Ready to overdose on sunrises?

The view from our cabana room at the King and Prince See how close the dolphin was feeding? At first I thought it was a shark, but there were two dolphins that fed in the same place pretty much every morning right at sunrise. If you click on this picture to make it larger and then scroll to the right you can see the birds sitting out on the spit and hence why the dolphin feed where they do. When the tide comes in, fish get trapped between the shore and the spit. Makes for easy pickin's. Believe me you are lucky I only put in three pictures... I even have a video of the sunrise with the dolphins... it is kind of long, but I love it and it puts me back in the "island" mode so I have watched it almost every day since we came home. Maybe I'll post it in a couple of days Wood was photographing a ship that was coming into the port there... it was so cool to watch its progress while the sun was rising.

Okefenokee Swamp

The Swamp was pretty devastated from the horrendous fires that burned for a couple of months last summer. You may wonder how a fire can burn through a swamp? Due to the drought it was dry! We were told it is still down several feet. Going through on the boat ride through the swamp was indeed a little dicey because the water was so lowThe Water is almost pitch black. Our very colorful swamp boat captain demonstrated its healthful qualities by scooping out a glassful, reminding us that it looked like ice tea and then proceeded to drink it. YUK! he offered me some...you can guess my response :-) We went to a critter show which really was a snake and alligator show. This guy was REALLY a character. I loved his snakes. We got to get up close and personal with each of them and were able to touch them to feel the differences in their scaly skins. We had to keep our hands in our laps for the immature alligators he pulled out for us to see (1yr to 4 yr old) There were a couple of walkways through the swamp that you could take. These guys were looking like they were just waiting for a slight misstep by one of us.... while they were sunning themselves, of course.

You know me and birds. I believe this was an injured Harris hawk... I know it looks like a redtail, but I think it is too dark for that. Old Roy meet a peaceful end to his long life last year and they decided to stuff him and put him on display. You can see here how low the swamp still is as well as the results from the fire. The trees are all fairly blackened and the underbrush has not quite grown back. I am very glad we visited in winter as I only got about 5 no seeum bites. Also our swamp boat guide said the 5 types of poisonous snakes that live in the swamp were all still hibernating otherwise they would be giving us quite a show as they "are everywhere". Believe it or not, lots of black bear live in the swamp as well.

I'm hard to please.... or I know what I like and I like what I know

Monday we drove up to Savannah and then on to Hilton Head South Carolina. Ok so we just drove around Savannah and we drove around Hilton Head and maybe I would like each of them more if we either stayed there or at least got out and walked about some. Let me tell you there are more golf courses and resorts on Hilton Head then you can shake a stick at. They are everywhere. Also there are no advertising signs that are higher than about 3 ft and then are all very unobtrusive (read hard to find anything) Hilton Head has the reputation of being the place to go.... and it was pretty don't get me wrong. And we did have a very nice lunch/dinner looking out over the intercoastal waterway. BUT give me my quiet, cabana room on the beach in St. Simons. Got to watch the sun rise this morning and another dolphin/porpoise feeding. Various shore birds too. Locals out walking their dogs in the early morning quiet. In to the town today to walk through shops. And then off to Okefenokee swamp tomorrow. Can't wait. Been a life long desire to see that swamp. I LOVE this vacation.

The best!

We've come for our annual visit to the King and Prince resort at St. Simon's Island. Nothing better than coming to the beach in February. We have a cabana room which opens right out on to our own private patio and then right out to the beach. We arrived at high tide with the water crashing just below the wall which separates the beach from the resort. Dolphins were bobbing up and down just about a hundred feet out feeding as the tide started to recede and the sun was setting. I'm in heaven.

KerPLUNK!!!

There is nothing less graceful then falling .... plop.. splatt...on either the concrete or some semblance of a very hard (very hard) brick sidewalk/crosswalk thing in front of other folks (read in public!) We were warned that the streets were icy when we left work from DC tonight. I tried to walk carefully but that ice just sneaks up on you and before you know it you are no longer vertical but some semblance of a splattered horizonital uncoordinated mass of arms and legs. Luckily nothing broken, just a sore butt (I can say butt instead of bum on my own blog..... I might even say ass ;-) and a bit of a head ache forming, but other wise just slightly humiliated like the cyclist that wiped out just seconds after I did - luckily on the sidewalk and not the street). Been hearing sirens all night... guess the roads are just too treacherous for DC drivers as well. Hope it doesn't impact the Potomac vote too much :-) Ah for a nice, relaxing, peaceful Westin hotel room (this one in Arlington,VA is the BEST!)

A man and his machine

Well we finally did it. Wood got his Harley on Thursday and we are an official biker family... complete with leather. We already had some leather jackets but will need to get some official 'biker' keep all you skin intact ones. I asked Wood to get back on the bike for this picture so he left off the helmet and right shoes.... brr riding in those puppies would be cooooldd