After a few days in Orlando we drove up to Jekyll Island, GA for a little beach getaway.
Of all the years we lived in Georgia we never visited Jekyll.
I don't know why.
I guess we were always traveling to see family anytime we had vacation time.
Jekyll Island is very quiet.
Very very quiet.
It was the perfect place to really get away.
These turtle crossing signs were on the roadway entering the island.
Nearing sunset on the beach right outside our hotel
The boys, of course, could not wait to get in the water.
This is the same beach, right outside our hotel.
You can see its roof in the background if you look closely.
One of the things we really liked about this place was that it definitely was not commercialized.
This was what you saw as you went up and down the beach.
Probably the coolest thing that happened was that a dolphin swam by us
while we were in the water one morning.
It was only about 20 feet from us!
So neat to see that.
So, we forgot to pack the cooler, but lucky for us they had the perfect replacement
at the convenience store.
We spent most of the mornings (until high tide rolled in and water engulfed most of the beach)
at the beach either in the water or on this blanket.
One morning we did get up early and go bike riding before heading to the shore.
There are trails all across the island.
This one runs along the beach and the convention center.
We hit several others, and I will warn you that at least one of the trails sends you right into the midst of a marshy alligator area.
We were just riding along, when we come to a pond in the wooded marshy area.
My alligator radar is pretty good so my protective instincts set in pretty quickly.
Of course, I was the caboose on our bike ride, and happened to catch a glimpse of
a small sign (it wasn't all that small, but really, it should have been HUGE) that
said not to feed the alligators.
The rest of my crew thought it was cool, but not me.
I wanted to turn around and ride as fast as we could back the way we came.
In fact, I begged to do that, but my Florida-born husband gave me that "seriously?" look because he thought that idea was ridiculous and just kept on riding.
Now, at this point I would have just turned around myself and texted him my whereabouts later.
But in the split seconds that all of this was happening, I happened to remember that
the boys were with us and I couldn't leave them out there in that marsh to be eaten
by an alligator.
So I did what any mom would do.
I pedaled ahead like crazy with tunnel vision to the nearest glimpse of civilization.
I didn't dare look left or right for fear of seeing a hungry gator.
Ethan was beside me and totally confused.
He thought the creepy marshy area was cool and was actually waiting to see a gator.
He couldn't understand why we had to move NOW and QUICKLY,
like we were running from a wildfire.
I didn't take the time to explain.
As we got closer to the main road, I could hear Brian laughing.
He had probably been laughing the entire time, but I was too focused on
getting out of there to notice any earlier.
I don't care. I don't like gators and don't want to meet one face to face.
Not on Jekyll Island or any other location. Ever.
After the almost alligator sighting, we decided to try our hand at geocaching.
There were geocaches all over the island, and it was fun to hunt for them.
The boys found this awesome tree at The Jekyll Island Club during one of the hunts.
They were all about climbing it.
Another geocache find.
This one was pretty difficult, but Brian finally managed to figure it out.
This has actually turned into a fun new hobby for us.
It's fun. It's free. It gets you out exploring.
Thanks for the fun days, Jekyll!
