March 2012 in the South (Sorta of) . . .

This past March we journeyed south (that is, after Janet retuned from a week at Sanibel Island in Florida).  Our purpose was threefold: obviously number one objective was to visit with our beautiful granddaughter, Emilia; to meet our dear friends from Canada, the Brownlies and participate in an Elderhostel (actually, now it's known as Road Scholar) program touring Georgia's barrier islands, and, to start the entire trip, a quick visit to Charleston, SC.

Our two day drive to Charleston included our "regular" lay-over in New Market, VA, thence to Charleston.  In Charleston, we stayed at a lovely hotel called the Ansonborough Inn, a converted paper mill.  And, of course, we had to have a meal at Hyman's - although I must forewarn those with a northern background not to expect too much when it comes to southern fried clams.   We toured the historic district in the city.  We even returned to the grave yard behind the largest church in the historic district to see if we could find the headstone for that departed lady whose engraved tombstone we found so interesting (we couldn't recall the precise verbiage but it seems the woman was considered chattel.  We visited the relatively new aquarium and thoroughly enjoyed it.  To check out our Charleston photos, click here.

We then drove to St. Simon, one of the Georgia barrier islands where our program was headquartered, and met Joan and John Brownlie to start our exploration of three of the thirteen barrier islands off Georgia.  We toured (and sometimes studied) the island of St. Simon, Jekyll Island, and Sapelo Island.  Jekyll was where the northern industrialists, suffering from the chills of the north's winter, decided to build their own island retreat.  It was also, like several of the other barrier islands, a cotton and rice growing enterprise. 

St. Simon was where we walked the beach with our group's expert to examine the marine life found there - retiring to the golf course complex where we stayed during the week.

Probably the most interesting island was Sapelo with its history of plantation development to support cotton and rice crops; especially of interest was the native population that had lived there for centuries.  It was on this island that a truly memorable estate was erected, last owned by the Reynold's family of tabacco fame.  We had the best fried chicken there for lunch that I've ever had in the States.  Then we toured the building with its many bedrooms, a private bowling alley, and, at the top of the structure, the circus room.  Realizing that this was an island withno road link to the mainland, it was quite a structure.  Click here for all of our barrier island photos.

Following our educational sojourn, we headed to Athens, Georgia to meet Douglas, Veronica, and Emilia.  It was a wonderful visit.  Emilia, then about 14 months old, was beginning the process of standing up - not quite walking but oh so close to it.  As usual, Veronica managed to create her extraordinarily exquisite dinners.  It was just the perfect conclusion to a wonderful adventure in a Georgia we never realized existed.  Click here for our photos in Athens.