Looking Back: Jekyll Island/Amelia Island

Back to the spring vacation:

We left the Okefenokee Swamp with wonderful memories, and made our way to the east and the ocean. We drove to Waycross again but instead of turning south, we went on to the east.

We had to pay to enter Jekyll Island, which I had not expected. I don't remember how much it was. We found our hotel -- literally the only one on the beachfront. We drove around virtually the entire island -- lots of houses, few hotels, few restaurants.  We ended up eating lunch at Dairy Queen.

The island was formerly a very posh resort, and there is still a strong feeling of that here. We drove around the grounds and I will admit to being very impressed by the gorgeous live oaks and Spanish moss.

We visited the Sea Turtle Center, which rescues and helps sea turtles. A wonderful cause but unfortunately we found the center to be only mildly interesting.

The hotel was fine, and had a nice breakfast the next morning, with a wonderful ocean view.

We just didn't connect to this place. Part of the problem, I admit, was the weather. The wind was so terribly strong that we couldn't be out on the beach for more than a few minutes.

But the whole thing was to me too "resort" and "old money".  Not my thing at all.

The next morning we went south to Fernandina and Amelia Island in Florida.  Once again, we just never formed a connection here. The beach itself was lovely, and it was warm enough the second day that we were able to lay out in out bathing suits.

Amelia Island is dominated by resorts, and just reeks of Money and Exclusivity -- as I said, just not our things.

Our hotel was at the northern end and was really only steps from the beach.

This was the view from our balcony (which was actually too small to do anything more than perhaps stand on):

As I said, the beach was lovely, and not at all crowded:

Nicer weather the next day saw us on the beach and in the water -- along with a few other folks:

We then drove to the Jacksonville Airport and flew first to Atlanta, and then to Norfolk. The further adventures will come later!

Looking back: Okefenokee Swamp Park

On Sunday morning we drove the western way around to the north, and Waycross, Georgia. There is the Okefenokee Swamp Park: still part of the national wildlife refuge, but this section is run by a commerical proprietor.

First wildlife we saw was this little guy:

This park also had a zoo area, so you could see the alligators up close. It's not nearly as good as seeing them in the wild, though.

We started out just walking around, including on the boardwalk into the swamp.

This man kept following me! :-)

Saw another one of these cute little guys again, too.

Then came, you guessed it, the boat trip,

The most famous inhabitant of the swamp is an opossum named Pogo, who was a comic-strip character many years ago. He is the one who said, "We have met the enemy and he is us," in reference to pollution.

More beautiful sights.

This alligator swam right to our boat, causing slight hysteria amongst some of the passengers.

Her name was Sweetie and she had young in this area.

Again we saw some laying in the sun, looking more like props than real animals. They are NOT small, by the way, but a good 8-10 feet long.

We then drove all the way back to the State Park and our cabin, which I finally remembered to photograph.

Looking Back: Stephen C. Foster State Park, Georgia

After visiting the NWR, we drove around the southern part of the park to the Stephen C. Foster State Park. The state leases this portion from the National Park Service. Again, we drove directly to the visitor's center, just in time to take another boat trip.

"Okefenokee" allegedly means "the land of the trembling earth". What here looks like solid ground, isn't. It is all floating. So it would certainly "tremble" if you walked on it, or tried to.

Again, we were overwhelmed by what we saw.

We saw a deer, here. this was no longer in the swamp but on solid ground.

And, yes, these critters too. They just don't look real when they lay around like this.

One swimming:

This darling little critter was in a leaf!

We stayed two nights in this park, in a cabin: living room, dining room, kitchen, full bath, two bedrooms, a huge screened in porch. Very nice.

Looking Back: Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge

In late April of 2013, Norbert and I flew to the US on vacation -- exactly one week after flying back to Germany from my mother's funeral. We didn't really know what to expect from ourselves, either emotionally or physically after her unexpected death and the flights and time changes.

We flew Düsseldorf-Atlanta-Jacksonville and spent the first night at an airport hotel in Jacksonville. The next morning we drove north to Folkston, Georgia, and from there to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.  Years ago, Norbert spent a lot of time working in Georgia, and found a story about this park in our local German newspaper afterwards. He was sorry not to have known about it earlier, and was determined to get there. We finally made it!

Our first stop was, of course, the visitor's center, where Norbert made a new friend.

We then booked a boat trip, on one of these. It turned out to be just us and the guide, perfect! She was a young woman who knew such a lot about the park and was very passionate about it. A wonderful guide.

We soon saw our first 'gator!

But mainly we just looked in awe at the overwhelming beauties of nature.

There were animals, too, like this owl:

And this alligator, which tried to camouflauge itself: