Allegheny Retreat

Jake's mother was from Australia and so felt qualified (despite her family's Scottish roots) to classify hot weather. If it were quite hot she would usually term it: hot as blazes; “blazes” being a British euphemism for  Hell. If it were really, really hot she would term it, rather simply but with power: beastly; “beastly” being a more profound way of saying the American “brutal.” Had she experienced the summer of 2010 in New Jersey she might have had to reach yet another level of adjective power to properly describe the misery we have endured these last few months.

It was to escape this historic summer heat that Jake set about finding some place within a reasonable driving distance that was, if not cool, at least not as blazingly beastly brutally hot as NJ. Research is a wonderful thing when one has the time and inclination, and after Googling his way through historic temperature graphs, dew point maps, topo maps, weather blogs and the like, Jake found that Bradford, PA, was consistently 10-15 degrees cooler than central NJ, and only about six hours away by car.

Jake and Stone ended up setting up their end-of-August week's HQ not in Bradford, but a little bit south of there in the tiny town of Ludlow, PA, which sits like a pin head in the Allegheny National Forest. Being told that our cell phones were of no use in this secluded glade, we decided before we left New Jersey to go completely native and left our laptop at home. Doing so freed Jake from his usual daily task of note taking, but the resultant lack of a daily record means this travelogue will not be the usual sequential spiel, but subject based instead.

The Manor at Olmsted

Lodging:  We stayed six nights at the 2 BR Carriage House on the grounds of the Olmsted Manor in Ludlow.  Olmsted is a rather unique place. When completed in 1917 it featured a grand Tudor mansion (complete with a two lane bowling alley, an apparent must-have for the rich and famous of the time) and several hundred acres of manicured gardens, terraced fountains, patios, lily ponds, tennis courts and the like. In 1969 the Olmsted family gave the Manor to the Methodist Church, and the Methodists run it today as a “retreat and renewal center” that caters to religious retreats and seminars. Luckily for heathens such as ourselves, guests are not subject to any theological test, and the only stricture placed on us was that we were asked not to drink or smoke on the premises. No cell phones, no laptop, and now no wine with dinner –  our “going native” was now so complete as to be almost Rousseauian.

Balcony Off Kitchen

The Carriage House at Olmsted is the top floor of what was once, most likely, the Manor's garage and chauffeur’s quarters across the road from the mansion. It fit our needs almost perfectly: a large living room with a cable TV that  got ESPN and the Weather Channel, a nice sized kitchen complete with all the stuff we needed to prepare meals, two good sized bedrooms and a modern bathroom. The furniture might be honestly described as “grandmotherly,” but the old time wooden doors and door frames, as well as several Tudor style windows, gave the space an unusual charm. There was even a little balcony perched off the kitchen that provided wonderful views of the Olmsted grounds and the surrounding Allegheny hills. The only negative we could find was that US Route 6 (aka: Main Street in Ludlow) runs by right outside, but there was so little traffic we were rarely bothered by any noise. And what mundane vehicular  noise we did notice was more than counter balanced by the romantic rumblings of a freight train that once in a while passed through the hills behind our backyard balcony. (See here for a distant view of the Carriage House.) But perhaps the best aspect of the Carriage House was the price: under $400 for six nights. God bless the Methodists.

PS – While Protestantism is typically connected with industry and frugality, it might be well to remember this  popular quotation from the writings of John Wesley, the English cleric and theologian who founded Methodism, which adds a third leg to make a sturdy and interesting Protestant stool: “Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can.”

