Snapshots of Jekyll Island, GA // June 2016

I know it is officially fall (HOORAY!) but I'm here to share the last of our summer trip to Georgia. If you've been reading along you'll know that we spent some time in Savannah, on Tybee Island, and then also Jekyll Island.

Jekyll is located on a protected part of the coast, so it has a decidedly wild, laid back, and natural feel to it. I spent most of our time there at my conference, but we did make sure to catch some afternoon/evening beach time, and do a little bit of touring and eating while we were there.

Eat: There are a decent number of places to eat on the island... but most of them are not particularly special. One place that we enjoyed quite a bit was called Driftwood Bistro. Everything that we tried was really good, and the people who worked there were super nice. :) 

See: The beaches (driftwood beach too!), the river, the nature everywhere! The old buildings by the river.

Shop: Because it's so small and based around the nature preserves there is not a ton of shopping to do on Jekyll. We visited a bookstore that was a little bit pricey and several of the shops near the Jekyll Island Club Hotel for souvenirs. On the newer side of the island there is a market/grocery store - which has lots of little stalls and gift type items in it. Overall not a shopping destination, but that's ok... especially if you've just left Savannah... :P 

Do: Visit the beaches, rent bikes or kayaks and see the trails and waterways, play mini golf, visit the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. 

- we loved the sea turtle center. You can go and learn about turtles and obstacles they are up against, you can see them recovering and sometimes even being operated on. It's got a lot of information and a lot of turtles. The gift shop is nice too. It would be a good place to take kids and learn about how to protect turtles and coastal environments. :) 

Favorites: The beaches, the low country boil that we did via the conference, and the Georgia Sea Turtle Center.

New Experiences: Fried green tomatoes, low country boil, going to a conference for work, seeing crabs and marine birds feeding by the beach.

We were so glad to finally check Georgia off of my list. :) 

Have you been somewhere scenic and undeveloped for vacation?

Do you love the beach? Or is it just land-locked me...?

Other Georgia Posts: Savannah and Tybee Island.

Happy Travels!

XO,

Alexandra

Snapshots of Tybee Island, GA // June 2016

As the weather cools down here, I'm recapping the hot and humid Georgia.

On to Tybee Island!

When we went to Savannah we knew we wanted to drive out to the ocean a few times. Being land-locked Kansans we love to see the water - and get to the coast any chance we can. :) Tybee Island is just 25-30 minutes from Savannah, a very easy drive, and a perfect little beach town. It's known for it's light house, it's beaches, and it's laid back island charm. We went primarily to check climbing a light house off my list, and on our third try we *finally* got to go up! This ended up being one of our favorite things we did on this whole trip!

Eat: We actually did not eat at all on the island. We did stop for limeades on the drive back to Savannah once, which were really yummy, but WAY too big.

See: The Southern beaches. Our photos were taken on North Beach. The light house, and it's cottage and compound. Especially the view from the top! :)

Shop: There are a few little clusters of shops on the island. We only visited a few, but it was fun to see local artist's work, and fun little items here and there. Lord knows I didn't need to buy a ton after Savannah... not saying I bought nothing... 

Do: Climb the light house and explore the cottage and compound. Imagine that you are living there, get swept away in day dream... Hang out at the beach! In June the water was lovely! We got caught in a storm that was very intense but exhilarating.

Favorites: The light house, and swimming in the ocean!

New Experiences: Climbing a light house, getting caught in a big coastal storm, learning anything about light houses really. :) 

Random Tip: If you happen to get caught in a coastal storm, just keep following the cars with local license plates. This is by no means official advice... but we were on the high way, driving slowly in intense wind and rain - when some sort of emergency vessel lit up and started making fog horn sounds! So intense, I don't know what that means.... so following the cars eventually lead us out of the island and out of the storm. I figured the locals would know when it was too bad to keep driving!

Have you been to Tybee Island? What did you think?

Do you mind storms? Have you ever been caught in one that you didn't know how to react during?

What's your favorite destination you've visited by the ocean?! I want to know!!

Other Georgia Posts: Savannah and Jekyll Island.

Happy Travels!

XO,

Alexandra

Snapshots of Savannah, GA // June 2016

Ah, it feels great to be done with California posts. I just had SO many pictures and thoughts, that it took forever to get all of those posts into the world. But, I like knowing all the fun details of other blogger's trips, so I try to be thorough in my posts. :)

On to Savannah, GA!

KC and I headed to Savannah (somewhere we've wanted to visit since 2011) in June for a bit of professional development, and a bit of vacation time. I was able to condense all of my Savannah things into one post, woohoo! Upcoming posts will detail our time on Tybee Island and Jekyll Island. :)

The Sparrow from GOT, anyone?!??!

Eat: Ah, so many great places to eat in Savannah!

