This weekend we set out to explore coastal Georgia…just Saturday and Sunday…because its Class of 2020 season and I shot Isabel’s cap and gown photos on Friday and then her Prom dress on Monday. This weekend was packed full of goodness!
A few of Isabel’s cap and gown session!
We headed out to St Simons Island, with our first stop being the smallest church in America. This church was very small, but was dwarfed even more by being nestled among some huge beautiful oaks covered in Spanish moss. It was such a beautiful setting!
Next stop Fort King George. It was really cool and historical…but we saw a huge snake and there were horse flies like crazy! I left welted up and a little freaked out about the snake, honestly. Pretty cool place to photograph. We didn’t get to read and focus on the history, because we were busy swatting flies.
After Fort King George, we were headed to St Simons Island to find lunch. We stopped at a few places along the way, that seemed interesting for me to photograph. A few fishing boats and an old plantation caught my eye.
We ate lunch on the Marina in St Simons Island and then headed to the hotel to check in. After we checked in we went to the St Simons Island Lighthouse and Pier. There was a huge ship tipped over at the pier…they were working on getting it turned back up right.
Next we headed out to Jekyll Island to check out Driftwood Beach. Sadly it was storming, but we waited it out for a sprinkle and got some pretty decent shots on my cell phone. We also explored around Jekyll Island. When we were leaving Jekyll Island, we saw a perfect spot to get some photos of the Sydney Lanier Bridge and of course snuck “Le Petit” in some photos too!
Nest stop hotel and getting cleaned up for dinner reservations at 9:30 pm. We went to Ember, a farm to fire restaurant! It was delicious. We couldn’t decide on anything, so we got 4 appetizers, drinks and dessert, because we wanted to try everything! Nothing disappointed! Delicious and great service. A definite stop if on St Simons Island!
After dinner it was time to crash, as I planned on shooting the sunrise on Driftwood Beach. I woke up super early Sunday morning, (4 am) so I headed out to driftwood beach first thing. I was kinda freaked out, because as soon as I got set up to take some astrophotography photos a man walked up to me in the dark, Foreign accent asking me if it was a nude beach…I told him I didn’t think it was, but it was dark, so do what he feel like he wanted…I turned around as he walked off with butt cheeks shining in the star light. I kept my monopod close by in case I needed to fight off some random nude man. The sun came up and I got some amazing photos…nude guy was in the past…sunrise photos were the focus!
Once I watched the sunrise in all its glory, I picked up breakfast and headed back to the hotel to wake up the hubby. After I was finally able to drag him out of bed, we headed to Okefenokee Swamp. It was pretty, but I wished I would have been able to see the night sky there! We saw some wild turkeys and they were pretty patient with me photographing them from the car.
Time for lunch, we were starved! But we don’t eat in the car, so COVID-19 takeout was complicated…we found a taqueria. Let’s just say this added to our adventure…we were looking for food after our trek at Okefenokee and came upon this taqueria…while looking for what I hoped was a real brick and mortar restaurant. This trailer was older than me and it was parked on top of a motel’s concreted over swimming pool (the sketchiest motel I’ve ever seen, to boot). Luckily hubby speaks Spanish cause who knows what I would have gotten if I ordered in English. It’s always an adventure for us…last night farm to table and cocktails, today tacos and tostadas from this…whatever you want to call it😂. 24 hours later, I’m still alive and not sick, so I guess I can say “but did I die?”
We finished the weekend Monday at Richland Rum for a little prom dress session with Isabel!
A wonderful weekend from beginning to end!
XOXO
-S