Amelia Island

There hasn't been many blog updates to this trip because I haven't been up to many new and noteworthy things. On Sunday the 22nd there was a hurricane. It poured rain all day, the sky had so much lightning, and ever couple hours our phones would go off alerting us about the hurricane and advising to seek shelter immediately. I guess 11 people died in Georgia. Pretty exciting stuff!

Hurricane's a comin'

For the rest of the week I've been in the same routine. I walk the beach in search of shells,

Oops someone is living in this one

My shell collection is growing

go downtown for ice cream, and sit by the pool sending pictures to my jealous midwest friends and family.

"Hi how's the snow? =) "

I'm having a very chill week and it's been great. The worst thing to happen to me so far was getting a sunburn walking downtown on Tuesday. Also I got hit on by a cop. He stopped me and asked for my ID and I just stared at him waiting for the punchline then he goes "Cuz I been looking for someone just like you." And then laughed and I fake laughed and walked da fuck away.

On Friday two of dad's friends/coworkers had dinner with us at the condo. We had tasty calzones that were bigger than my head. Also dad's buddies are cool.

So that brings us to today, Saturday the 28th.

Dad woke me up around 7:30. He made us omelettes and toast for breakfast than we left the condo at 9. We met up with John and Matt (his friends) and the four of us drove about an hour away to Florida!

We got to Amelia Island around 10:20. It's a very cute town with lovely houses to look at and we had walked in on Saturday market. We wandered around the market but I didn't get anything. They were selling food and arts and craft stuff.

Then we went into a few stores. There was an antique store that had a lot of cute furniture and pillows and decorations that were beach themed and I wanted them but my suitcase only holds room for maybe a couple seashells. Not a new dresser.

I want this!

Then we went to an Irish store and the ladies there complimented my fishtail braid. The store made me happy because it reminded me of my trip to Ireland a billion million years ago.

After that I looked around a seashell store, then we went to a sorta fossil store that sold buddhist stuff too. I debated buying a shark tooth but didn't. I would rather find one on the beach.

Fossil store

And we walked around downtown. It's been around 50 degrees today, a little chilly for Georgia (or Florida, whatever). We went inside a visitors center and talked to the people there and a lady complimented my hair. Being beautiful is a full time job. Near the visitors center was a place for boats to dock and there was a state of some dude.

"Um, that phone looks familiar sir."

The four of us had lunch at a place called Tasty's. It was a burger shop, I got a burger and a nutella milkshake.

The picture makes it look mediocre but that's just because I suck at taking pictures. The burger was pretty good!

After eating we drove down to the beach. The plan was to find cool shit. We got there a quarter after 1.

Lookin' for cool shit

I couldn't find anything! It was cold and windy and my eyes started to water from straining trying to look at the ground for so long. Dad found a nice looking shell. I will add it to my collection! Matt found a little shark tooth so that was neat.

Dad and I are on a hunt

Didn't find anything but we're still cute

After that we decided to go back to St Simons. We hit the road around 2:15.

There was some police road block that we had to take a detour to go around. It took for-fucking-ever. To say walking would have been faster is an understatement. Dad took a nap. We listened to music. That song "Life in the Fastlane" came on at one point and I found that a little offensive.

I don't have a good concept of time so I'd say we sat in traffic for somewhere between 30 minutes or 60. We got back to the condo around 5. We were going to go out to dinner but it's Saturday night and the wait to get into any restaurant is like almost 2 hours. F that! Dad and I ate at the condo and were sad I have to leave.

Tomorrow I fly out of Brunswick at noon to Atlanta. Then from there I go to Minnesota to Helena. Should be getting to Helena and snow around 8 pm. I packed my suitcase around midnight and went to bed shortly after. I hope all my shells make it in one piece!


REFLECTION!

This was a relaxing trip! I got to hang out with my pa and walk on the beach anytime I wanted! I'm obsessed with oceans so being on the beach for 2 weeks was heaven. My favorite part about the trip was hanging out with my dad. I'm very thankful we get to do these sorts of things and trips. I didn't do a lot of blogging but I had a very enjoyable time. St Simons is a nice town but I don't think I'd live here. I'm just not a southern gal. But if I got the chance to come back I would!

Gotta steal more shells

Oh Savannah

Had to force myself to get out of bed around 8:30. Dad made breakfast, fried eggs and toast. We ate then got ready for a day of adventure!

We left around 10 or 10:30 for Savannah. There was a gun show dad wanted to go to and then we were going to walk around. The weather is suppose to be crap this weekend with heavy storms. It was a little overcast but it was 70 degrees out and nice.

