Some new beaches

So where were we..... deep in the swamp!

Got up Monday morning and checked out of our cabin and said goodbye to the Stephen C. Foster State Park.  Had a wonderful time there!

Drove back to Waycross, Ga., which I believe to be the home of Burt Reynolds, by the way, and once again hit the Starbucks in the Kroger store. (Is it just me, or does "Starbucks in Kroger in Waycross, Ga." sound odd?)

Anyway, instead of turning southwest towards the swamp, we headed due east and in about an hour or two (me driving) came to the beachy area. A HUGE bridge loomed ahead of us, but we turned off just short of it and took a shorter bridge over to Jekyll Island.

Lots of rich people have spent a lot of time on this island, and it shows. Relatively few hotels and restaurants. But lots of beautiful old live oaks absolutely dripping with Spanish moss -- very intriguing and fairy-tale like.

I think we drove all the way around the island. Unfortunately, the weather was awful. Dry and sunny, but cold and exceptionally heavy wind. We did pop out on the beach but only very briefly as it was really uncomfortable. The beach looked nice, though.

We "dined" at the Red Bug Pizza, and had an excellent hand-made pizza.

Back to the mainland Tuesday morning and headed south to Florida again. Hit A1A and drove east to the ocean, on Amelia Island. Our hotel, the Seaside Amelia Resort, was on the far northern tip of the island. We were not too satisfied with it. We checked in and went to our room, which was probably the tiniest double I have ever seen. There was about one foot of space around the bed, no chairs, and even the TV hung on the wall. It was impossible to think of spending two nights there.

Went down and were able to upgrade to another room. This one had a slightly larger bed area as you walked in, with small but compete bath, and then a living area with sink, counter, microwave, fridge, sofa, tv, etc.

But no lights!  One tiny decorative lamp in the living room, which provided virtually no light! And only one lamp in the bedroom area. And to top it all off, the air conditioning died the second night. Fortunately there was a ceiling fan in the bedroom, so we were able to stay comfortable. But you can bet that I will be in touch with them about a few things........

Once again, the island didn't terribly impress us.  Lots of OLD people, like really made me feel young! Nothing against old people, of course!  Again, surprisingly few restaurants, and the one we ate it was not terribly good.

Wednesday morning we headed back to the shopping mall by the airport, which we had visited when we arrived.  Had a wonderful time poking around in it, and yes, I did manage to buy a thing or two.....

The weather had finally decided to co-operate, so after a nap, it was bathing suit time for the first time this year! (Always a dreadful thought.....) We took of snow-white bodies down to the beach and stretched out for an hour or two.  It felt so wonderful -- warmth, sun, the surf in the background.  We aren't usually the types to lay on the beach, but this was good.

After our disappointing restaurant experience the previous night, we decided to dine on the snacks we had with us and which we didn't want to transport on the next leg of our trip.

Off to the Outer Banks tomorrow!