I can’t think of a better way to get through a Michigan winter than to head south for part of it. This trip to Jekyll Island, GA definitely fulfilled expectations. It was relaxing and warm enough to consistently enjoy the outdoors (ate outdoors, biked, ran, and even swam a few times) though not as hot as south Florida. Daytime temperature highs generally ranged from the mid 50’s to the low 70’s.
Jekyll Island is a state park located off the coast of southeast Georgia, about 30 minutes from the Florida border. We paced ourselves driving down, stopping in London, KY and Santé, SC while successfully avoiding a major ice storm.
We stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn, for the entire time on Jekyll Island. However, we did take several day trips to other locations in Georgia and Florida.
We had a beautiful ocean view room with a large balcony, a living room, kitchen, separate bedroom, and bathroom. It couldn’t have been more ideal for an extended stay. After a time it just felt like home.
We just loved the routine we fell into. Nice weather (very little rain) almost everyday. Daily bike rides, runs and walks, usually followed up by afternoons on the beach or by the pool. There was plenty of exploring to do on the island too. Whether is was on the many trails and beaches or the historic district or day trips to near by towns. Jekyll Island kept us very engaged. Nearby St. Simon’s Island and Amelia Island were also frequently visited by us.
Brunswick, GA is on the mainland just across the bridge from Jekyll Island. There, we enjoyed some outstanding pizza from the Fox’s Den Pizza and enjoyed it at the Silver Bluff Brewery’s beer garden (just down the street) several times during our stay. The Florentine pizza was about the best we ever tasted. The Silver Bluff beer was good enough, but not much to write home about.
St. Simon Island is just a bridge to the north of Jekyll Island. We love this island, even though it is more commercialized than Jekyll. We think we struck the ideal cord by driving or biking to St. Simon when we wanted plenty of options for activities and restaurants while able to retreat to our peaceful, serene setting on Jekyll Island afterwards.
We must have ventured to St. Simon at least 5 times for meals, bike rides, dolphin watching, shopping, and the like.
We were able to snag a spot on the Lynx (a recreation of an 1812 era merchant ship) one beautiful Tuesday afternoon. The Lynx was sailing out of St. Simon’s Island for 3 hour afternoon cruises for the month of February. The history was very interesting of both the ship and the surrounding islands. The crew even fired the cannon (with a faux cannon ball) into St. Simon’s Bay. The experience on the Lynx was definitely worth the price of admission.
A day trip to Darien, GA (about a 30 minute drive north of Jekyll Island) landed us at Fort King George. This was an interesting and marvelously preserved British fort from the 1812 era.
We visited Savannah twice during our stay on Jekyll Island. Savannah is about 90 minutes north of Jekyll Island. On the first trip we shopped the historic district and stumbled upon an awesome brewery named Moon River. We chose to expand our horizons for the second day trip to Savannah by touring the city by bicycle. A very exciting city with a lot of history.
Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, FL was one of our favorite day trip destinations. We ended up visiting the island 3 times. The first time we rode our bikes along the Atlantic Ocean coast of the island, crossed a few bridges and rode almost to Jacksonville. The views along the coast, from the bike path, were spectacular. Following our 17 mile ride we walked the super quant town of Fernandina Beach. We liked it so much we made two subsequent day trips to Fernandina. As a bonus, Amelia Island Brewing Company (AIBC) brewed some awesome beer right in the center of town.
We actually left Jekyll Island for one overnight (2 nights) trip to Sarasota and Siesta Key, FL. The first night we stayed in the heart of Sarasota at Marriott’s musically themed Art Ovation Hotel. We rode our bikes from our hotel, across a few bridges to a nice bike path on Long Boat Key along the Gulf of Mexico. Afterward we found an excellent beer garden (Mandeville’s) in downtown Sarasota for a good meal and some great European beers.
The next day my cousin and his wife invited us to to their rental unit on Siesta Key. We really enjoyed their company on beautiful, Siesta Key Beach and appreciated their hospitality very much.
One of our last day trips was to Gainesville, FL. Home to the University of Florida. We were not very impressed with the city. It appeared to be run down with not much going on, especially for a college town. However, we did ride 23 miles on a spectacular paved bike trail that went from Gainesville to Hawthorne. We felt like we were in the “swamps” surrounded only by nature for much of the ride.
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