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| MUSAP loves the beach |
My March 2014 adventure was a trip to the Golden Isles of Georgia ~ Jekyll Island, Sea Island, and St Simons Island. Georgia was state #11 for MUSAP.
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| Black Banks River, Sea Island |
Part of the trip was a stroll down Memory Lane because we often vacationed on Sea Island when I was growing up. I remember going there as a teen with my grandparents and my family ~ time spent sitting by the pool, horseback riding on the beach, formal dinners in the dining room with long dresses expected on Thursdays and Saturdays. Then in the 80’s my parents took my family to Sea Island continuing the 5 star vacation tradition. These times it included lots of time at the pools and on the beach, horseback riding, learning to skeet shoot at the gun club, and getting 4 young boys into jackets and ties for dinner every evening. One year it included a trip to the Emergency Room when 7 year old Nick fell and broke his arm when we were there.
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| Sea Island Drive |
No more 5 star resorts for me when I travel, the frugal yankee just can’t justify the expense. I didn’t even stay on one of the islands. I stayed in a Best Western in Kingsland , Georgia. It was nothing fancy, but the location was right for all of my day trips. Often I travel from place to place on my adventures which involves packing up every day or two. It was nice to stay in just one place for all of this adventure.
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| stormy day on St Simons |
I woke up one my first full day in Georgia to gray, cloudy skies and temperatures that felt like home in March. It wasn’t raining… yet. Because of the weather forecast I hadn’t planned anything specific for this day. It was going to rain everywhere in the area so my options were somewhat limited. I decided to head north to St Simons and see if I could take a tour of the island. The trolley driver said she needed 6 people for the tour to run and there were just 3 of us waiting on the sidewalk at the pier, so that idea didn’t work out. I explored the pier with my camera and was able to get some photography done - there were dolphins swimming right by the pier, birds taking cover from the winds, and waves crashing along the rocks by the shore.
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| Add caption |
When the winds got even stronger and started pushing me up the pier I headed back to the car and didn’t have to wait long for the rain to begin. I sat in car and watched and photographed the world through wet windows.
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| cargo ship leaving Brunswick in the rain |
When the rain eased I decided to drive up the island and see how things had changed from when we used to vacation in the area. I went to see Fort Frederica, with only vague memories of being there when I was young. This historic site has been upgraded and is now a nice place to explore, if the weather is nice. The temperature was about 45º, the wind was blowing, and the rain had eased, but not stopped. I watched a movie about the history of the fort in the Visitor Center. I had the theater all to myself. Then I took a quick walk around grounds to see the foundations from the homes and buildings and the walls of the fort. Fort Frederica can be added to my list of places that I would visit again on a sunny day.
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| Fort Frederica |
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| Spanish Moss |
A few days later I visited Jekyll Island. Jekyll is a popular vacation destination, but I had never visited before. I had a few places that I wanted to find. My first stop was the ruins of the Horton House. There isn’t too much to see, but it’s a great place to see remains of the old tabby construction that was used all over the area in the 1700’s. Next stop was Driftwood Beach. There are a few little parking areas along the road that provide beach access. Driftwood Beach is a treasure for photographers ~ so many possibilities. Wish I had been there when the light on the old fallen trees was better, but I am not a sunrise photographer.
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| Driftwood Beach |
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| Driftwood Beach |
I was looking forward to seeing the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. It’s a fairly new facility that opened less than 10 years ago to fulfill the need to care for injured or sick sea turtles that are found along the Atlantic coastline. They also have the goal of helping to educate visitors about sea turtles. I signed up for their Behind the Scenes Tour. It was okay but not great. We didn’t get any closer to the sea turtles than the general public. We got to enter the clinic space, surgery suite, and radiology room. In the space where the tanks are located (very hot) we got to see lots of diamondback terrapin hatchlings. We were taken next to the tanks with the larger turtles. The person doing the ‘feeding demo’ after our tour was more engaging and informative than our tour guide. The tour was just $15 ~ you get what you pay for. I think I expected to find out more of their mission and the process/steps from the time a turtle arrives until it is released or sent to a forever facility if it can’t go back to the wild. I think I would have been content to just visit the center and skip the tour.
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| Diamond Terrapin hatchlings |
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| Glory, a young loggerhead turtle |
On my final day I returned to St Simons and also visited Sea Island, which is accessible only from St Simons. Sea Island has changed greatly since I vacationed there with my family. The hotel went into bankruptcy and was then redeveloped. It is now gated and you can only get past the gate house, over the Black Banks River, and onto the island if you are a registered guest, an owner or guest at one of the cottages, or an employee. One of it’s claims to fame is that it hosted the G8 Summit in 2004 bringing together world leaders.
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| flags of the G8 nations |
I was able to get past the gate house because I booked a horseback ride on the beach through the Stables at Frederica. The stable was relocated after the bankruptcy and is now way up St Simons near Ft Frederica. The have an annex on Sea Island with about 10 stalls and a trail over to the beach. So they trailer the horses over every day and run rides from their. This eliminates the part of the ride that went across the marshes.
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| Sea Island beach ride |
My horse was named Jack Frost, appropriate for the New Englander in the group. He is the last remaining horse that was at the old stable location that I remembered. It was finally a warm, sunny day and perfect for being on a beach ride. Clayton, our trail guide was a confident young man who was happy to be spending his time with us. There were 3 other riders ~ a mother, her college age daughter, and a friend of hers. We rode to the south end of the island where we could see Jekyll Island across the river and then back again - about 75 minutes of relaxing fun. After the ride I considered driving further onto to Sea Island to see all the changes, but I decided some memories are best left as they are.
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| enjoying the beach with Jack Frost |
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| looking towards Sea Island |
After the beach ride I drove back to the pier on St Simons to try to catch a Colonial Trolley Tour. This is a different company than the one I tried earlier. Rod the driver was very friendly and enthusiastic about taking us on the tour and sharing his knowledge. There is so much history ~ native americans, English vs Spanish, American Revolution, slavery. I had visited Sea Island and with that St Simons many, many times. but I never knew much of the history of the area. Native Americans lived in the are 2 centuries before the Europeans, the oak for Old Ironsides came from St Simons in the late 1700’s, St Simons was the northern border of the Spanish territory which led to the British developing the area around Fort Frederica and another fort on St Simons, after the American Revolution the island was mostly plantations growing rice and cotton, and after the Civil War the island was a place for freed slaves. Rod shared information about the history and local places of interest for food and lodging. It’s all a sign that I liked a tour when I write a review on TripAdvisor.
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| Avenue of the Oaks at Retreat Plantation grounds |
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| family history traces back to the days of slavery |
After a busy time in Georgia it was time to drive back to Jacksonville for the flight home. I was ready to sit back and relax, my adventures tire me out.
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| former site of Sea Island Stables |
