A Day in St Marys

Monday is my Sunday since I work on Saturday which makes Sunday my Saturday.  Are you with me on that?  Sunday I had to work for a little while then went out to Jekyll Island to do some birding with a real birder.  I'm going to help her out with the Wilson Plover watch.  More on that later.  Today is all about me and my dog and the town of St Marys, GA. 

St. Marys is about 38 miles from the campground and a pretty straight forward drive.  I just go into downtown Folkston, turn onto highway 40 beside the courthouse and keep going straight.  The highway goes right into the historic downtown area of St. Marys and ends at the waterfront.

We arrived at the pier just as the 9am ferry to Cumberland Isand was pulling away.  Of course, with this being the height of spring break season the ferry was filled to capacity.

After waving good-bye to the ferry Gus and I walked around that end of town a little bit.  I checked to see what time the Submariners Museum would open thinking I could leave Gus in the car for 20 minutes while I zipped through.  Drat!  Closed on Mondays!!  I had to settle for a picture of the building instead.  Hope to get back there one day. 

I did get a picture of the restaurant next door which Linda laughed about when we came to catch the ferry.  She said it looked like one of those fake buildings from a movie set.  Oh Linda, if only I had listened to you.  Gus and I walked past here as we returned to move the car.  The first place we parked was a 2 hour spot near the ferry.  Since I had planned to be there much longer I thought I would park the car down near the waterfront park where they have 36 hour parking. 

The park was full of cars, trucks, huge lights and cables running everywhere - and security.  We parked across the street in the last available spot and walked around toward the pier where we found this explanation.  Now I do enjoy the show but Gus and I just didn't feel like making our TV debut today so we settled for just moving down the road to the old cemetery, a place I had been meaning to check out any way. 

The cemetery dates back to the 1780s when the Spanish first began the town.  A worker there took me over to the first recorded grave which is of course beneath the shade of a live oak tree dripping with Spanish Moss.  They no longer have plots for sale so only those who have pre-purchased the remaining grave sites can be buried here.  It seems like a cool, shady place to spend eternity and still be in view of the Cumberland Sound. 

We moved on from there to do a little browsing in the used bookstore but came out empty there.  Then we stopped at Orange Hall, one of the original buildings in town from the time it was established in 1802.  They call it Orange Hall because of all the orange trees on the property, but none of them produce oranges anymore and no one knows why.  I think it's all the Spanish Moss.  But we did find a geocache behind the back steps and a beautiful camelia tree just finishing up its blooming season. 

And then we saw the Episcopal Church, founded 1802, directly across the street from Orange Hall.  It didn't appear to be open so we settled for pictures.

By now it was time to think about some lunch so Gus and I headed back west on highway 40 to the newer part of town where we found a Wendy's which suited us both for a quick lunch.  After eating we went back out to Crooked River State Park to leave a note for the ranger who led my paddle tour to Cumberland Island last week. 



Along the way we passed by Kings Bay Submarine Base which is in St. Marys.  No wonder I like this town - it's a Navy town! 

We also passed by this funeral home near the hospital (just me but I think a funeral home anywhere close to a hospital is bad PR for the hospital).  By the way, I did see a more modern conveyance parked behind the building.

After the park visit where we walked for a little while we stopped in to visit with Lori and Ernie, some friends fron the women's rv forum that I'm a member of.  I thought maybe Gus and their dog Spinner might have a nice visit but Gus was suspicious and not very trusting so he just sat beneath me at the picnic table and glowered.  Poor Spinner, he's such a nice pup.  Or maybe Gus understood that our final stop of the day would be in Kingsland at the vet which is where we headed after wishing Lori a safe trip.  They are off in a few days to Mayport, FL. 

It was time to update Gus' rabies vacination and while we were there we got a nail trim and a few other chores taken care of.  Gus did pretty good and only snapped at the tech once.  Considering all the body parts we were messing with I'd say he did pretty good.  By the time we got home around 3pm I was worn out.  It was a great day in St. Marys and I will miss that little town when I leave, but maybe I will get a chance to go back one more time - not on a Monday so that I can visit the Submariner Museum.

I'm on island time and loving it

You know, I really enjoyed my visit to Cumberland Island with Mike and Linda, but there was so much more there to see that I just had to find a way back.  Of course there's the ferry which is nice and very busy this time of year.  But if you know me, you know I had to try something different.  So I looked around and found what I consider a fun way to get back to see another part of Cumberland Island. 

