Visiting Saint Simons Island June 2-5

Here are a couple last pictures from our Brunswick walks.  Lover's Oak.

And a beautiful magnolia bloom.  The trees will be in full bloom very shortly.

So we came to Brunswick to be staged for meeting our friends and former neighbors, John and Becky for a few days at their gorgeous home on St Simons Island.  They graciously picked us up Thursday afternoon after our hair cuts and styling which was overdue!  Brunswick had a nice little salon just a couple blocks from the boat so it was an ideal spot to have both of our hair attended to.  We also dropped off another bag of "clothes and stuff" that came off the boat as we did not need it.  St Vincent de Paul was right downtown as well so an easy drop off.
We gave them a quick tour of our boat then quickly vacated the marina to beat the thunderstorms building.  We went to their beautiful home on St Simons Island and had the grand tour.  Beautiful home and neighborhood John and Becky, we can see why you so much enjoy coming here!

 

The koi pond. 

 

We went to a local restaurant, Ember, a farm to plate type of place.  Wonderful food!
On Friday morning we cooked a great breakfast and then Becky, Julie and I took the trolley tour of the island.  An overview of the area.

 

It was a 90 minute tour and was very well done with the driver reviewing much history of the area.  Fortunately it was air conditioned as the "feels like" weather has been 95-98 degrees the last few days!  There is certainly some great real estate on this island!
In the afternoon, we went to the Sea Island club facilities, just across the causeway from John and Becky's home.  What a facility that is!!  We spent the afternoon at the "adult" pool and read and generally relaxed as this was a weekend retreat from work for our host and hostess.  And it was nice for us to take some time off too.  Yes, we were cleaning, varnishing, repairing, etc while we have been in Brunswick.  Boat chores....
We stopped at Harris Teeter and got some great steaks, etc for dinner and enjoyed the food on the screened patio at their home. 

We so much enjoyed the laughs, reminiscing of our old neighborhood in Hudsonville, what all our children are doing now, etc.  It has just been too long since we spent time with our friends and neighbors of 10+ years! 
Sat morning we went to the Frederica Café, a small little breakfast and lunch spot just down the street that was just great!  We then drove over to Sea Island again and took a tour of The Cloister, a five star property that is simply unbelievable.  Here is a link to explore so you can book a room sometime!
http://www.seaisland.com/

We even got a peek at the room used for the G8 meeting a few years back.

We ran some errands, then spent the afternoon along the creek at their private neighborhood dock and picnic area.  John tried his luck at fishing but only a couple nibbles.  But the breeze coming through the shade of the shelter was just great and it was a wonderful afternoon of relaxation for all.  In the evening we went to the Half Shell restaurant, which the shuttle driver had actually recommended.  Long story short, the former executive chef of the Frederica Club on St Simons started the place a few years ago.  Wow, what a great seafood spot!  If you are ever on St Simons Island, go there, it is a wonderful small local spot!  It is right at the Pier Village area so easy to find!  After a great dinner we went to The Lodge (another five star facility) on St Simons Island and enjoyed listening to the bagpipe player at the Plantation Golf Club. Here is the old live oak lined entrance to the Lodge.

Sunday morning we were dropped off at the marina early as John needed to get home to travel to Texas on business.  We promise to keep in touch Becky and John. And we will get you aboard on our return trip south in the Fall.
Oh, and for all you Spartan fans, here is a real Georgia license plate.  I guess Georgia will print about anything for a fee!

We then walked over to Mass and then did some preliminary planning for our next couple weeks.  We had hoped to leave Brunswick on Sun but given the thunderstorm forecasts (tropical storm Colin) we decided to stay here a couple more days before moving on.  But it was a great sunset before the storm on Monday.

We hope to catch up with some other West Michigan folks next week!  Susan and Mike are travelling down this way and we will welcome them aboard somewhere in South Carolina!  Remember, we only try to set the date or the place, not both at once!  We'll have a solid plan as the day draws near, but with weather and mechanical challenges that pop up, we try to stay flexible.  We love seeing friends and family along the way so we are really looking forward to their visit too! 
We also experienced our first tropical storm as we were in the warning area for Colin.  Wind, rain, thunderstorms and a small storm surge were expected.  We ended up with one storm that produced 39 knot winds (per our gauge maximum reading) and a lot of rain, but that was it thankfully. We left for Savannah on Tuesday morning 6/7.  More later.  Thanks for following us.