Friday, June 26, 2009
Happy 40th birthday V!
We woke up in Brunswick and had breakfast at the hotel. We drove through historic Brunswick and onto Jeckyll Island. There was a beautiful bridge connecting the two. The first thing we did on Jeckyll Island was to go to the beach. There were many sand dunes, and the sand was soft and fine. The sand felt so nice, but the water was muddy. We really understand now how beautiful we have it with the clear, blue waters off of Miami Beach. It's no wonder people flock to Miami and its beaches...Nada que ver! We left the beach and went in search of the plantations...we found them all together in one area.
The area looked a lot like the area where the Fernback museum is located in Atlanta, GA. We saw interesting things from the past including an old telephone. We also went to the Turtle Center. There we learned about Loggerhead Turtles. They had a turtle hospital at the center where they keep turtles that have been hurt and rescued while they get better.
One of the reasons we wanted to go to Jekyll Island and/or the Golden Isles was to ride horses on the beach and to see the wild horses. Unfortunately, things didn't work on either of those.The minimum age requirement for horseback riding is 8. The wild horses are in Cumberland Island off of St. Mary's by Amelia Island.
We left Jekyll Island, went back to the hotel to pick up the hundred bags and then off to St. Simon's Island. On our way out of Brunswick we stopped at the Lover's Oak. It is a huge oak tree in a median that is the source of a local legend. After driving on another beautiful bridge we arrived in St. Simon Island. One of the things we've noticed is there are many beautiful bridges all over. Also, most places have tall, impressive structures leading to their beaches or islands. The first one we noticed was in Jacksonville, Fl and it continues with St. Simon's.
We arrived in St. Simon's Island and went driving around. The golf resorts were spectacular. We ended up at a pier. There were many locals there. We saw many of them, including children, casting nets to catch crab. We saw one boy catch a huge crab and we even took a picture of it. We saw many tiny crabs crawling all over big rocks on the shore.
We walked around the beach area and they also had cute shops and a little playground. The kids played in the playground a little while. We went over to the lighthouse and explored the area, then we drove around the rest of the island. We tried to drive into Sea Island, but only the guests at the Sea Island Resort can go on the island so we were turned away. We went to TCBY and had a nice treat and then off to Savannah.
NOTE: We had planned to stay in the Golden Isles area two nights, but it was not necessary. We were able to enjoy all the islands leisurely in one day. We drove to Savannah with all our gear ready...two laptops, MapQuest going on one of them, guidebooks, maps, GPS on my phone, etc. and we still got lost going in. Finally, we figured it out.
We wandered around Savannah enjoying its beautiful squares, parks and buildings. We drove throughout the entire downtown/historic area and really enjoyed it. As we were driving around we decided Savannah is definitely better for adults than for kids/families. We walked around for a while and had dinner at Five Guys (who would have thought!) We're trying to eat healthy and exercise on this trip...we are not off to a good start. Five Guys was NOT a healthy choice. But it was GOOD!!!!
Rather than sleeping in Savannah, we thought it would be better to sleep in Hilton Head Island (HHI), but we couldn't find a hotel. Dad only wanted to stay at hotel chains where he has points, but his preference is any of the Marriott brands. They didn't really have to many options on HHI and so we started to look for a place in Savannah. Again, they were sold out They only had availability by the airport. Since Dad didn't want to break his Marriott streak, he went in person to a Courtyard. We got a huge suite. It was nice, but there was a problem with the toilet and it smelled like smoke. Since there were no other rooms, they reduced our rate to $89. We were super happy!!!!!
We are all starting to be a bit cranky and tired. We need to set up camp in one place and be there a while to recuperate.
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