Even More Vacation Pictures

The waves at Jekyll Island were the hardest thing to figure out. My family (aside from me - I take a passel of books and a comfy lawn chair) loves to body surf. At times the waves were quite calm and it wasn't really possible to do any body surfing. But when the waves were big - they were very, very big. And Rough. Alex got tossed once and ended up with a huge sand burn on her belly.

Look at these waves! They weren't like some beaches where you get one good one, then a few small ones, then another good one. These were rolling in, one after the other. If you weren't prepared for them you were tossed. I saw more bare bottoms from surprised wave riders than I cared to see. There were actully people surfing one day.

I took this video as the waves were waning but they were still pretty good. Anthony was still enjoying them.

When the tide was in, the waves went all the way to the rocks at the sand dunes. We had to put our stuff on the rocks to keep it from getting washed away. After a couple of days, we figured out that the best waves to play in were the waves right after high tide. We/they made sure to be there as high tide was peaking and then we/they had several hours of really good fun. When the waves starting easing up a bit the kids had a contest to see who could find the most sand dollars. The last day we were there the count was around 85. We did have Alex with us so you can be sure we didn't keep the live sand dollars. If they are alive they have "hairs" on the edges and if they are dead they are smooth. Several other sand dollar hunters got "the look" from Al when they had their hands full of live sand dollars. I love that about her.

Oh, look who went with us!! I think this is the only picture I'm in...

I still have lots-o-pictures from the beach. Sorry, I took MANY...

Jekyll Island

While we were at the beach last week, I wanted to go through the historic district of Jekyll Island. That, however, was not on Alex's agenda. Nothing is on Alex's agenda if it involves learning or reading. And she doesn't hide that fact either.

Jekyll Island's recorded history goes back to 1562. It includes the Spanish, pirates, indians, the British, the Civil War, and most recently the millionaires. This island was purchased in 1886 as a winter vacation destination for many of Wall Street's most well known financiers, 93 of them to be exact. They called it the Jekyll Island Club. They would spend January through Easter at Jekyll Island. They called it their "hunting camp."

This is the Jekyll Island Club Hotel. It is HUGE with very pricey lodging available.

I love the Live Oak trees with the Spanish moss.

Inside the Jekyll Island Club Hotel.

Can you tell how much Alex was enjoying this tour of the hotel? It's evident in how she appears to be walking to, oh, maybe a hanging. Her hanging. She is very good at making everyone know how miserable she is.

Needless to say, we didn't stay long on this particular day in the historic district. Of course, since we were there already though, we might as well go to the Sweets Shoppe. And get some fudge. And Icee's. And candy sticks. And a caramel chocolate cup. And a peanut butter cup.

The next day we tried again. We rode our bikes to the historic district where Anthony and I were going to do a guided tour and Alex and Tony were going to go on back on their bikes. This day, too, we ended up at the Sweets Shoppe and no tour. We had missed the last tour of the day.

The third time's the charm, though. We had Tony take us on Thursday and drop us off for the very first tour of the day.

Finally.

The families who were members of this elite Jekyll Island Club were families such as Pulitzer, Goodyear, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, J.P. Morgan, and Macy to name a few. These are pictures of their "cottages." They were roughing it, after all. They were wintering in 8,000 square foot homes - they called it camping...

I thought this cottage was interesting... See the hole in the back yard that looks like a swimming pool? Well, it's not. They stretched canvas on poles around this area, which is where they washed their "unmentionables" since it was poor etiquette for anyone to see them.

This is an indoor tennis court - wouldn't want to play outside during these temperate southern Georgia winters.

The casino housed another tennis court, rifle range, bowling alley, and game rooms.

The Jekyll Island Club flourished until complications from WWII forced its closure. It was eventually bought by the state of Georgia and turned into a state park. Right now, Jekyll Island is approximately 35% developed - which is all that is allowed. There are no traffic lights on the island and most of the shops close up early, about 8 o'clock. It is a very slow, quiet island.

I enjoyed doing the tour of the historic district of Jekyll Island and I am very thankful that I have ONE child who loves these tours as much as I do. Anthony has decided this was one of his favorite parts of our vacation.

Fresh Seafood

This past week we went camping at Jekyll Island in Georgia (Joja as pronounced by a true Jojan). Near our campground was a fishing pier, which is where Anthony spent most of his time. The first thing he wanted to catch was blue crab. He bought the net, bought the chicken necks, and took off on his bike. By the time I got there to check it out, he had several in his cooler. To catch the blue crabs, you tie a chicken neck to the bottom of a collapsible basket, drop it in the water, and wait. You pull the basket up every 15 minutes or so to see if there are any crabs eating the chicken neck. The trick, if you have caught any, is getting them from the basket to the cooler. Anthony tried just reaching in and grabbing it but after being pinched so hard it cracked his fingernail and made the underside of his finger bleed, he took the advice of an experienced fisherwoman and held the crabs down with the toe of his shoe until he could get a good grip. He and Alex caught lots of crabs in a short amount of time.

In less than two hours they went from the ocean, to this cooler, then to this pan that we just happened to bring along.

Now, lest you think we are just coldhearted seafood eatin' fools, I should tell you that we learned a little bit along the way. This is a male blue crab. You can tell that by the T-shape on his under belly. (And we learned that if you hold him behind his legs he can't reach your fingers.)

This is the female blue crab, evidenced by the rounded shape on her belly. This is absolutely useless information unless you happen to be on Jeopardy one day with a topic of blue crabs. Then you may thank me.

This is what you do with the crabs, male or female, after you catch them and place them in the nice basket you just happened to bring along.

Blue crabs turn red when they are cooked...

Then, when you dip them in garlic butter...

They completely disappear.