Monday, April 29, 2019

Jekyll Island, Land of the Relentless Bugs



Easter Sunday started off fun because Dave had a shower companion before we left.


This little guy was just hanging out, representing Florida the best way he knew how.

We look one last romp around the open area with the dogs and started packing up to go to Jekyll Island, Georgia.  First, I want to mention that Mike Roess State Park has positively prehistoric sized pine cones.



Second, we found these two items on our picnic table when we got there and I thought one was an elk or a deer or something, and the other was…. I had no idea.






Then I figured out that the animal goes on the base and the base shows his tracks.  Oh!


Then Dave looked closer and there were antlers and now we see he’s a moose.


We’ve adopted him as our RV mascot.  I think he'll be Mike the Moose, named for the park..


As I have many times this trip, I find myself saying that I’m going to miss this place with its beautiful serenity and lush forests.  Goodbye, Mike Roess State Park.  I am really, really going to miss you.

Our drive to Jekyll Island was only a tad over two hours so in our excitement to make blueberry pancakes with sausage the next day for breakfast, we figured out we need real maple syrup and that means a grocery stop.  Turns out that Publix is closed on Easter Sunday but our pagan friends at Winn Dixie were open and ready to sell us real maple syrup!  We also stopped at Petsmart for Maiya’s food and got gas so Easter Sunday was a day of errands for us.

On our way into Georgia, we stopped at the Georgia Visitors Center for a break and it was quite nice!  Since I don’t drive between states very often I didn’t realize that the visitors centers are a great place for a rest stop.  They have picnic tables, they’re well kept, there are large grassy areas and plenty of room for parking a huge RV.  Dogs got a nice walk, we had a picnic and everyone enjoyed the outstanding weather that came with us from Florida. 

We arrived at Jekyll Island and I gotta say the RV park looked a lot like an enchanted forest.  Well, like a crowded neighborhood in an enchanted forest anyway.  We found our spot and it was nestled right between three other rigs so once you walk out the front door, it’s time to say hi to your neighbors since they’re RIGHT THERE.  Hmmm.  Far cry from the space and quiet of Mike Roess, but I’m cool with it.





There were pine needles covering all the grounds and squirrels everywhere.  Unfortunately, the park was so crowded that letting Maiya off the leash to chase them was out of the question so she spent the next few days looking longingly out at squirrels who came up close to the pen to taunt her.  She shot us looks like we were doing this to torture her but I promise we weren’t.


We sat outside for a while until the sun started to go down and we had to go in because the mosquitos and no-see-ums were horrible.  I got a lot of bites and was ready to call it a day.

Monday I woke up with not one, not two but THREE ticks on me.  OH DEAR GOD.  Thank goodness I’m with the OG Boy Scout because I was one step from hysteria but he took care of them.  However, even the presence of blood sucking parasites wasn’t going to spoil my blueberry pancake with real syrup breakfast.  It was funny because Dave cooked the pancakes outside on his camp stove and all our neighbors are RIGHT THERE so all the other campers knew what we were having for breakfast.

We met Darryl and Molly from Florida who are raising their granddaughter Aubrey, and Darryl is quite the talker.  It’s a far cry from the solitude we’ve had so far but not necessarily unwelcome.  Once the dogs were walked, we put them up and went to Driftwood Beach.  I’ll let the pictures tell you how beautiful and haunting this beach is.











We saw a little bit of wildlife including a crab,


A sea bird (maybe a type of piper?),


 And some sort of bird that looked like a statue because he never moved.


This trunk reminded me of an abstract painting.  Mother Nature can be so artistic.


So many trees.  On a beach!


That afternoon we read and relaxed and finally busted out the puzzle I brought!  It’s 1000 pieces and I have a cool mat that you can roll up if you aren’t finished and it keeps it all in place.  I think the park at Jekyll Island is lovely but we woke up each morning to the trash truck coming down the streets and there are lots of sounds like you’re living in a suburb.  It wasn’t unlike being at home and that wasn’t so appealing.  At Mike Roess we woke up to birds and calm.  I also woke up to numerous additional bug bites that caused me to go through a half a tube of Cortisone cream to keep from itching myself into an ICU.

Uh oh.  I have a feeling nothing will live up to Mike Roess.  Even gorgeous Jekyll Island.

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