Jekyll Island - Last Day

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Okay, Blair informed me last night it's high time I wrapped up this vacation narrative so here it is -- The Final Day.

We were at loose ends when we woke up Thursday morning. Jekyll Island is small and, Putt-Putt aside, we'd pretty much done most of what there was to do yesterday with the bike riding and the walking on the beach.

We decided to bike ride again. Fun, but ouch, my butt was hurting something fierce from that seat. After the bike ride we played croquet where, unbelievably, Blair beat me twice. Beginner's luck. We hit the stores, had lunch, and then headed out to the beach where we plopped ourselves on the sand for the next 5 hours.

Napped, took long walks, and walked far, far, far into the ocean on a sand bar. That was wild. We must have been a good 1/2 mile into the ocean but the water was only up to our knees. We found the shell of a big hermit crab and then a perfectly formed sand dollar which we guarded by our towels, only to have Blair put it in is pocket for safekeeping for the drive back to the hotel and accidentally break it. So much for the free souvenir.

We saw a baby alligator floating beneath the pier of a restaurant. (The question everyone was asking was, "Where's momma?")We dressed up for a romantic dinner in the Grand Dining Room, or what could have been a romantic dinner if they hadn't kept the AC at sub-zero temperatures so my teeth chattered through the whole meal. I am sick to death of freezing my ass off every time I go into a restaurant. It ruins the meal and I'm not happy about having to huddle in a wool sweater in the middle of summer.

We woke up early the next day (4:30 again), packed and were out the door by 5:30. I slept quite a bit so we didn't even stop for breakfast but went straight through to lunch and ended up home a little before 2. I of course immediately emptied the suitcase and began washing clothes (I can't STAND a packed suitcase sitting around the house) and Blair collapsed on the bed. The cats acted indifferent to our return. All was back to normal.

THE END

Jekyll Island - Day 2

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Rested, refreshed and, of course, up early, we're out the door. First thing on our agenda is renting bikes to ride around the island. Our hotel provides them and within 5 minutes we're off and peddling (Blair feeling slightly emasculated because they were girl bikes with no manly top bar on them).

We stopped at different ruins and plaques around the island as we biked. At one point we stopped to admire the waterway and there was a beautiful tree with some small, delicate blossoms on it. I leaned in and inhaled.

"They're pretty," I commented, "but they don't smell much."

"Just like you," said Blair. I stared at him.

"What? I said you're pretty," he said.

"And I don't smell much," I added.

He smiled. "Yeah. That too."

(People ask me if my husband is romantic and I say sure, he's romantic...)

The island had great bike trails and we circled practically the entire island in under 3 hours, and that was with many stops along the way. We biked out to the fishing pier and watched the shrimp boats. Then we headed toward the beach.

The bike path runs parallel to the beach. The great thing about this island is there's an ordinance that homes can't be built on the beach. So it's wonderfully open and clean and you don't get the feeling like you do at so many other beaches that all the land is taken. Indeed, one day we went for a walk and probably went 1/2 mile on the beach and only saw 3-4 other people.

Anyway, there are benches along the bike path on the beach and we pulled over to rest and admire the ocean. Suddenly, I grabbed Blair's arm. "Look!" I said.

Jumping out of the water every few feet was a dolphin. We sat in silence and watched it make its way across the water. Sun, bikes, ocean, dolphin. It was a good day.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that VERY early that morning, before we got on the bikes, we did take a short walk on the beach and came across turtle flipper tracks, where 2 turtles had pushed themselves from the rocks into the water. Very cool.

After the bike ride we had lunch then headed out to the hotel pool where we both proceeded to fall asleep and Blair actually woke himself up from snoring.

Had a disappointing dinner at Crane cottage which everyone on the Island was raving about. Took another brief walk as the sun set (looking again at the flowers that are pretty but don't smell, just like me) then headed inside.

One full day left and then we were homeward bound.