Jekyll Island…Did Not Find Hyde Island:)

One of the gorgeous sights to see all around Jekyll island.

We have long heard of Jekyll Island and yearned to see its fabulous beaches with wonderful scenery and temperatures. The time had come. Our friends Karen and Sam bought a house there a number of years back so they can spend winters down there and rent it out in the summertime. The entire Island is considered a Georgia State Park. This means no one can buy land there. If you buy a house you lease the land. The amount of land that has already been developed is all that can be developed. No more businesses or homes unless they are replacing an existing one of the same size. The entire island is about 7 miles long and 3 miles wide with a wonderful bicycle path all the way around the perimeter. We had to pay $8 per day as a fee to cross the bridge to the state park. We parked our camper right in Karen’s driveway and stayed in her “in-law-apartment” for 3 nights. She took us on a long bike ride each day. She has become very knowledgeable about the area and its history.

We ended up just squeezing our rig between all the really nice vegetation.

This beach had a fantastic amount of driftwood, hence its name.

This sea bird was king of the driftwood for the moment.

The bird is named an anhinga. Very cool to watch it in action. They are called the “snake bird” as when it dives for a meal only its neck is visible above the surface looking like a water snake.

This secluded spot is called the “Rookery”. There were egrets and herons galore. All those little white specks are egrets. The heron blend in color-wise so are tough to see.

Here is a short video clip of the pod of dolphins we encountered while riding our bikes near the beach:

We took a nice bike ride every day we were there. Along with the continuous bike path circumnavigating the island are many “offshoots” from one side of the island to the other. Sooooo cool.

Karen pointed out this fabulous eagles nest in the background. Who is it rooting for in the super bowl?

All over the island these poor trees have just a bit of a windswept haircut. Cool.

Here is a fabulous artifact. During the Spanish American War in 1899, these rotating cannon bases were placed on the shore of the island. The possibility of a Spanish incursion there was minimal but the old Civil War era cannons were just collecting dust so why not. As the war lasted only 9 months, they were never used and the actual cannon were removed around 1900. Interesting the bases were left there to rust into oblivion.

The Jekyll Island Club, with all of its turn of the century charm warmly invites its guests, and non-guests like us, to tour its clubhouse and fabulous grounds. We did not take part in any horse drawn carriage rides this time around.

There was a closed door 10 day conference of the country’s financial leaders in 1910. Much groundwork was laid for the 1913 creation of the Federal Reserve. Most of the discussion revolved around how to set interest rates.

We pedaled into the parking lot of a Georgia 4-H club and found the main building open so we took a look around. Nice that folks are not so paranoid here about visitors. Not sure why I chose to be Laurie’s parrot but why not. No nicer shoulder to stand on in the world, for me that is.

As Jekyll Island is a golf mecca of sorts, most of the island’s water towers are shaped and painted like a golf ball sitting on a tee.

We will leave you with a short video of a not so active armadillo I saw when riding the 20 mile loop around the island’s bike trail. We have seen many of these reptile-like creatures over the years but they are always dead on the side of the road. Nice to see one in action.

We will end this post with a family pic of my cousin Wendy and her husband John. We stopped by their place in Dothan, Alabama directly after visiting Jekyll Island. A nice dinner was had along with much conversation regarding our currently overlapping lives, at least for a day:)

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