Cake by the Ocean

Today was our second day here at Little St. Simons Island, and it has been enjoyable so far.

Breakfast was slightly later in the day (9:00), which was appreciated by both me and Foster. They served bagels with salmon, however some of us may have opted for the less-exotic jelly option. Before breakfast, Dad had apparently been to the store and purchased a fishing shirt (as if he actually goes fishing more than once a year). Still, he insisted he needed it. He then proceeded to wear it with the same color shorts, despite numerous protests.

Looking sharp 

After breakfast ended we decided to go out exploring on our own on bikes to the north end of the Island. I took the lead for most of the ride, which was fine by me. To quote an age old yukon saying/ Cowan motto, "If you ain't the lead dog, the scenery never changes."

On our way to the north end, we stopped at an observation tower. Mom wondered if we would see any armadillos, and proceeded to rename them "armordillas" because of their "hard shell". Dad then called them invasive pests and suggested that everybody on the island be given pellet guns so they could shoot "armordillas" on sight. I'm really not sure what it is with him and pellet guns.

Mom on the tower

The only successful panorama I've ever taken

View from the bike

Eventually, we reached the beach at the north end of the island.

Y'all better appreciate this picture, because I swear my shirt and shorts were covered in spurs afterwards. 

It didn't particularly look like a traditional beach, and some of us may have been a little disappointed after we had travelled that far to see it. But then I took off my shoes and went a little further towards the water, and made a surprising discovery. Walking through the mud felt exactly like walking through cake. I convinced Mom and Foster to give it a go, and we got completely dirty, but it was fun. As we went further, we found that different areas felt like icing, dry mix, etc. It was weird and cool at the same time.

In some areas, the cake mud was really thick

To get the mud off, we scraped at our feet with shells and even a natural sponge. It only kinda worked, but we all agreed getting muddy was worth it.

On the way back, Foster's chain broke for the third time that trip. We made it back in one piece though.

road repairs

We got back just a tad bit early for lunch at 1, so we chilled on the porch for a bit. For some reason unknown to anyone else, Foster saw this as the perfect time to show off his interpretive dance to a 'Dora the explorer theme' rendition. What he din't realize, however, was that there was a man right behind us who saw the entire thing. Maybe he was hoping he could "swipe" some of his dance moves.

After a lunch of shrimp rolls and pesto soup, the Cowans split up for the afternoon. Foster and Mom went for a walk on the beach, here's a picture from Foster-

birds in a tree

Meanwhile, Dad and I were out fishing. It wasn't the best day for the fish, but I managed to catch two. They may have been too small to keep, but it was better than not catching anything. Here's a pic of Dad with his catch of the day-

Dinner was steak and rice, and I think everyone enjoyed talking to the families around us (what?? Cowans being social??). We are all a little sad to be leaving tomorrow, but it will be nice to be home. Thanks again to everyone reading, and I hope your day has been great.

Just like St. Simons.. Only Littler

I would like to preface this entry by saying the title is a quote from our own lovely Jean Cowan.

With that out of the way, we can begin with the day.

We woke up at around 8:30 and promptly stayed in bed until 9:10, when we were sure Mom would kill us had we slept later. Becca and Don took us to a breakfast place in the village, which was very popular considering there was a line out the door. While Dad, Becca, and Don held our place, Foster, Mom, and I walked around, met a dog, and annoyed people unintentionally on a playground.

"Hey Foster, will you take a picture of me?"

  

 

I think everybody agreed that breakfast was excellent. Dad (of course) got the buffet solely because it was a good deal, but everyone was glad he did because those muffins were great.

This was before Dad pushed him 

Afterwards, we visited a museum/ lighthouse. It was certainly different than our last lighthouse experience, which ended up being located on a nudist beach. This one, thankfully, was not. 129 steps into the air, Foster, Dad, and I waved down to Becca, Don, and my mom. They even got to hear Foster yell at Dad when he pretended to throw him off the railing. At least it wasn't me.


We couldn't go on any vacation without visiting a cemetery, so that's where we went next. Well, the adults did. Foster and I explored a garden and actually ended up in a national park (go figure). We figured that it was not an official Cowan vacation unless at least one of us stepped foot in a national park; it would have been a Cowan disaster had we not. Heres Foster whipping/ doing the nae nae to impress the locals-

After that excursion, we had to say goodbye to Becca, Don, and the rest of St. Simons to embark on our third and final leg of the vacation. Foster was particularly upset about leaving Becca's cookies.

 Turns out we weren't going too far, as the ferry left right there at the dock near the house. So here we are on Little Saint Simon's island, which is very nice, I have to say. Dad can be cheap sometimes, but not so much here.