The drive was about an hour long. I looked for wild boars and gators in the swamps alongside the road but didn't see any. We made it to Savannah at noon. The gun show was at the civic center.

It cost $10 to get in and dad paid for me then we promptly split up. I think it was a big setup? I don't have anything to compare it to. There was a lot of guns and knives and guns and gun accessories and guns! My favorites were the itty bitty guns that looked like they were for prostitutes. You could hide one in a g-string.

Pew pew!

We were there for over an hour, maybe an hour and a half. I didn't buy a gun though.

We left and walked around the town! What I saw of Savannah was really nice. There were many upscale shops I can't afford anything in but I enjoy window shopping. There was some big artsy wing display painted on a wall for you to take your picture in front of so I made dad stand there.

Victoria's Secret's newest angel

Then we did more shopping! There was a fancy soap store we looked around in. Everything was pretty expensive so we left empty handed.

The honey store I went to in St Simons had a store here too. There was the honeycomb I considered buying and it was cheaper here than in St Simons. I bought it for $12.

How sweet it is

I sampled some honeycomb and apple and cheese. It was damn good.

Pooh Bear knows what's up

We made our way to an older part of town that was along the riverside. It was a very pretty area with photo opt moments.

We passed by a little gazebo looking thing that had a bell inside. It's called the Old City Exchange Bell and is believed to be the oldest bell in Georgia from 1802.

Ding dong bitches

Then you had to go down a steep cobble stoned hill to get to the river. Along the river they had lots of restaurants and pubs and shops. More touristy shops, nothing name brand. There was a monument to the slaves that were brought it and that made me a little sad.

Dad and I had lunch at a place called Fiddlers. We sat on the top deck overlooking the river and I ordered a crab stew and crabcakes for lunch.

The stew was easily the best crab stew I've ever had in my life and the cakes were good too. Dad had a shrimp and grits which was effing delicious and better than my food but it was too rich. I've matured enough as a traveller to know my dietary limits (AKA I would have gotten the liquid poops from that).

We went to a huge candy store where they make their own taffy and we had ice cream. I got cookie dough OF COURSE and paid for mine and dads, it was $8.

By now it was a quarter after 3. There was a small outdoor market we wandered through but nothing I had to have. It was still around 70 degrees and cloudy, pretty good weather. Dad and I decided to go back to the car.

Savanah has lots of tiny little parks to walk through as you cross the streets and avenues. Some of them have memorials. They're lovely, these mini parks. We stopped by one that had Tomo-Chi-Chi's grave. He was from a tribe in the Creek Indian Nation and did a lot of negotiating with English settlers, being a buddy to them, and died in 1739.

And then we found the parking garage the car was at. Literally as soon as we pulled out of the ramp it started to rain. By the time we were on the highway it was pouring! We were barely driving 40 mph in a 65 zone, visibility was shit! It rained pretty hard for a while, then let up a little.

At one point during the drive I smelled something a little unpleasant to say the least. I thought maybe dad had let one rip when the smell started getting worse. And worse. And then I was trying not to gag. The car smelled like rotten butthole!

Dad said it was called pluff mud which is like a combination of rotting vegetation and gasses of decomposed animals in the mud. Aww lawd did it stink! I tried to breathe through my mouth but then I tasted it. Cute name pluff mud, but the smell was truly a unique type of repulsiveness.

It started to pour rain again once we got to Brunswick. The hour drive from Savannah took maybe an extra half hour because of the rain (and then we smelled the pluff mud again oh god) but we made it back to the condo around 5:30. I got caught up on blogging and dad had to leave to see his coworkers.

I ate leftovers for dinner and had a Jameson and coke. Dad got back and I had another Jameson with him while we watched TV and hung out.

I took a shower and went to bed around midnight.

St Simon Lighthouse

I decided on Wednesday night that Thursday would be a lazy day and that it was. I lounged in the living room and played on my kindle. In the afternoon I hung out by the pool, getting some sun, went for a quick swim. Late afternoon I walked on the beach but didn't find anything cool.

HEAVY SIGH

After dad got home we had a dinner of hot dogs and Brunswick stew.

The stew was a tangy (I think) pork and beans which I hate but this stew was pretty good. It was like a BBQ soup.

And then we had a quiet night reading books and watching the news. Something exciting happened, while I was reading dad suddenly shouted "That's Jill!" and I looked up and my aunt Jill was on the news standing next to Trump and Paul Ryan!

JILL BEHIND YOU!

Oh shit LOOK OUT!

We had a laugh over that!

