After exploring new territory, ideas or general “stuff” Papa and I always say, one to another, “You can quit now, you’ve learned something today.” We went a little over the top today, and learned quite a bit.
We visited the 4-H Tidelands Nature Center, here on Jekyll Island, Georgia. There are exhibits of local marine life, including sea turtles. We’ve seen the documentaries, but never a real sea turtle. In addition other animals and fish native to this area were on display.
We saw a Nurse Shark, a couple of very small alligators, and a variety snakes and fish. The alligator looked different from the Camons we see at the Detroit Zoo. It was time to feed the big sea turtle while were visited, it was interesting to see him eat his meal. Of course, our cameras were in the van, not our hands.
We didn’t take a walking tour or a kayak tour, but we may the next time we visit. I guess we thought we’d walked and ridden far enough.
We did get some help identifying the birds we’ve been watching on the beach, and a great link to a blog maintained by an artist with an interest in the birds.
If you’re at Jekyll, I recommend you check out the Nature center.
Papa and I have vacationed to the max since we arrived here on Jekyll Island, Georgia on Monday. If you follow the link, you will see the Bluegrass Festival begins tomorrow. We’ll be there, all three days. We’re staying here on the island until Tuesday, continuing our vacation.
We’ve explored the beaches, with long walks each day. Papa picked up a few shells and some sand dollars.
We rode over to the historic district yesterday, and I browsed Jekyll Books at the Old infirmary. Papa looked around, then settled down to wait for me, and visit with Onyx, the bookstore cat. He is very friendly.
Here is a view from the back trail we biked down to reach the historic district.
Sunday, Papa and I visited the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. I hadn’t realized there was a football game at the Georgia Dome that day, but that didn’t interfere with our visit. We had paid for our tickets and parking in advance, on-line, a move I always recommend. This is just a short clip from our visit to the Aquarium, a little of the Sand Tiger Shark.
We had a wonderful time. If you are near Atlanta, the aquarium is a great place to visit. Check out their webcams.
Here I am with Deepo, the mascot. This was taken with my “little” camera, as was the video, not Papa’s fancy one. Sorry I’m not smiling, I was giving instructions on how the camera works.
Today, we are getting ready for a trip down south. If you have checked out the links on my blog, you have noticed that the count down timer is counting down to the New Year’s bluegrass festival at Jekyll Island . We have enjoyed attending that festival numerous times over the past few years, although we missed last year. The festival was after New Year’s Day, on January 3-5. Because of the way the date fell the vacation required would have been in the 2008 calendar year, and was not feasible for us. We are excited about this trip, we always enjoy a break from the bad weather, and Jekyll is a beautiful place.
For the uninitiated, the Federal Reserve was invented , or dreamed up, or whatever terminology you might use, on Jekyll. Many well off Northerners had vacation homes on Jekyll, it was called the Jekyll Island Club. It is instructive to know that the homes were lavish, but didn’t include full kitchens, the members ate together in a common dining room.
When we travel, we try to see as many sites as is possible. This year, we will be visiting the Georgia aquarium on our way to Jekyll Island. I’ll post some photos of our travels, and share the fun we have.
Merry Christmas to all my friends, readers, and even those of you who have stopped by accidentally. I trust those who don’t celebrate the same holidays that I do won’t be offended by this genuine greeting to fellow Christians.
We will be spending time with family today and tomorrow, I hope you are able to do the same.
So, it snowed about twelve inches the other day. About noon, D3 and I hit the drive with shoves. My van was out for repair, leaving a garage stall open. Our plan was to clear the drive enough to get D1’s vehicle into the garage. One fewer vehicle makes clearing the drive much easier.
We shoveled the snow away from the garage doors and called Papa to see how to run the snow blower. It doesn’t get used much around here, but it seemed like a good day to do so. In spite of two phone calls, we never could keep the darn thing running, it cranked, started, died. More than a few times.
D1 arrived, so all three of us worked on the drive. Finally, we were to the point of a huge drift in the middle and we were wet, cold and tired. So, I pointed out that if we kept pumping the injector button, the blower kept running. We ended up taking turns running the blower, with the spare person pushing the button the keep it going. Not fun, but effective.
It was pretty much like 3 rednecks run the snow blower.
When Papa arrived home, he pointed out which setting was wrong, and the darn thing roared to life and kept running. He finished the blowing, thank goodness.
Saturday morning, the house looked like this:
It is pretty unremarkable, except that we had NO snow the morning before.
