From Sea to Shining Sea: Skidaway Island State Park, GA 6/10/08

We left Veterans Park knowing we had a long drive across Georgia. Confident that the Winniemobile was purring along just fine, we stuck to the two lane highways, choosing to see the countryside and small towns through the heart of Georgia. We traveled by pecan trees, sugar cane & cotton fields, skinny pine trees and lots of logging trucks. We stopped at a roadside barbeque, Harry’s, to continue our quest for the perfect barbeque. Ned had ribs, (with the obligatory 3 pieces of white bread & pickles) and I had a sliced barbeque sandwich. We liked this one better than Chuck’s. It was still a mustard based sauce, but less “mustardy.” Our next stop was in the town of Claxton, which proudly proclaims itself to be the “Fruitcake Capital of the World.” We couldn’t let THAT one go by, so we circled around the town until we found Claxton’s Bakery. They make something like 86,000 lbs. of fruitcake a day during their busy season. Yikes! (Okay, secret confession time. I think my dad and I are the only people in the world who actually like fruitcake). Of course, we had to venture inside and test it out. The person who helped us out was very friendly and was rather pleased that we were from California. We finally reached Skidaway Island State Park, outside of Savannah around 3:00. It’s a beautiful park with lots of oak trees dripping with moss. Very picturesque. We signed up for a spot for 2 nights and quickly left to explore Savannah. We walked cobblestone streets along the Savannah River, visited the famous City Market, toured the mansions in the historic district, and finally drove out to Tybee Island and stood in the Atlantic Ocean at about 8:30 pm. (See photo of Ned celebrating our triumphant arrival at the Atlantic Ocean). Tomorrow marks 3 weeks to the day that we left Nancy’s place at the Pacific Ocean. The best part of being on the Island is that the temp dropped to about 86 deg., was breezy, and boy did that feel good!! The ocean is the first body of water we’ve been in that is not uncomfortably warm. We have a lot of options tomorrow: swimming in the ocean, riding bikes through Savannah to get a close-up look of the houses, visit some museums and cemeteries – not really sure what we are going to do. Stay tuned!