The next day I woke up around 6 to say peace out to dad as he left for work. Then I wasn't sure what to do with my day so I went back to sleep!

That was a dumb idea. I ended up sleeping until 11.

I had some cereal and leftover hot dog for lunch then got my shoes on to go back downtown.

I found the way out the front entrance of this place so I didn't have to walk on the beach. The path takes you through a nice, pretty little shaded area with a pond and gazebo.

I saw a few turtles dash into the water.

But where them gators at?

It took a little over 30 mins to get downtown so I listened to music to pass the time.

I went into a few furniture stores and looked around, talked to my mom on the phone a little, and around 1:30 went over to the lighthouse.

I payed $14 for a pass (and a $2 seashell keychain). The pass was for a 10 minute movie, entrance to the lighthouse museum, and entrance to the lighthouse. The movie was boring, just stuff like "slaves picked cotton, lighthouses are for ships".

My mind being blown

My favorite part was when they talked about one of the lighthouse keepers who was murdered there and now his ghost haunts the lightouse. I'mma look for him.

After the movie I walked over to the museum. They had some of my favorite flowers outside.

They planted these for me

Inside the museum was a friendly dude guide who asked where I was from and I told him Montana. He said something like "Oh, I thank God for our beautiful Georgia weather and not the white smog". I didn't know what to say to that so I was like "Tight." and then went through the little, 2 room museum.

They had stuff on the history of the St Simons Lighthouse. Being a lightkeeper doesn't sound as romantic and rugged and I thought. You had to keep the place spotless and light lamps and keep records and be bored and only get paid like $600 a year back in the olden days and even then that wasn't very good money.

I learned that the keeper who was killed was named Frederick Osborne. He was murdered by his assistant via shotgun in a dispute possibley over chickens in 1880.

Upstairs they had replica quarters for how the keepers used to live. There was a kitchen, parlor room, bedroom, and childrens room.

Dinner is served

That was neat. I went back downstairs and outside to the lighthouse. It's 129 step to the top!

I looked for my ghost boy Frederick but didn't see him or his chickens.

And then I was at the top! You get a view of the entire town and Atlantic sea.

Look at all those oak trees

Jekyll Island

I'm on a lighthouse

Then I climbed down and left. It was a fun experience. Would have been a 10/10 experience if I saw the ghost.

Back on sea level grounds I did some more window shopping. I went inside a little diner to get ice cream but ended up getting buffalo chicken strips instead (how did that happen).

It was a little spicey for this white girl. It cost $10.50 and I had a diet coke with it.

After my late lunch it was almost 3. I went in a used bookstore and bought a copy of Frankenstein for $5 then went to the place I got ice cream at the other day and got more ice cream, this time a strawberry cone. I ate it as I walked back to the condo.

Once dad got off work we hung out for a little minute then left to go to Brunswick for food. We had dinner at Chik Fil A! I've been wanting to eat there forever and it was worth the wait. I had a chicken sandwich, waffle fries, and a chocolate shake.

The chicken sandwich was sooo good, better than Shake Shack. I left with my belly full. We then went to the movies to see Passengers. It was playing at 6:50 and we barely made it in time.

The movie was pretty good, I liked it more than I thought I would and I had been wanting to see it for a while.

We got back to the condo around a quarter after 9. Today is the inauguration day for President Trump. In my last trip I was on the west coast watching the presidential debate between Trump and Hillary. Now I'm on the east coast watching his inauguration. Life is weird.

Anyways I went to bed around 1.

Sunrise on the Atlantic

Today I woke up at 6:15! That's very early for me. I got to hang out with dad for about 5 minutes before he went to work. It's still dark outside. I made some eggs and toast and waited for it to get a bit lighter out.

Around 7 I left to walk on the beach at sunrise.

Now I have "watching the sunrise on the beach" to check off my bucket list. To be honest I prefer the sunset on the Pacific but this was still pretty.

Couldn't stay on the shore too long. My nose was running like Usain Bolt and I kept coughing and basically I was gross so I went back to the condo and sat around. I layed down on the couch for a couple hours and drifted in and out of sleep having weird dreams.

Around noon I felt a fair amount better so I got up and did my makeup. My hair is a frizzy mess that can't be helped so I put it in a fishtail braid. Then I changed into my outfit from yesterday because who cares. I decided to walk downtown!

If there's a shortcut from the condo entrance to the sidewalk I couldn't find it. Instead I took the long route and walked to the beach then cut through the park that the pest control car was parked at yesterday to get to the sidewalk.

The walk downtown felt like it took forever. A car honked at me and another driver whistled. I can't help it that I'm so beautiful. Even with my nose dripping snot and wearing a dirty, kinda smelly tee shirt men still flock to me.

