Another glorious few weeks spent on Jekyll Island, GA this year. “Splendid Isolation” a book by Pamela Mueller, accurately describes our time on Jekyll. We got to know the island even better this year as we explored many of the nooks and crannies in addition to taking two narrated tours from the islands Mosaic Museum.
The weather started out as predicted in January, mostly highs in the 60’s with a day or two in the 70’s. But February was warmer than expected with some days pushing 80 starting mid-month. That warmer weather brought out the gnats, which were a bit of a nuisance on some days. But one can’t complain considering the winter weather back in Michigan.
Once again, we stayed at the Residence Inn, by Marriott. This time in a 1st floor ocean view suite. The tradeoff was convenience (mostly for our bikes and laundry) vs. a birds eye view of the ocean.
For the first time we took two tours from the Mosiac Museum, the Hollybourne Cottage renovation tour and the general overview tour of the Jekyll Island Millionaires’ Club. Our “basically” personal tour of the Hollybourne Cottage was outstanding. Kathy, our Mosaic Museum tour guide, really knew her history and went into great detail about the Maurice families’ cottage when they spent winters there around the turn of the century. The general tour was also interesting and allowed us insight to life on the island during the club’s heyday.
We did manage to enjoyable some day trips again. We rode Amelia Island to Little Talbot Island State Park (north of Jacksonville, FL) and back. Afterwards spending a few hours in Fernandina for lunch and window shopping.
We visited neighboring St. Simon’s Island several times for bicycle rides, shopping, and exploring. Ft. Federica was interesting with some volunteers re-enacting life at the Fort around the mid-1700’s. On one of our rides, we biked over to Sea Island (an exclusive, gated island attached to St. Simon’s) and stumbled upon the Cloister Hotel. We were blown away by its beauty.
We managed two-day trips to Savannah. Biking the city is a fantastic way to see the whole historic district efficiently. Savannah just exudes that relaxed, laid back southern history. This year we found a great beer and food place, The Crystal Beer Palace. The “Tie 11 On” B.A. Stout (12.5% A.B.V.) from Monday Night Brewery was outstanding as was the Bison Burger!
On our way back home, we spent one night in Greenville, SC. A family emergency cut our stay short but a least we were able to see the wonderful city for a short time.
Feels good to be home, back to work and seeing friends and family. Just wish the Michigan temps would warm up.
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