December 16 & 17, 2015
Well we’re on the road again. We left home the day after Thanksgiving (11/27/15) and began our travels with a trip to Myrtle Beach SC. A two week stay at Briarcliff RV Resort was a great place to start. We met up with family and did a lot of walking. Barefoot Landing and Broadway at the Beach provided us with lots of fun walking. They both offer lots of high end stores and outside fresh air. Barefoot Landing has 3 bridges that go over water and is peaceful and serene. I found a few things that I haven’t seen before so made a couple of small purchases.
We walked downtown a few times and enjoyed the quiet side of the strip since it is off season right now. The big ferris wheel was running a few times when we were there but we didn’t feel the urge to hop on lol. Walking along the beach on the ocean was an absolute treat. The days were comfortable and we could have stayed out there for hours (actually we did stay out there for hours).
Left there and headed to Georgia. Stopping in Brunswick for a few days we travelled back to Savannah on the 16th. Loved the Historic Downtown area. We took a 90 minute trolley tour and got a good lay of the land. The town is set along a riverfront and goes back about a mile. there are ‘squares’/parks in the center of several intersections. The large oak trees are all dripping with spanish moss and are hundreds of years old. In the ‘historic district’ everything must remain true to its original structure or period. There are new buildings that look just like the old ones right next to them. The brick color is the same and they maintain the general architectural design from that period. Loved this area and one could spend days just walking the waterfront and local streets. Lots of shopping and small dining opportunities.
Today we took in Jekyll Island. Again, the history is amazing! The island was bought by a few wealthy men from the northeast and they formed a hunting club on the island. The homes they built were to be simple since there was no one there to impress. Most of the homes did not have kitchens since they were all to take their meals together at the Jekyll Island Clubhouse. It is said that when they all joined for dinners the room contained 6% of the worlds’ wealth.
Most members came to the island for the winter season from January 1st to March 31st. Families and staff came with them and women were given all rights that the men had on the island. The majority of the homes were built on the Jekyll River side of the island so the evenings could be spent watching the sun set and enjoy a gentle breeze instead of the stronger winds on the ocean side.
We enjoyed a 90 minute tour of the historic area. Because there were only 8 of us on the tour the guide treated us to special viewing of areas that are not on the usual tour. We were permitted to go to the upper floors of the two homes we toured. The homes were beautiful but simple. The time (early 1800’s) was a time when the servant staff was to be seen but not heard. There were separate doors in the back for the staff to come and go from. There was also a separate back stairway for them to travel in. The owners were people of leisure and didn’t want to see anyone else work either lol. They didn’t want to make their own beds but then again they didn’t want to see someone else make it either. It would seem that there was just a bedroom fairy that came in and did the chores when no one was looking lol.
The Island was bought by the State of Georgia and turned into a park. All of the original furnishings and sculptures were put into one building and the buildings were refurbished and then furnished to the best of their knowledge back to the original.
It was such a beautiful day we decided to lunch on the porch of the Jekyll Island Hotel and it took you back in time to the early 1800’s to be sure. So peaceful and being off season there were no crowds.
After lunch we drove around the island and stopped for a walk on Driftwood Beach. This is an experience that you won’t see every day. The whole shoreline is littered with whole trees (roots and all) that have been weathered to driftwood. Again, no crowds.
It was a lovely day enjoying a history of days gone by. The thing that most impressed me was the LARGE oak trees that are dripping with spanish moss. They are IMPRESSIVE!!!
We head to Florida tomorrow. We plan on moving every couple of weeks but if an opportunity presents itself to stay longer in a spot we like then we’ll jump at it.
