Showing posts with label Georgia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Georgia. Show all posts

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Spring Break (part 5)

Bridge to nastiness

This is the final post about our spring break. It's going to be a bit more picture heavy than the others.

Our second day at Jekyll Island we started off the day by checking out of our room then heading to the wharf for our dolphin tour.

Fishing equipment?

I couldn't resist the picture above. Lots of detail, and the color was a nice contrast on another drab day. The forecast was for rain, but the weather was looking like it was going to hold so the dolphin tour was a go! Hooray! It didn't take long for them to find some dolphins, but the dolphins weren't surfacing much above the water so we were mostly seeing top fins. Still, really cool.

All lined up - double crested cormorants and brown pelicans

The bridge in the picture is the one going to Jekyll Island.

Girl taking a picture of a sunken ship

Brown pelican landing in the water

These gulls were following the boat

Dolphin blow

I was really happy when I saw the above picture while I was reviewing my images. But I managed some better ones.

That's the Biggest Fish I Ever Saw


It sprinkled a little while we were on the tour, and it was pretty cold on the water. Eventually we gave up on the cameras and sat down to warm up together.

After the dolphin tour was finished, we headed to Red Bug Motor Pizza again for lunch. Then we headed to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center.



The sea turtle center was nice and it was informative but really kind of depressing. The turtles were stuck in tiny tanks for rehab and most of the damage done to them was by reckless human behavior.




I think I need to teach Erin how to hold the camera properly.

Peekaboo!

Following the sea turtle center we went to the pier on the north side if the island. There was a big puddle in the parking lot that birds were splashing around in.

Brewer's blackbird bathing

This guy found a treat.

Mirrored landing

We walked the pier (which I apparently neglected to take any pictures of), then headed down a paved nature trail for a while.





I wish I could have taken the above two pictures in better light. Oh well.

We kept seeing movement out of the corner of our eyes as we walked. We finally stopped and took a picture, and got a few like the one below.

Crab city

You might need to zoom in on the picture above. There are a ton of crabs in the mud. A few crawling above and quite a few more where you can just see their eyes peeking out.

A little bit further down the trail we saw a deer grazing.



After we saw the deer we continued down the trail for a bit, and then turned back. On the way back I was able to catch this silhouette.



We finished our day by heading to dinner at The Driftwood Bistro, which was the restaurant at the hotel we stayed in. After dinner we chilled out on the boardwalk to enjoy the last remaining daylight.

(Relatively) Clear Skies

Camera Dorks

And finally, the biggest news of our trip. While we were enjoying the crashing waves and the waning sun, I proposed to Erin.

Blue Sapphire

After that, we relaxed for a little while longer then headed out.

Parting Beach Shot

As we were leaving we crested the bridge leaving the island and were treated to a beautiful view of a fiery orange setting sun. It was a great way to cap off a wonderful side trip.

On the way back, we stopped at Cracker Barrel for a little bit of dessert. Then our final day we headed to the Flowertown Festival in Azalea Park. It was a crazy mass of people, with lots of shops and fair-type food. We spent the evening playing a card game with my family, then had a very early breakfast the next morning with my dad, aunt and uncle. We took a quick nap afterward then headed home. It was a spectacular week with my family and my baby. And that concludes my super long final post of my super long spring break series. Thanks for reading!

Monday, May 27, 2013

Spring Break (part 4)

There were birds. Lots and lots of birds

On Thursday we got up early (early for vacation that is) and headed to Jekyll Island, GA. We had planned to be out the door at 7, but that didn't happen. We left by 8, which really wasn't too bad. We were a bit discouraged by the weather forecast, which was calling for thunderstorms both days of our trip.

It took about 3 hours to drive down from Charleston so we decided to go ahead and have lunch at Red Bug Motor Pizza. After we finished lunch, the weather started to look like it was going to hold up for us so we hit the beach, walking up and down the shore for a while. It was a little chilly, but nowhere near as windy as Sullivan's Island. The shore birds were... abundant.

Royal tern

Brown pelicans

Herring Gull (juvenile)

After an hour or so on the beach, the weather was holding out so we decided to head over to the wharf area to inquire about dolphin tours (they weren't running today) as well as walk around in the historic district. Apparently in the late 1800s and early 1900s Jekyll Island was an exclusive club for the very rich families (e.g. Rockefellers, Morgans, Pulitzers) of the US.

Spanish moss and the Jekyll Island Club in the background (now a hotel)

Pretty fountain

Crane Cottage

It started to sprinkle after a while, so we decided it would be a good time to head back to the car and see if we could get checked in to our room at Villas By the Sea. We were a little early, but our room was ready so they let us check in. There was a minor issue with our keycards (they didn't work) but it was resolved after a few minutes. We dropped our stuff off, and headed to the boardwalk by the hotel to watch the tide come in. The weather was looking better by then, so after watching the tides for a few more minutes we decided to go back to the hotel room and grab the cameras.

No swimming during high tide

We took some pictures of the waves crashing into the rocks, then we continued on to the driftwood beach.




After that, we headed back to our room to clean up and go to dinner. We had initially planned to go to the Courtyard at Crane, but found that they were full for the night. So instead we headed to Latitude 31. The food there was excellent, I'd definitely recommend it. During dinner it started to rain so we headed back to our room after that, hung out for a while then called it a night.