn. This year in the exact same ocean front suite as last year (Room 102). The weather was a little cooler than usual due to a “super” El Nino across the country this winter. But we still managed to get a couple of days in the ocean and/or heated pool. On the literal bright side, it was usually sunny and made for good running and biking conditions relative to Michigan winters (certainly no snow or ice to contend with).

We made it our goal this year to focus on a healthy lifestyle while here. This included “plant forward” eating, daily exercise (usually running, bicycling, weightlifting, and walking), daily mental stimulation (various games and reading).

One of many beautiful ocean sunrises - View from our patio
Continue reading

DAKLeave a comment

Hilton Head – 2024

We managed to shorten another Michigan winter by driving to Hilton Head Island as the first stop on our journey to winter sunshine. Albeit this winter’s super El Nino dampened the temperatures a little bit. This marked our first time back to Hilton Head Island since 2014.

We stayed at Marriott’s Surf Watch (vacation club) in a 2,000 sq. ft., two bedrooms, two bath condo with an ocean view. The condo came with a fully equipped kitchen and laundry room. It really had everything you could need. This may have been the nicest Marriott property we have ever stayed in. 

The oceanfront property had 5 pools (one indoor) plenty of activities (exercise facility w/ sauna, bocci ball, corn hole, fuse ball, horseshoes, club houses, restaurants/bars, games/tournaments, live music, beer tastings, light dinners/snacks, etc). The grounds were excellently maintained.

Our 2 bedroom, 2 bath Oceanview Condo at Marriott's Surf Watch was incredible!
Continue reading