This was our 8th season at Fort Frederica.  Our 8th season of hanging out on St. Simons Island.  Our 8th year of doing things in the area on our days off.  What did we see that was new and different?  Hardly anything at all.

Because of the three weeks we were back in Ohio, we only had a little over two months on St. Simons.  During our days off, I write blog posts, do laundry, go grocery shopping, and run other errands.  This year I also had the One Year Bible Study which generally takes several hours a week.  For the most part, Tom and I stuck close to home.  Just hanging out.

Tom and I love to walk on the beach and we try to do that at least once a month.  You might think we would do it more often.  But, between the weather and our limited days off, we usually only hit once a month.  The perfect beach walking day is in the 70’s, sunny, and not too windy.  It has been a lot cooler than usual on St. Simons, and we have only had four days in the 70’s.  Two of those we were working.

After walking on the beach we make a stop at St. Simons Sweets.  Tom gets a pecan bar and I get a scoop or two of ice cream.  My favorite ice cream this year is peach cobbler.  So good.  After getting our sweet, we stroll down to the pier.  This year, on one of our days downtown, we saw two cargo ships passing by.  One of them was so close to the pier that it looked like it was blocking the end of town!

Bob and Denise Verba have had a record number of campfires this year.  The evenings have stayed cool enough that it is nice to sit around the fire.  Bob and Denise are directly across from us in Volunteer Village, so if they have a campfire, we do too in our shared space.  We enjoy hanging out and talking with Bob and Denise and Kathy and Marty.

We have hit all our favorite restaurants.  You may remember me writing about Zuzu’s last year.  When we arrived on the island in January, it was closed  A new owner had taken over the lease and was doing some remodeling.  Zuzu’s opened a few days later and we ate there with Bob and Denise.  The burgers just weren’t the same.  It was the first day for our waitress and, when our orders came, none of them were right.  We missed the old owner.  Since then, Zuzu’s has been closed whenever we are downtown.  I’m not sure if they are just closed on our days off or if they are having problems staying open.  At any rate, it is off the list of favorite restaurants.

We have been to Frederica Café once – wonderful!  And Iguana’s twice.  I love their hush puppies and Caribbean Chicken, so I am always happy to go there.  We are going to Scott’s BBQ tomorrow.  I am really looking forward to a potato bomb.  That leaves Tortuga Jack’s and we need to hit that before our time on the island is finished.

Although Tom and I take walks every day, there are three miles of trails here at Fort Frederica.  We don’t have to get in the car to take a walk.  The view changes daily.  I love to see the flowers blooming in the Azalea garden.  For the most part, we are tired after four days working and look forward to just hanging out.  Nothing too ambitious.

How about you?  What do you like to do when you are hanging out?