• Mexican at Tequila's Town - the peach margarita was fab. We definitely ate here twice, and I got the same thing both times. So. Good.
• Breakfast at Cafe M, a French Cafe - YUM. Pastries, cute atmosphere, ooh la la.
• British Food at Pie Society (at City Market) - Cheerio! Pastries, meat pies, etc. Fun British decor to boot!
• Grab a sandwich to share (with "the sauce") at Zunzi's. - Oh my lord... SO GOOD. I promise.
• Coffee and Kolaches at The Coffee Fox - This place has the most insanely rad branding. I love it. The music was great too,  nice people. Just sit and stay a while.
• Pizza Slices at Vinnie Van Go Go's - Great name, great place. Divey, a very local place to eat.
• Treats at Back in The Day Bakery - YUM. Such a cool atmosphere too. Fun to go to a place where you've seen the cookbook on Amazon a MILLION times. :) 
• Airport Stay? Eat at Sam Snead's. I'm not into golf, in fact I am pretty anti-golf most of the time, but this restaurant was GREAT, and near the airport for our last night in Savannah. I loved the vintage feel, and the old (charming) golf memorabilia. Very 1940's - '50's, rat pack-y vibe. 

See: All of the squares! Savannah (and other Southern cities) are built around squares, which feature lovely parks, sculptures, fountains, etc. There are so many, and they are really pretty. You've got to love all of that Spanish moss! The old part of the city is by the wall, which was so interesting to see how it's built along the river. That's where all of the touristy things are. We loved seeing the art museums! (more in the "do" section).

Shop: So. Much. Shopping. Danger! Danger! 10 times over. I bought #allthethings on this trip. A few favorite shops:

• SCAD Student Store - all of the gorgeous things the students at SCAD make. Loved... 
• Kitchens on the Square - ADORABLE. All the fun vintage and unique kitchen items you could ever hope to buy.
• Paris Market (& Cafe) - Oh my. This place was heaven. Beautifully curated vintage, shabby chic, brand new, etc. etc. You feel like you are in the chicest flea market you've ever seen - in Paris. Highly recommend! Found a lovely clutch in the sale section downstairs, and they had the neatest build your own jewelry counter! You could buy fun vintage beads, grab bags of vintage costume jewelry, etc. etc. Did not try cafe... but wish I would have!
• Terra Cotta - right near Kitchens on the Square (not well labeled), but this store is amazing. They have the coolest clothing, jewelry, purses, shoes, etc. I also LOVED the kid/baby stuff they have in there... not that I'm in the market. (thank goodness or I would have bought it all!). I bought myself a "nice" leather purse there, and I loooove it. Happy early bday to me. Great place for gifts or spending all of your money! 
• E. Shaver Bookseller - this place is very cute, they had a cat in the window! I loved looking through the store, but found the customer service to be a little lacking. Could have been a fluke...? But this was the best independent bookstore I could find on my search.
• Graveface Records & Curiosities - this place is super strange, but really really cool. It's right next to Back in the Day Bakery - so if you're over there, pop in. Filled with vinyl, CDs, old arcade games, horror movies and memorabilia, and taxidermy-ed(?) animals... quite the ride, but very cool store. 
• I bought that kimono on this trip too, and I LOVE it, but the store was just ok... and I don't remember the name of it.

Do: 

• Walk the squares. Forsyth Park is the one with the big fountain. 
• Visit the Telfair Museums. A GREAT deal. You pay one fee per-person to visit the Telfair (traditional art museum), The Jepson (Modern art museum) - just across the street, and then The gorgeous old Owens Thomas House. You have a week to get to each one, you just carry a little punch card with you. I was very impressed with all three places. Both museums were great, SO different from one another! Which made it feel like such a value. Everyone we met there was nice! Neither of them were HUGE - which was good. We didn't feel like we had to be in each museum ALL DAY and hope to see everything. Very manageable. You can't take photos inside of the Owens Thomas house, but it was so fun to see, and the tour guide was so nice and knowledgeable. :) Highly recommend!!!
• See a Movie at the SCAD Trustees Theater. We over plan, over pack, and over walk... so seeing an old film at the SCAD theater was a great way to spend one of our evenings in Savannah. We really enjoyed it and it was inexpensive!
• Do a Ghost Tour (maybe) - we decided to do a ghost tour since Savannah is supposedly one of the most haunted cities in the US. It's not our "thing" we aren't super drawn to horror anything, really. And as far as that goes, we are pretty big skeptics. We wanted to try something different so we did a tour with Ghosts and Graveyards (from the History Channel), and did our best to keep an open mind. Overall, it ended up being really hokey. Part: "here's a spoooooooky story, was that a noise?" while in historic home, part: "oh what's going on?" now we'll try to spook you with a tricked out theater and actors "from the past"... I don't know how others compare, and I don't know what you guys are into... but I feel like they sped through some of the legitimately creepy stories and history to meet the timing deadlines - it was too hard to follow. I would have loved to remember them... And I think the tour and then the "reenactment...? play?" made it feel really inconsistent. Pick one, maybe?

Favorites: The shopping, and seeing the beautiful old city! :) The art museums were FANTASTIC. Really loved our experience with the Telfair Museums.

New Experiences: Peach margaritas, eating at a British restaurant, African style chicken sandwiches at Zunzi's, visiting city squares, and doing a ghost tour.

Random Tip: Parking is tough! Consider using uber, renting bikes, or purchasing a hop on, hop off bus ticket, etc.

We were so glad to finally visit Savannah! :) (even if I spent wayyy too much money!)

Have you been to Savannah? What did you think?

Are you a vacation shopper? Or does it depend on where you are?

Have you done a ghost tour before? Was it hokey or cool?

Other Georgia Posts: Tybee Island and Jekyll Island.

Happy Travels!

XO,

Alexandra