Culture:  The Methodists are also responsible for our seeing Neil Sedaka and Bob Newhart. In the 1870's the Methodist Church founded, on the shores of Lake Chautauqua, NY, a summer training camp for Sunday school teachers that over the next several decades evolved into the Chautauqua movement. The Chautauqua movement was basically a further evolution of the Lyceum movement, which in the early 19th century sought to enhance adult education and entertainment in America. (Ralph Waldo Emerson made a good living giving lectures on the Lyceum circuit and Abe Lincoln is said to have honed his speaking skills at the lyceum in Springfield, IL.) During its most popular years, the Chautauqua movement had scores of outposts ranging from tents to large auditoriums throughout America. At the bigger Cahautauquas thousands would flock to the summer lectures to hear the likes of William Jennings Bryant and Mark Twain. Early on, the educational and religious tone of the movement was supplemented by popular entertainment, which brings us ultimately to Messrs Sedaka and Newhart. 

The automobile, radio and movies pretty much ended the Chautauqua movement as a force in American culture, but at the Chautauqua Institution, on the original site at Lake Chautauqua, the cultural tradition lives on in spades. During the summer months the Institution hosts scores of lectures, talks, discussions, plays, religious services and entertainment. This summer the line up of speakers included the likes of PBS's Jim Lehrer and Ken Burns, Alan Alda, the NY Times' David Brooks, Sandra Day O'Connor and the author extraordinaire, Salman Rushdie. The entertainment was just a varied, ranging from the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra to the Air Force Concert Band, and from Clay Aiken to Tom Chapin.  

On Friday night, August 27, the 5,000 seat auditorium (which has a roof but no walls, and pew-like, family style seating) was SRO for Neil Sedaka, whose voice at 71 years of age was a miracle. It was wonderful to also be reminded of all the melodic songs he has written over the years. The next night we saw the 81 year old Bob Newhart, whose impeccable comedic timing has lost nothing over the years. He did all new material, but found time for one old routine – the classic (the recording is in the Library of Congress!) “Driving Instructor.”

For us it was an easy 90 minute drive from Ludlow and the wilds of northwestern  PA to this island of high culture in the eastern finger tip of New York, and these two concerts were the highlight of our week. We're on the mailing list for next year's offerings at Chautauqua and hope to return.

PS – Jake grew up with a Chautauqua in his home town of Boulder, Colorado. When he was a lad he used to see movies in the big auditorium, a large, wooden barn of a building that housed not only the flickering light shows from Hollywood, but also the more-than-occasional family of bats, the sight of which sent many a early 1960's bouffant hairstyle shrieking to the exits. The current Boulder Chautauqua has a spectacular mountainside setting, is one of the oldest continuously operating Chautauquas in America, and features one of the best restaurants in Boulder.

Kane Country Club

Golf:  Jake managed to get in 36 holes of golf while playing three courses. On the first afternoon of our arrival in Ludlow I headed down US 6, through the town of Kane to the Kane Country Club where I played nine holes for $15.

Having not played much at all during this Summer of our Discontent, I had hoped to play alone but instead joined a threesome who were just teeing off. To add to my discomfort they all hit their drives long and straight. I manged to not lose my ball and somehow made a bogey on the straight, short (345 yds) opening hole, which gave my game more credence than it deserved.

After this one hole it was obvious that my partners were quite good and I was in over my head. It didn't help me feel less intimidated when I learned on the way to the second tee that the young guy was a 2 handicap(!), that the other guy worked in the pro shop, and that the third guy played at Kane CC about four or five times a week during the summer. Still, golf being golf, they hit some bad shots now and then, I played about as well as I can, and we all enjoyed the nine holes I shared with them.

Nine holes and about two hours of play is no basis for judging any golf course, but from what I saw, Kane CC is a good golf course kept in good condition. It is relatively short (5,944 yds) but the smallish greens that are typical of older courses (nine holes date from before WWI) are quite quick, while the generally tree-lined fairways reward straight drives but do not severely punish slightly wayward ones. The course's setting I found most appealing. Only on the first two holes do you see a car, and the rest of the course is a true walk in the park with not a house nor condo in sight. And the price is certainly right – $20 to $25 to walk the full 18 holes.

