Living the High Life: Skidaway Island State Park, GA 6/11/08

It was such a gorgeous morning and this flora is so different than we are used to, that we decided to take a bike ride thru one of the park’s nature trails. We rode under palmetto trees, and gigantic live oak trees draped in moss alongside salt marshes. (See photo). We saw a variety of birds, read about civil war battles that didn’t work out so well on this island and saw the remnants of an old moonshine still. We even climbed up an observation tower to see a nice overview of the marsh and slough area. Even though it was close to high noon about then (and hot) we decided to head into town and ride our bikes thru the Bonaventure Cemetery. For those of you familiar with the movie “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”, you can appreciate how fun this was! We checked out lots of old and exotic headstones and monuments, some of them dating back to the late 1700’s. I believe the entire cemetery is about 600 acres, so we had quite a lot of fun zig-zagging about the different lanes and reading about those of nobility, and celebrities such as Johnny Mercer. We then decided to head to the historical district and continue to ride our bikes past all the grand old homes and garden squares. Savannah is really a gorgeous, genteel city. Well, by this time, about 2ish, we had ridden close to 13 miles and were famished! We decided to head for Tybee Island and check out the Crab Shack. It’s supposedly a local favorite and is highly recommended for the “Low Country Boil.” We each ordered up a plate along with some beers and margaritas and settled back on the deck, overlooking the marshes and ocean. We both agreed, this is the best meal yet that we have eaten on the road!! It’s a plate heaping with fresh wild Georgia shrimp, red potatoes, corn on the cob and sausage. Apparently, it’s all boiled together then some kind of “special” seasoning is sprinkled over the top. The tables all have big holes in the middle wherein you peel and shuck your shrimp, crab legs, oysters, etc. At this point, feeling nicely satiated, it was close to 4:00 and we decided why not go swimming in the ocean? The great thing about traveling with your home is that you can be quite flexible. We changed into our swimsuits (in the van), parked at the beach and played in the ocean for several hours. We even blew up our swim rings and had a blast being silly in the water, trying to “catch a wave”. When we finally got back to the van, we were hot, salty and sticky, but never fear Winnie is here!! We used our shower off the back of the van, stood out in the middle of the street and took showers. I think everyone dealing with the sand getting in their cars were quite envious. When we got back to the campsite, Ned whipped us up some mochas and we are having a quiet evening at home: Ned is swinging in the hammock, I’m writing blogs (yeah wi-fi here) , and we’re catching up on some much needed laundry. (Yep, the campground has a washer/dryer located near the showers). There is hardly anyone around us at the campground so we are enjoying our home of the great outdoors - Loving the high life. The question is will I ever be able to sleep within 4 walls again?!