It took about half an hour to get to the pier I was at with dad on Monday. I sat on a bench and thought about all the things I could do downtown. I went into several stores looking for a light tank top and found a nice green one that I picked a St Simons logo to be printed on it. It cost $14.

Then I went inside several stores looking for fridge magnets since I have none at the apartment but I couldn't find any. I went to a candy store and got a chocolate chip cookie and Georgia Peach ice cream and a Tabasco flavored dark chocolate candy, all for about $8. The ice cream was ok, I had higher hopes.

Sweets

While I ate it I went to a restaurant called Iguana's Seafood and sat outside. There I ordered a diet pepsi and a grilled chicken sandwich.

I ate the sandwich and some fries. It was good, I would go back there again. Should have gotten ice cream after lunch because I wasn't very hungry. It cost $12.68.

After lunch I went to a honey store. It was soo cute inside, they had everything. I wanted to buy some honeycomb but it was kinda expensive. Then I wanted to buy a shirt but they didn't have the design I wanted in my size. It was a bust! I went back home after that.

The walk back felt much faster even though it still took 30 mins. I had headphones in so I couldn't hear if people were whistling or honking at my fine ass.

But I'm sure they were

I cut back through the beach and made it to the condo around 4:15. I was able to get through that gate this time, praise the lord.

I did laundry, posted the blog for yesterday, and tried on my new shirt.

Lookin dope

Dad got here around 5:30ish. We watched the news and I typed up what I did today.

I tried the Tabasco chocolate I bought earlier. Boy is it nasty!

Dad and I watched a few episodes of Vikings while I read and he did bead work. He spilled his beads and that was pretty funny, lots of swears to be had.

I went to bed around 10ish and finished todays blog. I think tomorrow I will have a proper lazy day and go swimming in the pool and work on my tan.

I found a conch shell

I didn't sleep so well last night. I've been sick with a cold since Christmas day and I was really feeling that sore throat and stuffy nose all night. I woke up around 6:30 and check to see if dad was still here but I had barely missed him, he was already off to work.

So I went back to sleep for a few more hours until I got up around 9. I had some Cheerios for breakfast and sat around the living room watching TV, playing on my phone and feeling like snot.

I left the condo a bit after 11 to walk on the beach. It's 70 degrees out and sunny! I walked in the opposite direction of yesterday then left the beach to go over to a park but saw a pest control car scoping out the area so that was my cue to leave (didn't want to get in any scuffles with a gator).

Back to the beach I went!

I walked along the water for a while. I didn't take my shoes off because there are a lot of washed up jellyfish you gotta dodge. There are also many many shells and pokey things to be stepped on.

Once I had been pretty far along the shore I stopped near some rocks to turn around. Right at my feat was a odd looking rock so I poked at it and it was a conch shell!

Score!

I grabbed it and looked around to see if anyone was gonna stop me (why am I such a suspicious person?). I am PUMPED! Remember my standards are very low, I think it's cool to find chunks of broken sand dollars on the Pacific Coast.

There was a colorful junky looking tree on the shore so I went over to investigate.

I asked some old ladies what the eff this was and they said it was a memorial. The sign says "St Simons 1 - Matthew 0". People come and decorate it. I guess that's neat.

With my hands full of shells and a conch, I decided to go back. You have to go through a locked gate to get to the property I'm staying at and dad gave me the passcodes to everything the night I got here. But the 3 digit passcode wasn't working and I couldn't get the damn gate unlocked! The fence is only 3 or 4 feet high and I could have jumped it but there were too many people around and it would have looked sketchy on my part. I texted dad to make sure I had the right code. There was nothing to do but wait.

Only a couple minutes later an elderly couple walked up to the gate so I quickly followed them and jokingly asked if they minded if they let me in.

"Are you even staying here?" The old man asked rudely.

"Pretty sure." I told him.

"Pretty sure isn't sure. What's your room number?"

I could sense this man was a bastard. "111." I told him while starring on the balconey of my condo.

He kinda laughed at me and said "I thought you were going to say 400."

There's only 3 floors to this condo place. "There isn't a room 400." I replied.

Then the lady started telling me about this time a young woman and a "bunch of kids" asked to be let in the gate but she wouldn't let them.

I asked, "You wouldn't let a mom with children in?"

She was said she wouldn't because she didn't think they were staying here. Rude! Fuck these guys. The man tried getting the gate unlocked and it wasn't working for him. I told him to try the passcode dad gave me and instead he tried every other combo he could.

