Spring 2022 Family Trip

 I am seriously behind on my blogging! May 2nd through the 16th was FAMILY time.  We stayed at Hanna Park (where we stayed before) in Jacksonville, Florida. It was only about 15 to 20 minutes away from Julia, hubby and kiddos.  It was so great catching up with her and they are all thriving. I think William is 13 and Emily is 11. They are both happy children who were delightful. Julia and Dave are wonderful parents. We mainly just hung out at their beautiful Sawgrass Community. Julia and I had fun having a girl's date one day though, going shopping at Marshall's a first for me. I love that store!  Here are some highlights:  Kayaking at Hanna State park: Kayak Launch Egrets nesting At the beach in Sawgrass Community Hightower pool at sunset. 

 The Georgia State Tree is the Live Oak. They say that you can tell the Elders because it takes 100 years to grow up, the next 100 years to grow out and the last 100 years for limbs to grow to the ground.  Here is a picture of that:  We went on a beautiful bike ride on Riverview drive. Read some more of the history then rewarded ourselves with a beverage at the Wharf. A wonderful experience 7.5 miles. 

 We started our tour on Sunday with "the cottages" tour. These were the elaborate dwelling of the rich and famous who settled the island as a hunting preserve 1878 until WWII. They lived in luxurious conditions throughout that time, spending winters on the island for their exclusive use. What also caught my eye was the entourage of servants they brought with them to support their lifestyle. They had electricity and indoor plumbing early on. The pictures below depict one of the cottages. The cabinet is an ice box (ice on top to keep food cold). This was one of the few houses who had a kitchen. Most cottages did not as everyone ate at the club house.  You can read more about the history here Another interesting story was the segregation on the island once the State took over the Island after WWII. Many of those hired to work on the Island were African Americans. (at 20% less pay than their White counterparts). They lived on the island in a Jim Crow South. What to do? They had t...

We spent the last couple of days exploring St. Simon's and Jekyll Islands in Georgia.  Again, in  St. Simon's  we took a trolley tour. This time we had a born and raised St. Simon's native. She brought a lot of Georgia Southern hospitality charm to her narrative. She was a retired teacher and very well informed, providing a great snapshot of the island's history and culture.  She captured the colonial period under General Oglethorpe (he was a busy man setting up Georgia cities for success). She also sensitively captured the history of St. Simon's history although painting a pretty romantic picture of the relationship between the enslaved and their enslavers.  What was most interesting to me was the history of Christ Church (Episcopal) on the Island. It was founded in 1820; destroyed during the Civil war and then rebuilt in 1885 by Anson Dodge. The Dodge family itself is very interesting, having come from the North and part of the rebuilding of the area.  My...

 We were only in Savannah for a day. When that happens we tend to use tours like Hop-On, Hop-off trolley tours.  We were able to revisit the beauty of Savannah squares and spend some time on the river. We had lunch at Fiddlers: Oysters Rockefeller and blackened fish tacos. We were able to sit in an upstairs balcony.  Some highlights from the tour was seeing the first and second baptist churches. The first church was built by and served enslaved people. The second church was where Dr. Martin Luther King first gave his "I Have a Dream" Speech.  It was interesting to hear about James Ogelthorpe who founded Savannah, responsible for the layout of the city and many other innovations. His name is everywhere.  There was much more of a focus on the Revolution this time around visiting the city and much less mention of the Civil War, which I found interesting.  I recommend these types of tours because it gives you a decent overview of a city and ideas where to visi...