TRAVEL TALES

Young Chang

NEWPORT BEACH -- Willy Reese returned this summer with his three sons

and wife to a nostalgic vacation spot that’s been a family tradition

since Reese was a boy.

At their beachfront home in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, the

Newport Beach family biked along the beach, fished out of the ocean with

live bait caught from the water and ate the locally famed seafood and

pastries.

“Our home looks out over the lagoon,” said Reese, who works for

Microsoft. “And we cross the bridge and we walk down the path and we’re

on a beach. You can’t see people. It’s almost a private beach.”

The regulars know each other by name. Reese’s temporary neighbors

welcomed the family as they do every summer, asked how long they’d be

staying and said the annual goodbyes when the monthlong visit ended in

late July.

“We use to drive down from where I grew up in Chicago,” Reese said.

“After going for so many years and now having kids and having our kids

go, it’s almost like a home away from home.”

The kids -- Morgan, 11; Willy, 9; and Michael, 4, took tennis lessons

during the day. They built castles by shoving their hands deep into the

sand to reach the soggy layers, swam in the ocean because the waves never

got too big and watched the dolphins swim closely by.

Their fishing adventures proved successful, with numerous catches of

Spanish mackerels one memorable afternoon.

“It’s neat to catch a fish that’s a real fish and not just scavengers

of water,” Reese said.

But the island was inhabited by more wildlife than just fish.

Alligators, deer, woodpeckers and other birds -- the kids saw them all.

The boys caught lizards and gave them names (Moss A was one of them,

because when the lizard changed colors it turned into a mossy color) and

played with frogs too.

And yes, the frogs got names.

“Talale-F,” Morgan said. “We made it up. The F is for frog.”

The family hung out at the Sea Pine Center shops, took pictures atop

fake alligators in the center of the shopping complex and sang with a

local named Greg Russell at night.

“He’s been singing under the biggest oak tree in Harbour Town,” Willy

said. “And he sings five to six nights a week unless there’s a storm. He

sings all kinds of songs.”