Christmas Roadtrip 2025, Days 4-6

Day 4

Friday December 19, 2025

     Coffee in hand, the St. Mary's river front beckoned.  There's a reason I get up early here.

     Settling into the usual spot for sunrise...

 

Meanwhile, outside the bait and tackle shop...

      After packing up the room, it was time to head north.  As usual, I chose the more scenic Hwy 17.  

      I've passed this way many times, often stopping by the old, faded Georgia Girl Cafe sign.  Good to see Sandra's Kitchen out front.  

    One of the things I like about this route is the Woodbine Theater Park.

     It's not so much for the park, it's what's behind it.  

      The Georgia Coastal Rail Trail.  The Florida Central and Peninsula Railroad built the line in 1893.  The line shut down in the early '70s.  CSX tore up the rails in 1999.  The city of Woodbine bought a two and a half mile stretch and turned into a walking trail.

   Walking north, the trail ends at the bridge across the Satilla River.

     There's a boardwalk along the river that leads to a small pier.

       The old railroad bridge.

     Walking back...

     All told, I did just over four miles.  Not too bad. 

 

     On the drive out of town, I passed a sign for the Woodbine Opry.  It's a free weekly concert featuring country, gospel and bluegrass music.  

     The final stop of the day was St. Simons Island and an overnight at my usual Queens Court.  The location is perfect, just across the street from the touristy area.

    It was too early to check in, so I just walked around a bit...

       After dinner, it was back out to the pier, hopefully for a nice sunset.

      But, they can't all be epic.

      An hour after sunset, it was back out again for some evening shots...

     

     The lighthouse all decked out for Christmas...

Day 5

Saturday, December 20, 2025

    Naturally, I was up early.  Too early for sunrise.  I had the neighborhood to myself.

      My usual spot for sunrise is Gould Inlet.  There have been a few awe inspiring ones.  Today, pretty basic.

     On a previous visit to St. Simons, I tried doing the loop trail in the Guale(pr; Gooly) Preserve.  It was after a few days of rain and the trail was flooded and muddy.

     Today, I did a revisit.  The outer loop trail runs 1.9 miles and is easy to follow.

     

    With the chilly air, it went quickly.  So, I went around again.  I routinely do 3.25 every morning, so it was a breeze.

    Just south of St. Simons Island is Jekyll Island.  It's been a few years, so I came back just for the day.

    A perfect excuse to cross the Sidney Lanier Bridge again.

      After paying my $10 entrance fee, it was time to hit Jekyll Island.  First stop is a place they call Driftwood Beach.  

8A

    There's a park on the north side of the island.  Love the curves and lines of the fishing pier.

    Curious though, why is the end blocked off like that?

    This guy was creating quite the racket...

      It's a Boat Tailed Grackle.  How do I know, there's an app for that.

    An experiment... I recorded him singing.  I see it in my gallery.  But, multiple attempts to add it here have failed.  Not sure why.  The process seems straightforward.  

    No trip to Jekyll Island would be complete without a visit to the long abandoned amphitheater.

    While the east side of the island has Driftwood Beach, the west side has St. Andrew's Beach.  It's a little smaller, but perfect for sunset.

    The late light brings out the grains on the trees.  Depending on the angle to the sun, they go from gray to golden.

Day 6

Sunday, December 21, 2025

     The plan was always to get up and out for sunrise on Driftwood Beach.  Sure, it was foggy.  I went anyway.

     The walkway to the beach...

       While there was no colorful sunrise, the change of light brought out the fog, making some photos look almost like a winter landscape.

     Eventually some sun...

       The sun was clearing out the fog while I packed up the room.

     Meanwhile, back at the Sidney Lanier Bridge...

     Heading north, I chose to stay on Hwy 17.  About an hour north is Townsend and the Harris Neck Wildlife Preserve.

     Harris Neck was a thriving community that was begun by freed slaves.  In 1942, the federal government seized the land to build an airstrip to train pilots.  Families were given two weeks to move out.  Blacks were given a third less for their land than whites.  

    Five years later, the airstrip was abandoned.  Instead of turning the land back to the original owners, the Department of the Interior was tasked with turning it into a wildlife preserve. 

     You can read more about it, and see a news report from WSAV here:

      The airfield was s typical triangular design, each side being a mile.  It makes for an easy three mile walk.  

   

     On the drive in, I passed this curious sign.  

      It leads back to a curious place.

     It really is a diner.  The parking lot's dirt.  To keep people from getting stuck in the mud, they use large sections of old carpet.  It seemed to work. 

    Go inside and walk to the back.  The walls of the diner are covered with photos of customers.  

    This is the VIP room.

     The restaurant has been open since 2007.  Angel works the front and takes the orders.  Chef does the rest.  

      Every meal comes with home made hush puppies.

     My chicken sandwich was delicious.  BTW, it came with home made honey Dijon mustard.

    This is the restaurant's website: My antivirus software says it's "suspicious."  Not sure why.  

    Last stop of the day was of course, Tybee Island.

    Just in time for sunset...

      On the walk back from the beach, I saw this...

     It's been a bit since I played.  Still made me laugh.