So on Monday morning I met up with Crooked River State Park ranger Jessica

and we all loaded up into our kayaks to head out.  And I was anxious to get on the water.  Not only has it been too long since I had a good, long paddle.  The sand gnats were eating me up! 

It was a nice, small group.  Besides me the only other paying customers were a very nice lady named Jane who is a media specialist at a middle school in Florida and her two teenage sons.  Jane paddled a tandem kayak with Brooks while Jeremy with the long arms whose one stroke equaled two of mine had a sit on top kayak like mine (although mine was a prettier, brighter color!). 

Bringing up the rear was Trish who is a local retiree from the nearby sub base and avid kayaker who volunteered to help out.  It was great to have Trish along as we paddled past the base since she could explain some things about what we could see although we couldn't see much (no subs going in or out today) and, as she assured us, if we tried to get a closer look even in a little ol' kayak, we would be escorted out of the territory by chaser boats.  We didn't test her theory on that one!

Trish explains about Kings Bay Sub Base to Jane and Brooks.

It took us about 2 hours to paddle the 6 miles to Cumberland Island starting in the Crooked River, going out through the salt marshes, crossing the Intercoastal Waterway, and finally paddling over a small section of Cumberland Sound.  There weren't too many boats on the water that day so the paddling was nice and easy and the company was good so the time slipped by quickly. 

Soon we were in view of the docks at Plum Orchard where I had to learn a new technique: dismounting from kayak to dock.  I won't pretend I was graceful, but I did get onto the dock without getting wet or flipping the boat so I call that a success.

It was good to be on dry land again and we were all agreed we were hungry.  Just ahead of us stood Plum Orchard, the summer cottage of one of the Carnegies, that offered deep, shady porches with wide porch swings.  We all hauled our gear up to the porch and sat down to eat our picnic lunches.

Before we had even finished eating the docent (who gets to live here 3 months of the year!) came to start us on our tour.  I was thinking of how much Darlene would have loved the bedrooms and bathrooms.  Take a look at the bathtub and notice how many taps there are.  One set of taps is placed high enough so that the maids could wash your hair more easily.  The tubs sort of remind me of the old tubs in the old hotels in Hot Springs, Arkansas, don't you think so too, Darlene?

After the tour we finished up our lunches and headed for the beach on the east side of the island.  Of course that meant hiking 2 miles through the pine and live oak forest.  The birds were plentiful and I was able to add both the red-eyed and white-eyed vireo to my list.  Jessica was great at recognizing bird calls.  And her mnemoics were a hoot.  The white-eyed vireo does indeed sound like he's saying, "get the beer quick, chick!"  The path through the woods was a bit long and I was beginning to get tired, but then we hit the dunes and I knew the ocean was just over the hill.  It was totally deserted giving the 6 of us our own private beach.  We all stripped down to swimsuits and headed to the water.  It was a little cool but with the temps in the high 80s it felt just right.  Jessica and I walked the shore looking for sand dollars and talking biology stuff.  Jane and Trish stayed in the surf till it was time to go then Jane had to go round up the boys who had roamed far down the beach.  Time for another quick snack.

The walk back was easier and somehow quicker.  The boat from the park had already come back to pick up our kayaks and had now returned to pick up 6 weary passengers.  The 6 miles back took only a few minutes by motor boat.  I was actually a little sad to see the day end.  But it was definitely a trip I will never forget.

A Wonderful Visit

Early to bed to early to rise, as the saying goes.  Last night I went to bed at 8 so it should be no surprise that I'm up at 4 this morning.  My body says it would like to keep laying in bed, but the mind is wide awake so might as well get up and write.  And there's lots to write about!

Big brother Mike and his wife Linda came down from north Georgia to visit this weekend.  Even though they have lived in GA for at least 20 years, this was their first visit to the swamp.  They came in late Saturday evening and after I got through working we went into Folkston for supper and to visit the Folkston Funnel.  It was a warm weekend night so there were a lot of folks, well 20 or so, waiting to see the trains.  And we were there less than 15 minutes when I heard the CSX radio's scratchy voice announce the northbound from St. Marys.  Within 5 minutes the Amtrak passenger train came steaming through in front of us, barely slowing down as he whooshed by our little town. 

When we returned to camp Linda went to their cabin and turned in early but Mike and I sat up late talking and looking at old family photos.  We got into a disagreement about how many siblings Granny Wade had so I was forced to call Madeline Ruth, our cousin in KY whose mother was the younger sister to our grandmother, to settle things.  I won that round and I'm not ashamed to admit it!  And the conversation with Madeline Ruth and Mike was a bonus!

