Savannah and Jekyll Island

We arrived at Jim's brother's house in Savannah in time for Friday happy hour and a wonderful dinner of Coq au Vin (au Riesling) and salad from their garden.  Denise is a fabulous, inventive cook.  Rick and Denise live in a lovely golf community, The Landings, on Skidaway Island in Savannah.  Their house is absolutely gorgeous and very comfortable.  The two of them practically run their community:  Denise as Vice President of the golf association and Rick as President of the Board for the neighborhood.  They took time out of their busy schedules to entertain us for the weekend.

Enjoying the beautiful deck at their house

We did some shopping and
went to the art fair in downtown Savannah
one day.  

We just love roaming the streets of Savannah.
The downtown is full of antebellum mansions,
beautiful flowers, magnolia and oak trees and
lots of spanish moss.

One day, Rick took Boo for a walk while Jim and I enjoyed the Aquarium right in the Landings.

I can't remember the names of these amazing fish-lion fish?

Horseshoe crab

Jellies-beautiful beings for being so annoying

My favorite:  a burrfish with the most
beautiful bright blue eyes.

These guys had us laughing out loud.  They
loved getting up front and personal.

Good looking brothers

I couldn't decide which of these pictures I liked best.

   

Rick was helping me with lighting and cropping.

Loved this big old oak tree with hanging moss.  The picture doesn't do it justice.
We wandered through the woods along the Jay Wolf Nature Trail.

We found the marshes fascinating. Apparently
this area has amazing, regular high tides.

 Rick took a couple of cute pictures of us on the boardwalk.

We left Monday morning to see friends from San Carlos but plans changed at the last minute, so we headed down to Jekyll Island, one of the Golden Islands, a place we had always wanted to see.  It has a rich history beginning with the establishment of a settlement of Muskogian native americans from the Creek tribe, who fished, grew pumpkins, corn and beans and harvested local nuts and berries.  The Europeans came in the early 1500s and in the 1700s established plantations and a military post.  It became famous as a playground for the rich and famous in the 1800s and many of the fancy mansions and clubs are now part of a well-preserved historic district.

The entrance to the island is breathtaking.
The sides of the road are lined with beautiful
saltbush and pines and welcoming birds.  

The island is a 7 mile wonderland of oak forests, dunes,
white sand beaches tidal marshes, moss, pines, and abundant wildlife.

We got all excited about eating at Latitude 31 because it was dog friendly and supposedly had a fantastic "rah" bar.  Our luck - it was closed on Mondays!

We were somewhat compensated with thoughts of eating here.

Athena had told us of a wonderful place on the north end of the island, called Driftwood Beach.  We had a grand time walking this beautiful work of art!

Boo did his typical running and barking at the waves.