Tag Archive for: Tybee island

Well, I made it home after visiting five states in 8 days.  

One of the things that I enjoy most about my annual road trips is discovering the people, places, history, food and gardens of the different regions of the United States.

Annual road trips

Annual road trips

My road trip, this year, took me to parts of the South.

Charleston, South Carolina

I walked through the streets of Charleston, South Carolina and seeing historical places where events of the Revolutionary War and the Civil War played out.

hidden gardens

I peeked over ornate gates to see hidden gardens in this beautiful city.

Tybee Island

This native Southern Californian who grew up along the Pacific coast, dipped my toes in the Atlantic Ocean on Tybee Island.

Savannah, Georgia

I enjoyed visiting many of the 22 historical squares of Savannah, Georgia where many of the buildings survived the Civil War.

annual road trips

I found that Spanish moss really does hang from the trees down South, although it isn’t Spanish or a moss.

(It is actually a bromeliad and related to the pineapple).

University of South Carolina

An unplanned visit to the University of South Carolina yielded discoveries of beautiful gardens, including this herb/vegetable garden.

annual road trips

Smaller highways led us to small towns with tiny police stations.

North Carolina, annual road trips

Driving through North Carolina proved that spring has indeed sprung with the vision of flowering dogwoods everywhere.

annual road trips

Small roadside markets in Tennessee tempted us with their wares including boiled peanuts, toe jam and frog jam on our way toward the Smoky Mountains.

University of Tennessee, annual road trips

The gardens of the University of Tennessee had much to delight this horticulturist, including their kitchen garden.

 Kentucky horse country

A visit to Kentucky horse country led to the unforgettable experience of feeding thoroughbreds peppermint candies (with their trainer’s permission, of course).

horse racing

Discovering the world of horse racing was very exciting even though I wasn’t betting.

annual road trips

I spent the night in a jail.  Seriously, it was a bed & breakfast that was located inside the old county jail in Bardstown, KY.

I did sleep in a regular bedroom and not this jail cell 😉

distillery

The last day of our Southern journey took me to a bourbon distillery where I tasted my first and last bourbon.

Fort Knox

On our way to the airport in Louisville, we took an unexpected detour to Fort Knox as our GPS guided us there in our search of a UPS store to mail home our souvenirs.

The South is a wonderful place to visit and I made a few other discoveries while I was there:

– Southerners are the friendliest people.  Strangers wave to you on the side of the road as you pass.  When they ask you how you are doing, they really want to know.

– Their regional dishes have names like ‘Kentucky Burgoo’ and ‘The Big Brown’.  But, the servers are happy to explain to you what they are.

– Sweet tea is very sweet.

– The food is fabulous and fried chicken is served just about everywhere (after all, Col. Sanders created his ‘Original’ fried chicken recipe in Kentucky).

For those of you who followed along with me on my journey, thank you!

If you have been following my road trip, I wanted to show you a side trip that we made on our first full day:

We visited a small island off the coast of Georgia called Tybee Island.

Located just outside of Savannah, Georgia – Tybee Island is a barrier island and faces the Atlantic Ocean.

Tybee Island

The walkway to the beach was flanked by dense growth.  I even saw some Lantana growing wild.  It is considered invasive in many humid climates.

Tybee Island

As we walked out onto the beach, I couldn’t wait to get my feet into the water.

Tybee Island

The beach was beautiful.

I love visiting the beach.  I grew up on the Southern California coast and spent many a summer trying to get my fair skin to tan.  (It didn’t work and now I am religious on putting sunscreen on).

Tybee Island

It always surprises me how much warmer the Atlantic is then the Pacific ocean.

wooden swing

Up the beach was a wooden swing.  I have never seen one at a beach before, but I thought – how perfect!  If my husband had been there with me, I would have sat with him and watched the tide come in.

Tybee Island

I like how these footprints in the sand lead through the grasses, don’t you?

Growing up on the West coast, I am used to seeing the sun set over the ocean.

However, I have never seen the sun rise over an ocean before, like many East coast residents do.

Tybee Island

Near the beach, was a large concrete building, which was a ‘severe weather safe site’.  

I could only imagine the hurricane and tropical storms that this island has had to weather over the years.

Tybee Island

This post, shows how high the storm surges are for the different levels of hurricanes.  

It’s hard to believe, isn’t it?

There is great shopping, dining and places to stay on Tybee Island along with beautiful beaches.  I only wished that we had had more time to visit…  

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Our road trip has been going very well, besides a solid day and a half of rain.  I’ll post more about our adventures in North Carolina and Tennessee soon!

Home Again…