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?!

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!