Day 9 - Savannah to Jekyll Island to St. Mary's to Waycross, Ga.

Today's drive reminded us of our days in Eastern Carolina as the topography, vegetation, homes and sleepy towns in coastal Georgia are reminiscent of those near Greenville. It helped that we left the Interstate road system and took the back roads.  However, as we went over the bridge and arrived on Jekyll Island it was evident that we were no longer in  the rural good ol' boy south. 

We began our tour by driving around the island and stopping at the historical sites like the ruins of the Horton, the first owner of the island and the cemetery of the DuBignons, the next owner.

Along with the historical, Jekyll Island also holds beautiful natural treasures.  The views from the pier and the beaches were lovely.  We enhanced our vocabulary learning new terms like runnels, tabby and middens.  We'll let our readers google their meaning.

To try to see how the other half lives we decided to take advantage of a lunch special and dined at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel in the Grand Dining room. Besides enjoying the ambiance we were treated to a very tasty lunch.

  We decided we need to find another label for our humble cottage at the Lake given the "cottages" that we viewed here.  

Reluctantly we left Jekyll Island and drove an hour to Crooked River State Park in St. Mary's just before the Florida border.  We were hoping to find a beach to relax but only found the typical feature found in most of coastal Georgia - Marsh Lands.  There we walked the Sempervirens trail and learned all about the vegetation and animal life there.  We even spotted the burrow with the rare Gopher Tortoise inside.  The only tortoise found east of the Mississippi.

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We settled in for the night at Waycross Georgia hopefully avoiding the tornadoes.  We've had snow, sleet, ice so I guess tornadoes are next.  The weather promises to clear so tomorrow we explore the famed Okefenokee Swamps as we head towards the gulf coast of Florida.