Cold Wet Nose

Our last full day on the island, Jana, Steven, Jessica, Gwen, and I all went sea-kayaking. We started with a quick lesson on how to paddle and steer, then shoved off into a little river running through the marsh. The guide was very pleasant and told us a variety of stories about the marsh and the history of the area. We saw a whole variety of birds hanging out in the marsh and even some big clumps of little itty bitty crabs.

After about 30 or 45 mins of paddling, we headed over to a sandy beach just upstream from where the river dumped into the ocean. Since the tide was heading out, we had to be careful not to get swept out to sea… though I still argue that it would have been fun to ride the tide out for a way. After securing the boats on shore, we walked around to the ocean-side beach to look for sand-dollars, sea shells, and whatever curiosities we could find.

Steven and Jessica spotted a bright white crab scurrying across the beach, so we all went over to take a look. The crab was pretty patient with us, and even held our sand dollar for us while we took its picture.

This was pretty much the end of the kayak trip, save a 15 minute paddle down the shore to the take out point. This would have been the end of the kayak story if Jana hadn’t walked barefoot through an oyster bed… I wish a had a photo, but suffice it to say that she was limping home from the trip.

That night we had a wonderful mean prepared by Jana and Jessica: Shimp and Grits! Mmmm… Tasty.

And so our time on St. Simon’s Island came to an end. A wonderful breakfast at the local café capped it all off…

Click the photos above or visit http://www.dstovall.org/albums/st-simons-island for more photos.

Editor’s Note: Image and link URLs updated on 2008.05.26

This day was a chance for me to work on my presentation for ESSPE 2007… so Gwen, Jana, Stephen, Jessica, and Rebecca all took off to tour Sapelo Island. I’m told it was a lot of fun and included a few frames of bowling…

Click the photos above or visit http://www.dstovall.org/albums/vacation/st-simons-island-2007 for more photos.

Editor’s Note: Image and link URLs updated on 2008.05.26

This morning, Gwen and Jana woke up with more energy then the rest of us combined… Go figure.

Gracie found a nice old soccer ball that Havoc brought to play with and decided to tear all the plastic covering off the ball. While this did result in a fair mess, it keep her entertained for a good hour, so we were happy to pick it up after.

Stephen, Jessica, and Rebecca took off early to catch the tide and hopefully a box full or crabs. Gwen rented a bike, and Jana donned her roller-blades to go visit them and check on the progress. It took a while to sort out how to rent a bike, but they made quite a pair once they got going…

I got to spend a little time by myself to read my book… so all in all, this was a really good morning all ’round. And how do you end a relaxing morning? BBQ of course…

We spend some time after lunch at the various shops within walking distance of the condo. In particular, we found some great stuff at A Pain in the Glass including sea glass and a cool little articulated crab for the Christmas tree.

Gracie, Gwen and I went swimming after our little outing… This was Gracie’s first real chance to swim.. and she did ok. It’s clearly not her favorite thing to do, but she’s capable and not too scared.

Click the photos above or visit http://www.dstovall.org/albums/vacation/st-simons-island-2007 for more photos.

Editor’s Note: Image and link URLs updated on 2008.05.26

Jana, Gwen and I got up early this morning and went for a quick run… ~25 mins. The sleepy streets and the wide variety of architecture sure made for a pleasant run… not to mention the fresh sea breeze.

Since it’s ill-advised to exercise the body and not the mind, Gwen and Jana immediately dove into cross-word puzzles when we returned…

For lunch, we headed "into town" to a place called Barbara Jean’s. Both the brochure and the locals told us that they had the best sweet-tea this side of the Mississippi (which also means the best sweet-tea anywhere), so we had to give it a try… all except me, ‘cuz I’m from the west where tea isn’t sweet… The regular tea was great, the jalapano corn-bread was wonderful, and the "She Crab Soup" was just what I needed.

Unfortunately, not all of our group was so lucky. It seems that some people don’t drink sweet tea so often, and the sudden influx of sugar was no appreciated by the digestive tract of two in our group. This lead to a hasty retreat back to the condo, which (if I remember correctly) was promptly followed by a good nap.

After my nap, I headed out to the Win Dixie (supermarket) to pick up some lunch supplies. I was still a bit drowsy which led me to leave my camera in the shopping cart after I loaded the car, and left it in the middle of the parking lot. After driving back to the condo, I realized my mistake and jetted back to the store. In reality, since this was an island, and it’s Georgia, I really had nothing to worry about.. the camera was safe and sound at the business desk. Thanks Win Dixie!

Click the photos above or visit http://www.dstovall.org/albums/vacation/st-simons-island-2007 for more photos.

Editor’s Note: Image and link URLs updated on 2008.05.26

After a quick run on Saturday morning, we finished packing the last few items into the car, put Simone the Hula-Girl on the dash, and off we went towards Georgia.

Before long, we had to stop for lunch, and due to a distinct lack in Popeye’s restaurants, we had to settle for Wattaburger. We got the burgers and chicken to go, and found a shady spot near-by to let the cog run around. I think she was as glad as we were to get out of the car, but then she was just as happy to jump right back in…

Though we drove hard and fast, we only made it to Gulfport, Mississippi before dark. Lucky for us, Gwen thought ahead and brought the phone numbers for a bunch of Motel 6’s along. So when we stopped for dinner we called ahead to make a reservation… Alas, all they had was an "accessible" room. Well, if the rest of the hotel is full, then sure, I suppose that will work just fine.What the guy on the phone didn’t know, is that the accessible rooms were (a) small, (b) ugly, (c) smelly, and (d) right next to the pool. Now most of this I could just accept and sleep through, but the gaggle of 5-year-olds that were running in and out of the rooms on either side of ours to the pool made it just bad enough that we decided to relocate… to another hotel if need be.

Room 106 was our original assignment. Don’t let the calm water fool you, this was taken the next day…

Luckily, they had another room on the back-side of the hotel, on the second floor. Much quiter, though it was still smelly, ugly, etc. Of course, this didn’t phase Gracie the the slightest… she hopped right into bed and made herself at home.

So, that’s Saturday… we made it about half of the way, so when we got up early on Sunday, I was pretty optomistic about getting to St. Simon’s Island in time for dessert. Of course, the mutual decision to skip our Sunday morning jog helped a lot too…So a quick bit to eat at some fast food place and a large mocha from the local coffee shop was all we needed before jumping back on I-10. And to be honest, it was really a pretty decent drive. The highway was in good shape, and the drivers were all reasonably courteous. Even when the famous Florida rainstoms hit, most everyone turned their flashers on, slowed down to a crawl, and fell right into a long vegas-esque snake of blinking orange lights.

Once we got through the rain, we found ourselves just outside Jacksonville and only an hour from St. Simon’s Island… we were going to make it in pleanty of time for Dinner. Thanks to Jana’s perfect instructions to the condo, we drove right to the condo and pulled into the parking space just as everyone came down to meet us.

The condo was a wonderful place. 3 bedrooms with space to sleep all six of us. We even got a bathroom and an exterior door to ourselves! After hauling everything up to the room, and getting "the tour", we headed on down the street to dinner.

As you might expect, it was seafood all-round. I had some great fried shrimp while Gwen hunkered down on a plate full of crab (go figure). Jana did her best to eat her crab, but it fought back a bit and left an embarrassing mark on her…

Click the photos above or visit http://www.dstovall.org/albums/vacation/st-simons-island-2007 for more photos.

Editor’s Note: Image and link URLs updated on 2008.05.26