Screw you guys

After maybe 3 minutes of this I was just going to hop the fence and then not open the door for them when the gate finally unlocked. It was the passcode dad gave me, the gate it just crappy. The three of us went through and I got the hell away from these old assholes. I bet they watched me walk to my room, psychos.

Back at the condo at 1:16. The shells were washed off and I had a bowl of spaghetti and watched Youtube, back to feeling like snot.

Around 4 I took a diet coke and walked over to the pool to put my feet in the hot tub to chill. I was for the most part by myself except for two kids who alternated between the tub and the pool. I stayed there for an hour! Very nice, would recommend.

Back to the condo at 5. I made myself a whiskey coke and got caught up on blogging today. Dad came home shortly after!

We chilled and watched TV. I had some spaghetti later on, took a bath, and then was literally in bed by like 10 and read a book for a few hours before going to sleep.

It was a quiet day. The most exciting thing to happen was those border patrol old people giving sass. I wish I had told them I was in room 400 or 500 to see them have an aneurysm.

Turtle Rehabilitation

Dad woke me up a little after 8. We had coffee and eggs and toast for breakfast.

Dad throwin' it down it the kitchen

The view from the living room is top notch!

I was pumped to go exploring so we got ready and hit the beach! It's a very short walk from the balconey to the shores. There's a little water fountain and a romantic white bridge. We passed by the pool and they had two hot tubs, bathrooms, and outdoor showers there. Why anyone would bother with a pool when you're right next to the ocean is beyond my knowledge.

And then we were on the beach!

Dad and I walked along the sand collecting seashells. There are literally tons of perfect shells. On the Pacific coast I would have been excited to find a quarter of a broken shells so my standards aren't high to be honest. Here there are so many shells of different colors and sizes, a few broken but most in perfect shape.

She collects seashells by the seashore.

We also found some dead jellyfish.

Funny enough dad ran into someone he knew from Montana. It was a guy and his wife and their two small kids. The kids were very chatty and I traded some of my seashells for their rotten driftwood. I don't know if it was my best trade but they were cute.

We walked on the shore for maybe 30 or 45 mins before going back to the condo to get ready to leave. Dad and I went downtown to do some more explorin'.

There's lots of big, shady oak trees around town. We walked along the pier and stoped to see the lighthouse. Maybe I will climb it later this week.

People are fishing on the docks (I don't know what for). There's a camera downtown that films you live and puts it on the internet to watch. One of dad's buddies was watching back in Montana so we walked by and waved at him. We must have looked crazy to the people fishing but it was fun, his friend did see us!

There are lots of shops downtown and we window shopped. We stopped inside a candy store and bought some chocolate coconut, then stopepd inside a tea store and I bought some coconut black tea that makes me drool when I smell it and a tea strainer (that I've been meaning to buy for my apartment) for $18.

Then we went into a sort of antique clothing store where  tried on hats. Only a few fit my mellon head but I looked good. I've decided it's a crime that I don't wear hats.

We went back to the condo at 12, so a little over an hour downtown. Dad had to leave to see a coworker so I stayed at the condo and typed up this mornings events. I cleaned the kitchen a little and listen to 90's rap music (where I found my ending song for todays blog post).

Around 2:30 dad and I left to go to Jekyll Island. It's about a 30 minute drive. We got a little turned around on the island. It's bigger than I thought, they're like a small town. We stopped outside Horton House and walked around.

In the 1700's a guy named Major Williams Horton was given Jekyyl Island and he built this house that's still (kinda) standing almost 300 years later.

By 4:00 we found the sea turtle center! They take messed up turtles and rehabilitate them into the wild.

This big girl is Zoe

We made it for the turtle feedings and they talked about what they do at the center. It was cute place. They're doing good work! They had a turtle there that kept floating. He couldn't swim down and catch food. That wasn't cute but a little sad. They're keeping that turtle at the center until they find out what's wrong.

This little boy is Charlie

We left around 4:30 or 4:45 and went back to St Simons where we're staying. It's gotten cool and foggy out.

We hung out at the condo for an hour and a half then went back out to get food. We ordered take out at a restaurant called Southern Soul BBQ which sounded legit. After we got the food I made a quick stop to the store to get some shampoo and conditioner for a dollar each (big spender here).

Back at the condo at 7ish. Dad and I sat down at the table and had ourselves a BBQ feast!

I was way hungrier than I thought and ate really fast. It was very good! I had second helpings of mac and cheese and baked beans. Gonna be fartin' it up tonight.

I took a shower then watched some TV with dad. At 10 we called it a night and went to bed.