Last week my brother and his wife, Steve and Kathy, came to visit us on St. Simons Island. It was Steve’s spring break and he had never traveled anyplace warm before for spring break. They arrived on the island on Tuesday afternoon and left on Thursday morning, so it wasn’t a long visit. But we sure enjoyed seeing them and appreciated them driving so far to see us.
We were a little worried about the weather when Steve and Kathy told us what dates they were coming. According to the forecast, it was supposed to be warm but raining every day. We like to do so many things outdoors that we were afraid rain would ruin our time together. But, as happens so often on St. Simons, it didn’t rain nearly as much as the forecast said. Storms come up from the southwest, but they stall when they hit the ocean breeze. So we ended up with very little rain during the time we wanted to be together.
The first thing we did when they arrived on the island was walk on the beach. It wasn’t raining on Tuesday afternoon and we were afraid it would rain on Tuesday evening or all day Wednesday. We walked about a mile up East Beach and then back to the car. Along the way we could see sunshine to the east and huge storm clouds to the west. But the storm never reached the island and, because of it, the beach was nearly deserted. It was a wonderful walk and a great time to catch up with Steve and Kathy.
After the beach, we headed downtown and walked out on the pier. We took the required selfie of us on the pier with the lighthouse in the background. Then we went to Crab Daddy’s for supper. It was the first time Tom and I have eaten there, so I will write more about it on Friday. The rain started while we were eating supper and continued for the rest of the evening. After supper we capped off the evening with a rousing hand of euchre before Steve and Kathy headed to their hotel room.
On Wednesday we met Steve and Kathy at Fort Frederica National Monument. The morning was cloudy, warm, and dry. They watched the movie, then we gave them a personal tour of the grounds and checked out the new bridge that Tom and the Verbas built. Kathy found a few items in the bookstore to take home.
After the monument, we headed back to their hotel before going to lunch. Unfortunately, in walking back up out to the car after being up in the room, Kathy twisted her ankle. It immediately swelled up so we knew she would be uncomfortable doing much walking in the afternoon. I was glad we got in the visit to Fort Frederica in the morning! Tom and I picked up some sandwiches from Sandy Bottom Bagels and took them back to the hotel so we could all eat together. After a lunch spent icing her ankle, Steve wrapped the ankle and we headed to the Lighthouse Museum and the Homefront Museum.
The Lighthouse Museum and the Homefront Museum are both run by the Coastal Georgia Historical Society and they have discount tickets if you visit both on the same day. We watched the movie at the Lighthouse and then spent a little while in the museum. Tom and Steve climbed up to the top of the lighthouse. The wind was picking up so they didn’t stay very long at the top. A light rain started while we were in the museum.
Kathy’s ankle was hurting after that small amount of walking, but we talked her into going to the Homefront Museum with us. The Homefront Museum has a small theater with a movie at the beginning, and we said she could sit there and wait for us if she didn’t feel like walking. We were really glad she decided to go, however, because the volunteer working their offered their wheelchair to us. He said it was hurting him to watch her hobble around. Once Kathy was seated in it, she could enjoy all of the museum and spending the time with us. We all agreed he was our hero of the day.
The Homefront Museum was just as good this time as last. It really is exceptionally well done and interesting. Tom and I had been there once before, but we enjoyed looking at all the exhibits again. We tried most of the hands-on stuff (not a lot of other people around) and watched some of the short videos. Tom and Steve were pretty good at plane spotting and all of us stunk at hitting submarines based on radar.
After enjoying the museums, we set out to find the eleven tree spirits on the island. When we did this with Mom and Dad there were only seven, but several new ones have appeared since then. The new ones were easier to spot because the older ones were weathered and gray like the trees. We found all of them even through the rain. Kathy decided she needed a nap and to elevate her ankle, so we dropped Steve and Kathy back at their hotel and went home for a while.
When Kathy woke up, we headed back to the south end of the island and picked up a pizza. We carried it up to their room so we could enjoy supper and Apples to Apples together while Kathy kept her ankle up. I’m sure she would have rather gone out to eat, but the important thing was enjoying each other.
As are all wonderful visits, Steve and Kathy’s visit was too short, but we had a great time together. Tom and I headed back to work on Thursday morning and Steve and Kathy went to the Sea Turtle Rescue on Jekyll Island before heading back north. We are so glad they came to see us and enjoy some of the beautiful coastal Georgia weather.