Pictures from the boat-

This place definitely fulfills the "eco" and "lodge" clues. It actually used to be a hunter's cabin, but I won't get into the history. Anyway, its really pretty here. Soon after we got here, Mom and Dad went on a hike while Foster and I biked to the beach.

Cool sighting: an armadillo

 We hadn't planned to walk far, but before we knew it, we were 1 1/2 miles from the boardwalk exploring areas that aren't often explored. We even "discovered" a lake/ pond/ some kind of water body I can't name and called it "Sandpiper Bay" after the little birds that were on the beach.

Foster defending his property

On our walk, we found a plethora of shells and a number of intact sand dollars (of which about 75% survived the bike ride back).

We were out so long that on the walk back, we were concerned about our shoes being covered by the tide, and although the tide had come in really far, our shoes were ok.

We went back and had a nice sit down dinner. Well, in my opinion, duck does not taste good, but it looked nice.

My dad then suggested we play a game as a family, and proceeds to pick out "Oval Office; Race to be President". As if we weren't already nerdy enough, this game has made it sure we could never be normal again. We couldn't find the directions, but played anyway.

I cannot truthfully say it was fun.

Well, that's all for us. I hope everyone is going well and enjoying the (hopefully) warm weather. Thank you for reading, and thanks for all the nice comments my mother has been showing me. I really appreciate it. Have a nice Wednesday tomorrow!

St. SImons, Day 2

Today was our second day at St. Simons with Becca and Don, who are wonderful hosts. This morning I was abruptly woken up by Dad, but the banana bread and egg/sausage/cheese sandwich for breakfast certainly made up for it.

In the late morning/ late afternoon, the six of us took a 5 mile hike at Canon's Point, which are the old ruins of an 1800s plantation. Mom, Dad, Becca, and Don had a lot to catch up on, so Foster and I entertained ourselves with the scenery and deep discussions about the meaning of life (I kid, I kid.)

Mom learning more about the old plantation

After the hike we went back to the condo and chilled for a bit before we left early for dinner. It was an hour boat ride there, so we all went to the bathroom before we left. All of us that is, except Foster. When we reached the dock, Foster got out of that boat and to the nearest restroom faster than I thought possible if you had to go that bad. But hey, to quote Dad, "if you gotta go, you gotta go."

I have to say, this blog has come in handy. I can take pictures like these "for the blog" without question. It's nice.

The restaurant was basically the definition of a southern fish camp, and the food was really good. Foster made sure to use the restroom before we left this time. The way back was equally as nice of a boat ride, courtesy of Don the captain. 

We kept our eyes out for the many eagles on the marsh-

Here's some other pictures form the boat-

My hair is not red I swear

We timed the dinner and boat ride so that we could see the sunset, which was absolutely beautiful tonight. 

Nice views

Not so nice views

The sunset was so pretty that some of us got a little, excited we might say. Dad was so excited his hat fell overboard and we had to start a rescue mission to retrieve it. 

That's all for today folks!! I would like to thank you if you've made it this far with our vacation, or if this is your first time reading. We'll be heading to another surprise leg of the vacation tomorrow, so be sure to stay tuned! I hope your break is going well. 

Green alligators and long neck geese

After staying up very late, Foster and I weren't exactly motivated to be getting out of bed when mom showed up randomly in our room. We were, however, hungry, so we got up, packed our things, and got ready for church relatively quickly. (quickly enough considering we had just woken up)
Anyway, we left the hotel and Mom, Foster, and I waited in the car while Dad went to check out. At this point we had entered a crucial time period- two minutes longer than planned and there was no breakfast for any of us. We waited, and waited, and waited, still no sign of Dad. Finally, well after the time we would have had to leave to get breakfast, he comes back. We asked him what took so long- was there a lot of people checking out? Did he get lost? Did a gunman raid the hotel? No, Dad wanted a 5 dollar refund, and spent 20 minutes with the receptionist trying to get it. Yeah. Certain people might have been slightly salty after that.
Anyway, here we were in the car on the way to church, and dad thinks it would be a GREAT idea to play country music. 70's country music in the car with 3 people who hadn't eaten breakfast. I'm pretty sure at one point Foster launched himself into the front seat to try and sabotage the radio, but I'm not sure since my headphones were in, trying to block out the music myself.

Ok, story time-

We arrive at some random Catholic church in Brunswick Georgia. Dad and mom immediately find an elderly woman working as a greeter and ask where the bathroom is, while Foster and I find a seat. It isn't long before we see them again, this time at the front of the church, near the altar, in front of everyone there. We can't hear whats going on, but it was clear: Dad finds the deacon, shakes his hand, and next thing we know, the deacon is pointing somewhere near the back of the church, Dad is thanking him, and heading off in that direction with Mom. They asked the deacon where the bathroom was in front of the whole church. Classy. 

