Our Vacation

Don't you love going on a vacation? I do and I anticipate it for weeks before we leave. This year we went on a family vacation with our children and grandchildren. It was a first to have all the grandchildren together on a vacation and I learned many things. Our son-in-law had to work, so he is the only one who missed the trip.

We left last Friday afternoon to drive as far as we could to Jekyll Island, GA. We spent the night above Atlanta and then the next morning headed to the island. We arrived at our rented house about 4:00 p.m. and got settled before walking to the beach.

Jekyll is a beautiful island and I can see why the rich wanted to winter there. It is very peaceful. Our house was two houses from the beach but we could still hear the waves beat against the sand. I loved being sung to sleep by the waves.

There is a lot of history on Jekyll. One of the last slave ships to come to America landed there. It was against the law in 1858 to bring slaves in from Africa, but Charles and Henry DuBignon did just that. They owned the island, so I guess they felt they could do what they wanted. We went to where the ship landed and it was awesome.

The winter cottages of the rich were very interesting. They must have felt like they were roughing it since they only brought three or four servants. Their houses were large and beautiful. The Jekyll Island Club was known through out the United States and many rich, such as, Rockefeller's, Pulitzer's, Bell's, owners of Standard Oil and many other rich people spent their winters there. Our tour guide told us many interesting stories.

The part I loved best was the sea turtles. The Georgia Sea Turtle Center treats injured sea turtles that are found on the Georgia coasts. They have Loggerheads, Green, and Leatherback Turtles in their hospital. We got to see them feed two of the turtles and also watched the doctor operate on one. On Thursday night we went on a Turtle Walk. The turtles are nesting now and we hoped to see one come in from the ocean and nest, but we were not so lucky. That night, no turtles came ashore. We did see the nests of a Loggerhead and a Leatherback. Very interesting.

It was a great experience and I learned so much. I'm anxious to put my knowledge to work and tell more about this magnificent island.