Grace Gets Married

April 25-26, 2025

Finally, the big event!

The welcome dinner was at Village Creek Landing, a beautiful place on the marsh.

Liz and I with Rich and Cathleen and Dan Dillon.

Greg sitting behind Caroline.

The wedding on Saturday was on the beach at the King and Prince Beach Resort. A lovely time was had by all!

The Connolly Clan

It was an easy ride up I-95 on Sunday to home. Stephen had picked up Rose and Nelly from boarding as we were likely not going to be there in time so all we had to do was unpack. It was a wonderful week. I love SSI!

More history - and shopping! and eating!

 April 23-24, 2025

Wednesday morning Liz and I took a lovely little walk at the John Gilbert Nature Trail. 

Later that morning, the three of us went to the Fort Frederica National Monument, established by James Oglethorpe in 1736 to help protect the British colonies from the Spanish in Florida. The archeological remnants of the fort reminded us of quite a bit of Jamestowne Island!

About 700 soldiers were stationed at the fort with perhaps 1,000 residents outside the fort. 

The fort is on the Frederica River, of course!

Back to eating, we picked up barbecue for lunch at Southern Soul because everyone said we should and they were right!

Beach in the afternoon followed up dinner at Halyard's - isn't this the perfect vacation!

Thursday was a day for a walk at the marina, shopping in the village, afternoon at the beach, and dinner at the Rooftop at Ocean Lodge.

So much to explore!

 April 22, 2025

Liz and I walked on the beach this morning, access via Gould's Inlet. The tide was out and the beach was so interesting. Just a beautiful area!

Today's exploration is taking us across the Sidney Lanier Bridge to Jekyll Island where our first stop is at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center.

It is a nature center as well as a rescue and rehab center for sea turtles. A sea turtle named Frank had just had surgery to remove cancerous lesions from his skin and the staff was trying to wake him up (and eventually he did!).

Liz is taking a photo of a little guy who was rescued as a tiny newborn and is being raised at the center. He will be released in the ocean soon.

In the rehab area, we learned that sea turtles rescued from all up the East Coast are treated at the center. Currently the staff are naming rescued turtles after herbs and we watched Basil being fed. He was rescued near Martha's Vineyard around Christmas. Apparently the cold water can catch the sea turtles by surprise and, without help, they can't survive.

After a bite of lunch in the charming village, we went to Driftwood Beach. It's another world! Ancient driftwood trees litter the beach, as far as you can see. 

Quite a unique experience!

We spent the afternoon at the beach and had dinner at Ember. I love SSI!

The Marshes of Glynn

April 21, 2024

So much time in between my travel blogs! 

An invitation to Grace Connolly's wedding has brought us to St. Simon's Island. Greg has been here before - Nana and Pop used to spend time here each winter and he had visited with them then, a long time ago. But it is all new for Liz and me.

The wedding is at The King and Prince Hotel and we had planned to spend a long weekend there until we learned that Evan and Lei's friends, Ethan and Rebecca, own a condo here that they rent out. So here we are, for a week!

The ride down I95 on Sunday was easy, but long. We brought dinner with us so once we were here, we settled in.

And got up this morning ready to go. Liz and I dropped Greg off to try out the local gym and we went into the village to walk. It is completely charming! I think that "charming" may be my word for the week! I'm in love with SSI.

We walked from the village pier to the SSI lighthouse, not a long distance, but so pretty!

The lighthouse is still in use and we could climbed to the top, but have saved that for another day.

Later in the morning, after we picked up Greg from the gym, we all went on a trolley ride. I think it's a good way to get familiar with the area and learn some history. Our trolley driver and guide was Kevin, he was quite entertaining.

Kevin shared many stories about the long history of the island.  He told us about Sidney Lanier, an American musician, poet and author, born in Georgia, who served in the Confederate Army. He wrote "The Marshes of Glynn," an unfinished set of lyrical nature poems that describe the open salt marshes of Glynn County in coastal Georgia. It is believed he wrote the poem while visitng the area in 1875.

Our condo is on the marshes and I don't have a single photo of it! It is a beautiful view. I'm so out of practice writing a blog that I have also stopped taking many photos!

We stopped at Christ Church, a beautiful Episcopalian church built in 1820. 

The huge live oaks dripping with Spanish moss are quintessential. I can't get enough of them!

(This view is from our condo)

We spent the afternoon at the beach, access via East Beach. I love the Georgia (and South Carolina) beaches, so wide and soft. There were jellyfish everywhere, we didn't go in the water at all.

We have many recommendations for restaurants, dinner tonight was at Crabdaddy's Seafood Bar and we all enjoyed our meal.