After communion Mom, Foster, and I are sitting quietly in our seats and then we turn to look at Dad. I'm not sure why he felt the need to rest his head on the pew, but apparently he did. Here's Foster's interpretation- 

When church was over, we were hungry, to say the least. However, Dad refused to stop for food, saying we were "almost there" and "we'd eat when we'd get there". Little did we know we had a nice barbecue lunch waiting for us at a friend's house- this leg of the vacation was to be at a the house of my parent's friends in St. Simons island. Becca and Don are really kind, and our parents spent the first twenty minutes reminiscing about a certain 40th birthday party (complete with karaoke) and denying alcohol was involved. 

Our view from the road

After a much needed much, we changed and went on a really relaxing boat ride courtesy of Don, who we later learned is now a reverend. There was a lot of wildlife. "We saw green alligators and long neck geese, a humpty back camel and some chimpanzees. Some rats and cats and elepha- " yeah just kidding. But we did see some dolphins, alligators, and eagles. 

Mom and Dad on the boat

View from the dock

Fast forward to dinner time- Becca prepared a nice low country boil, and Don expertly cooked it. It was a nice dinner, but the discussion afterwards was even better. Somehow Mom got on the topic of phones, and was trying to explain how the "phone goddess giveth so the phone goddess can taketh away", though it was slightly confusing to everyone else, considering the "phone goddess" would probably not be able to operate the phone they were attempting to take away (switch to iPhone mom). 

Here's dad laughing about his own antics in church-

 

Jekyll Island

Today marked the first official day of our vacation, and it was nice, I have to say. 

But before today, here's a brief re-cap of yesterday- 

We got in and immediately unpacked (after we figured out the wifi situation, of course). After the long drive there, Foster and I spent a bit in the hotel room while my parents "explored" the hotel. It had been a while before we texted them like "where are you"; they had discovered the bar. 

After they got back, we went for a night walk on the beach. That was both relaxing and cool, and we even discovered little plankton that lit up called "bioluminescents". 

Foster and I in the water

We got to sleep in this morning until 9, and then went to a nice breakfast at the hotel restaurant (dang those scones were good). After the meal, Foster and I went down to the beach, which looked completely different in the morning. We wrote some messages in the sand before Mom and Dad joined us, and we went on another beach walk. 

We ended up discovering a sand bar. This was neat, especially since none of us had ever been on one before. We walked all the way to the end, and by the time we were halfway back, the tide had covered much of the sand. Walking back to the hotel, we saw a bunch of sandpipers and other wildlife, including one that looked very much like fecal matter to me (still not convinced it wasn't). 

Oh, and Mom and Dad have NO idea how to take selfies. (still love them of course) 

After the beach walk, we all took showers and chilled in the hotel room for a bit. Then we decided to go to the historic district of Jekyll (not that we could leave without going, knowing Dad). It was very quaint, and it was fun to walk around and see all the little shops and museums. 

Ok, story time- 

There were a few cats around the historic district, which sparked a conversation about the cat my dad once had. Apparently he "was the only one who fed it" and even "had to shoot birds with my pellet gun to feed it", since they were 14 "miyles" from the store. Perhaps he even had to haul firewood from the mountain uphill each way to keep his family warm. Haha. Anyway, this sparked jokes for the rest of the day such as "Paw, Imma grab the big gun to go out back and shoot some birds for the kitty-cat!" (Foster Cowan). 

Oh, here's some pretty flowers from some point during the day, I forget when.

After the historic district, we drove a bit to the north side of the beach, where we saw dead trees. It's prettier than it sounds, I swear. 

Then we went back to the hotel once more, and this time we went to the pool. I was literally the pool for two seconds when some absolutely random little girl comes up, and starts a game of "I throw the quarter, you go find it". Foster conveniently left the pool at this point, so here I am stuck playing a game alone with a little girl I had never seen before. Fun. The game promptly ended after the 10th ish round when I "couldn't find" the quarter, and the girl was momentarily distracted with her mother.  

A second shower later, we were ready for dinner. We had a reservation at the "millionaire's hotel". Here's some pictures of Foster's food-

Several heated discussions about snapchat later, we left. I have to tell you, it took quite a bit of restraint to not crash this wedding we saw, haha. But we didn't, and I drove us back to the hotel. So here we are, me blogging, Foster face timing, and mom and dad sleeping. I hope you all have a good night and a nice day tomorrow. Thanks again for reading, and keep checking back for updates!!