Tuesday, Jan. 22nd
We visited the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island. It’s in a historic brick building that used to be a power plant. Beautiful building! They rehabilitate sea turtles, educate the public, and do research projects. When you enter (thru the gift shop of course), you’re met with an enormous hanging replica of an Archelon skeleton. It is a sea turtle that existed 70 million years ago, lived to be about 100 years old, and measures 15 ft from beak to tail. It’s huge and towers over you (pic below). You’re given a card to record your personal Sea Turtle Journey. You stamp your card at 5 different tables. I learned (1) my nest was laid above high tide (so that’s helpful for me to survive); (2) I’m a male (sex is determined by the warmth of the turtle nest…. cooler spot on the fringe of the nest means a boy, warmer spot in the middle of the nest means a girl); (3) I migrated to the Sargasso Sea (located between North America and South America); (4) I had some type of critters living on me (apparently that’s common) but it didn’t kill me; and (5) I lived to be a juvenile (meaning 10-12 years of age). Only 1 in 4,000 turtle eggs make it to adulthood (not very good odds). Adulthood is reached at about 34 years and that’s when you mate and have babies. Jekyll has a lot of sea turtles coming to build nests. The county keeps the beaches dark at night so as not to confuse mamma coming to shore. Volunteers walk the beach to check for nests.
There were several turtles from the New England Aquarium who were being rehabilitated here after being “cold stunned.” Poor babies. Water got too cold too fast. You could see them in their large tanks. Their names were Capellini, Linguine, and Penne. Notice a theme? They were transferred here this past November.
After our lesson on sea turtles, we headed to the fishing pier to eat our sandwiches. It was cool so we ate in the truck overlooking the water. The birds figured out the plan. They were checking us out. After awhile Gary lowered the window and put some morsels on the top of the driver side mirror. That brought three of them up fast and chasing each other. Feeding them might not have been the smartest thing we did because then five of them were hanging out on the hood of the truck….. and pooping. That’s gratitude for you!
Saturday, Jan. 26th
Our friends, Stacie & Johnny (and their dog Niki), arrived today for two nights. They were on their way home to North Carolina from the Tampa RV Show and stopped to visit us for a few days! We are so excited to spend time with them again! In the afternoon we took them to Driftwood Beach on Jekyll. We told them “you have to see this!” We did a 5+ mile walk on the beach and wore Niki out. We walked in from a different direction than we had before so it was new for Gary and I, too. Very cool (some pics are below)! Afterwards we all came back to our tiny home and hung out, chatted, and had dinner.
Sunday, Jan. 27th
It was overcast, cool, and threatening rain. The four of us and Niki first headed to Blythe Island to feed the bunnies. Niki was more interested in eating the bunnies, so we had to keep him away. But Stacie & I enjoyed feeding the bunnies. Turns out bunnies are big into bananas. I did a little online research beforehand, so I brought along a little banana and lettuce. The lettuce was second fiddle to the banana but still acceptable.
After Blythe, we headed off to St. Simons Island. We visited the lighthouse. It was closed on Sunday morning so it was an exterior visit, walked along the waterfront, saw an enormous Live Oak tree that was cordoned off because “limbs could fall without warning.” Yeah, that would hurt. This tree was ginormous (pic below). Visited Cora… a half human/half mermaid tree carving (pic below). This was one of seven tree carvings around the island. Had a fun lunch at an outdoor cafe. (I’m getting my fix of lots of shrimp down here.) Stacie and I enjoyed a little retail exercise. Then we drove over to the Avenue of the Oaks. A double row of almost 200-year-old live oaks which once lined the drive to Retreat Plantation, a wealthy cotton plantation. Now they line the drive to Sea Island Golf Club. There was no parking, but Stacie and I wanted to get pics so Gary parked by the side of the road, while we hopped out and walked through the massive trees and got some pictures. Just beautiful.
After that we headed back to relax, hang out, and enjoy dinner at Johnny & Stacie’s. Stacie is teaching us the finer art of Southern cooking. She made us Pastry & Chicken…. sort of like a chicken potpie… only better! We invited them to breakfast with us the next morning before they headed out. Gary made an omelette and fixed some sausage. Stacie brought over biscuits and country ham. Again, we got a little fix of Southern cooking. Then we said goodbye for a couple of days. They’re moving a little further north to Skidaway State Park (just outside Savannah) to camp there for two nights. We have plans to join them on Tuesday at Skidaway and then head into Savannah together.
Tuesday, Jan. 29th, Savannah
We woke earlier than usual to head to Savannah and were actually up early enough to see sunrise. A rarity for us!! We hadn’t been to Skidaway SP in years so it was a treat for Gary and I to once again see this beautiful park with lots of live oak. We wandered through the campground a bit then Stacie drove us all into Savannah. (I want to be her when I grow up!)
We had a fun day in Savannah. Gary and I hadn’t been in years so it was a treat to be with Johnny & Stacie who were more familiar with the city than we were. We headed to Rise Donuts for… what else… but donuts. That was our second morning snack…. the first had been a stop at a new bakery in town for a piece of Red Velvet cake accompanied by four forks. We saw a Hallmark movie being filmed in front of the Lucas Theatre…. including fake flowers being placed back on a row of bushes in the park across the street. That was a funny site!
We visited City Market which is a four-block open air market with shops, restaurants and art galleries in restored warehouses. Lovely! And we visited River Street on the waterfront with its steep staircases, cobblestone streets, boats along the water, water fountains, cotton exchange building, restaurants, and shopping. While on the waterfront, we ate at Huey’s, and I tried a muffuletta sandwich… a New Orleans type sandwich. A little too much bread for my taste but I did enjoy the Fried Green Tomato. More Southern fixings. We headed to Leopold’s for ice cream afterwards. Actually we should have had hot chocolate because by then it had started to rain. Leopold’s opened in 1919 and is a famous ice cream shop in Savannah (ranked in the top 10 ice cream shops in the world!). It was excellent ice cream… with an old time feel to the place. And since it was a cool rainy afternoon, no wait. Apparently in the summer one could wait for well over an hour or two!
By then it was time to head back to Skidaway and rescue Niki from having his legs crossed in Johnny & Stacie’s tiny home. We hugged our goodbyes, but will have the opportunity to cross paths in April when Gary and I are headed back home to NH. We’re stopping at a campground near Johnny & Stacie for a few days. But, for now, it’s home to Brunswick to plan the next little adventure.
