Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Tour De South, Jekyll Island

I've wanted to visit Jekyll Island for a long time.  Basically all of the barrier islands along the East Coast have great reputations, and Jekyll looked like a good stop for us between our hotel and Tampa.  The drive out to the island was beautiful.  The island was beautiful, too.  Amazing old southern oaks coupled with restored Victorian mansions and lovely beaches make it pretty idyllic.


Getting out the car is bliss.




There were some pretty amazing photo ops with all of those neat old buildings.  I, however, only had a few spare minutes and one un-napped, hungry toddler for a model.  Besides, it was starting to rain.  I settled on some shots with an old oak and wished desperately that I had a wider angle lens.


Daddy's leg is proof that baby was safe- he was holding her shirt.
  I could have laid down in the nook of that tree!




As idyllic as it was there, there's no such thing as heaven on Earth.  I, for one, was reading the second Hunger Games book on the drive before the island.  Part of that book takes place on what appears to be a pretty idyllic beach paradise, too.  Except it's not.  And after awhile, what with the atrocious man-eating bugs, I began to feel like a character in the games.   
 


Those dolphins were no more than 30 feet from the shore.  Were it not for the hundreds of crazy-looking jellyfish littering the water and shoreline, and my strong suspicion that those dolphins were actually dolphin Muttations (sorry, another Hunger Games reference) I would have jumped in and swam with them.

We were trying to walk to Driftwood Beach, but it turned out to be too treacherous.  I guess we would have failed pretty miserably in the real Hunger Games.  So we went back.  At least we saw a little driftwood.


Even when you are miserable and have a bleeding head from zillions of gnat bites, Daddy can still make it better.

One time, when for whatever reason I was supposed to be paying my husband a compliment, I told him matter-of-factly, "You have broad shoulders."  He argued that was a statement and not a compliment.  I submit the above picture as evidence #1 that it was, in fact, a compliment.

Finally, we had to leave the arena behind and hit the road again.  We drove through more storms, I had another whiney melt-down or two, the baby did great and actually napped a little, and we saw this rainbow.


Just when I thought I couldn't take a moment longer, we made it.  Made it from Maryland to Florida.  GiGi had cookies ready and waiting, and the family was happy.

 
  

3 comments:

  1. Looks like such a FUN vacation! Isn't it funny how your eyes start seeing everything photographically? The first thing I think when I see a beautiful scene now is, "I want to do a photo shoot here!" I guess the camera really does teach you how to find beauty:).

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  2. Love the pictures! Especially the one of Wavy in the hat! Too stinkin cute!

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  3. Anonymous11:55 PM

    Oh my goodness. These photos. Taylor. You have SUCH an eye! They are beautiful!

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