Sunday morning we went to the refuge and spent most of the day there.  There was a large alligator lounging in the water behind the visitor's center maybe 20 feet from the edge of the covered porch.  While Mike and I were standing on the porch the gator decided he wanted to go lay in the sun so we watched him swim over to the other side of the canal and lumber up the bank to sun himself.

Later we went over to the fishing pier at Trader's Hill and talked with the fishermen on the St. Marys River for a bit.  It was getting late and we knew we needed picnic supplies for our trip to Cumberland Island the next day so we went to the Winn Dixie in Callahan.  On the way back we took the backroads through Saint George and Mike tried to help me with a difficult geocache near the Rowe Cutoff, but we just couldn't get it.  I think I need to go back with a ladder.  After we got back to camp we sat outside and talked for a while then Linda went off to bed and Mike and I talked for a while.  He's thinking of starting his own blog!  I think it would be great since he sees it as a place to preserve some of the old family stories before he forgets them.  As the oldest child he remembers things about our grandparents and others that I don't.  I'll let you know how that goes.

Monday morning we were up early for the drive to St. Marys where we caught the ferry to Cumberland Island.  Only 300 people a day are allowed to visit and with this being prime spring break season we were lucky that Linda was able to get us tickets at all.  The ride out through Crooked River and into the sound was about 45 minutes long and kind of cool.  Mike stood behind the pilot house enthralled with the pilot's GPS screen. 

Once we got to the island we did a walking tour with a guide who gave us the history of the island leading up to the ruins of the old Carnegie mansion.  There are wild horses all over the island and after the tour we stopped at a picnic table to have lunch while some of the horses grazed near us.  One was eating Spanish Moss but I think he and his buddy wanted to be a part of our picnic as they kept getting nearer and nearer.  They told us not to feed the horses and not to try to lure them close for pictures, but they didn't tell us how to get them to NOT join our picnic so we finished up and left. 

Next stop was the old cemetery where we learned that Lighthorse Harry Lee, father of Robert E. Lee was first buried when he died while visiting the island.  There is still a marker for him in the cemetery but he was moved to VA for final burial.  Just past the cemetery is a path to the boardwalk that crosses the salt marsh.  Fortunately there were some benches on the boardwalk and we were happy to make use of them.  By now we had walked about a mile and half since starting the tour and the rest was welcome.  And needed because now we had to cross the sand dunes to get to the beach.  The sand was sugary soft and each step was a sinking one.  It was probably only half a mile to the beach but it seemed like miles and miles and miles and.....  Then we heard the waves crashing and crossed one last dune and there it was! 

We rested here a while and then walked a mile up the beach to the next boardwalk that crossed over the dunes and back to the other side of the island where the ferry dock is located.  This mile passed more quickly because the surf had pounded the sand down hard and left a trail of lovely shells.  The park service allows you to take shells so we did pick up lots of pretty ones along the way.  It made the walk go by quickly and soon my shell bag was full and we were at the crossing.  I was tired but would like to have gone on further.  Mike was our fearless leader and he headed us down the boardwalk out of the sun and under the shade of a grove of live oak trees covered in Spanish Moss.  It was so much cooler there it was almost like air conditioning.  We stopped at some picnic tables to cool off and take advantage of some nearby restrooms.  I wish now I had taken a picture of the trees.  They were so unusual, or at least different from what we have back home.  But we were tired and just thinking about resting. 

After that it was a short walk to the dock and our final resting spot.  The park service building has a row of rocking chairs on a deck in the shade near the dock and that was like heaven after all the walking.  I was beginning to feel my calf muscles screaming at me and the sun on my back was starting to tingle.  We sat and visited with a nice family from Memphis who had 4 of the best behaved kids ever.  At one point I walked down onto the pier and took pictures of a submarine returning to the Kings Bay sub base.  I wasn't sure if he was returning or leaving until I asked Mike.  The base itself is well hidden behind some smaller islands and as big as that sub was, once he went back through that hidden channel you couldn't find him again.  I like to think it was the USS Tennessee but I never did see any markings so I can't swear to it, but it's my blog so I'm calling it the Tennessee!

The return ferry ride was uneventful.  I had hoped to see dolphins as I'm told they often escort the ferry but not this trip.  Once we got back to St. Marys and sorted our stuff out it was time to say goodbye.  I stopped to buy gas in town since it was much cheaper than in Folkston and I was on empty any way.  Then I traveled the 38 miles back to camp and put all my found shells in a hot water bath in the kitchen sink, walked Gus, and was in bed by 8. 

It was the best weekend I've had in years.  It was the first time in my life that I have walked a long, deserted beach looking for shells (no commercial buildings and very few private homes on this island) and not had to deal with crowds of beachgoers.  Many thanks to the best big brother ever!

Light My Fire!

So Thursday afternoon we were sitting in the office checking reservations and smelled smoke.  We looked out the front window and saw flames across the street.  I went out with my camera to get a closer look.  This was a controlled burn, something they do to keep from having to manage a wildfire.  I was amazed that the trees didn't go up in flames but I have learned that long leaf pine don't burn, they just char.  The burn kills out undergrowth and slash pines.  Slash pines burn all the way to the roots and leave a big hole in the ground.  Then Friday morning Linda and I went over to do a bird walk with a volunteer and were amazed to see some of the fires still burning but overall it was just charred in the places they burned and not really much smoke.  We saw some red headed woodpeckers and heard baby alligators chirping in the alligator pond, but not much else.  Guess they don't like the smoke.

OK, so this is a short post today.  I have to work in the trail this morning and in the office this afternoon.  Then I'm off till Tuesday and I am really excited.  Mike and Linda are coming to visit for the weekend!  They will be here this afternoon and we will hang out a while then get some sleep.  Tomorrow we plan to explore the swamp some more and other sights and they will stay in Kingland overnight.  Monday morning early we have to be in St. Marys to catch the ferry to Cumberland Island for the day.  Yahhhh!  All day at the beach.  And it looks to be great weather.  Will have a much larger post then.

The March of Time

I cannot believe it has been almost a month since my last post.  Where has the time gone?  I have been busy, I know, but it just doesn't seem like a month.  I could tell you that since the busy season has hit I've been too busy to write, but, well, that is kind of lame.  So let me just catch up now.

The first official weekend of the busy season was of course over the President's Day weekend.  Everyone had a 3 day weekend and the weather was good.  We were booked in every cabin and on that Sunday, normally a day we rest, we were all watching for folks to leave so we could run over to that cabin and start stripping sheets and cleaning showers.  Check out time is 11 and check ins were due from 3pm on.  Whew!  By the end of the day we were beat.  I know I did 6 loads of laundry that day alone!  We did take Monday off but I was back at the laundry room all day on Tuesday.  And while it hasn't been that steady, we've been pretty busy since.

Then we had an unpleasant surprise that required the digging up of a section of sewer line.  Yes, it was all hands to it in order to get the line dug up so the guys could come in and take out/replace about 60 ft. of piping.  We were trying to get it done in a 2 day lull in the middle of the week, which we did manage to do.  Since that time I've also helped with filling the ditch back in, taking out the old posts that surround the cleanout area and replacing them with new posts which I will paint this week, and putting up new signage around the buildings. 

Saturday afternoon we all hunkered down in our homes and rode out the storms.  Lots of heavy rain, which we need for the swamp, and lots of wind which we really don't need.  Didn't sleep much Saturday night but everything sure did look greener on Sunday morning.  I went off geocaching in Jacksonville for a few hours Sunday and picked up a movie at Red Box on the way home.  It's call The Big Year and it's really funny.  It's kind of a parody about intense birdwatchers.  Since we get some really intense ones here I thought it would be funny and with Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson it was. 

This morning was warm and sunny so I thought I'd spend it at the refuge.  It was the first time I had gone and really taken my time there.  I enjoyed seeing the old homeplace and talking with volunteers that work there.  The gators were out everywhere - even in the roadway.  And the butterflies were just everywhere you looked.  So pretty and so SPRING.  Yes, I'm ready for spring. 

I came home for lunch and to walk Gus.  He's not allowed in the refuge and frankly I don't think he'd care for the gators.  But they would love him - in about 2 bites!  While I was fixing lunch I heard a loud noise and looked out to see the tent at the next campsite was doing a Mary Poppins.  Carl lives in a trailer but he has (or I should say had) one of those nice tents that you use over your picnic table to keep the bugs out.  Seems our winds were peaking in the upper 20 mph range today and after all the rain on Saturday the stakes must have loosened in the ground.  So as I watched his tent floating up into the air, I wondered what I could do.  Frankly I was a little concerned that if I grabbed onto it I'd float off too.  Finally I was able to get it back to his campsite and tied it to a big tree and threw some large blocks on it.  Yes, Gus was having a hard time napping with the wind rocking the rv.  Finally around 5pm the winds subsided and I bet tomorrow one of our chores will be limb patrol.  I'll let you know and I promise to blog sooner next time.