I played another nine holes at the Chautauqua Golf Club before we went to Friday evening's show. There are 36 holes at Chautauqua; I played the Lake Course nine, twilight rate, with a cart for $42, which included a small charge for Stone riding along with me. The Chautauqua GC is generally well regarded, and the atmosphere was certainly upscale yet nicely friendly, but from what little I saw of the course I doubt I'd play it again at the high rates charged.

Pine Acres Golf Course

When I next played it was beginning to get hot, even in our Allegheny enclave. On Monday morning I played 18 holes at Pine Acres, $26 to walk. Despite the heat, and the flocks of gnats (which I must admit I have never experienced in Jersey – no doubt we annihilate them with some chemical or other), I enjoyed the morning's play, especially since I had the course virtually to myself. I had heard that Pine Acres, which is the home course for the golf team from the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, was perhaps the best course in the area, and, despite its length from the “everyman” tees (6,511 yds), it proved to be fun and was my favorite as well.

I didn't get to play what was the most intriguing golf course we saw. On the drive out we took a four mile detour to see Scottish Heights in Brockport, PA. Though it is too seriously hilly to walk and a cart is always recommended, it had wonderful vistas and looked like it would be fun to play. Next time out I hope we can make a stop there and play it.

PS – The young 2-handicapper I played with at Kane CC is on the golf team at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, which he (and everyone else in the area) referred to as “Pitt Brad.” In private, always in private, both Stone and Jake referred to it as Brad Pitt.

Hiking/Biking:  The Allegheny National Forest (ANF) is a hiker's paradise, but unfortunately Jake and Stone never got much of a chance to do any long walks in the woods. And besides, the Olmsted estate itself provided ample opportunity for enjoyable walking around its substantial acreage. At one edge of the estate there is a sort of trail head for a subsequent mile walk through the woods to Wild Cat Park, which is a large public park overseen by the Ludlow Community Association. This trail also gets the walker up close and personal with the freight train that rumbles virtually unseen through the forest. The train's rumbling, which seems so romantic when heard from a distance is less so when heard alone in the woods, and the steadily increasing rumble severely elevated Stone's heart rate on her first amble into the trees.

Allegheny River by Tidioute

We took two walks in the Heart's Content area of the ANF, and while neither walk was sublime, and we occasionally had to swat away gnats, it was still quite wonderful to be alone in the forest with the dappled sunshine, the scampering chipmunks, the emerald ferns, the brave mushrooms and the pervasive silence. On the way back to Ludlow we got lost, but discovered a picnic area that had several trails radiating from its parking lot, one of which ended up with a post card overlook of the Allegheny River as it flowed past the little town of Tidioute.

Originally it was thought that while Jake hiked the golf links Stone might hike some of the North Country Scenic Trail. The NCST is nothing less than a 4,600 mile trail that runs from New York to North Dakota. It makes it way briefly (only 100 miles worth!) through Pennsylvania and spends a lot of that time in the ANF. However, upon reading the notes at a trail head that warned of recent black bear sightings and cautioned hikers to use “bear awareness techniques” it was decided to try the trail next time.

Having for some time wanted to do it, Stone finally bought herself a folding bike which we took along on this trip. It is a Schwinn 20” model which we got from Amazon for about $160. Folding bikes can easily cost two or three times what we paid, but Stone has been very happy with this cheaper bike. If this bike has one drawback it is its weight – it is not light by any means. But it still folds into a carrying bag, can fit easily into half of the back seat of a car, and is not impossible for a reasonably fit middle aged woman to carry short distances. Though time and logistics didn't allow Stone to ride any section of the Chautauqua Rails to Trails, she greatly enjoyed riding her handy bike around the Olmsted estate and on the nary-a-car streets of Ludlow.

Stone & Her Bike

PS -- As President of the Overly Planned Vacation Society, Jake did note that the best view we got on all of our hikes was discovered by getting lost.


Food:  We knew this trip would afford us little in the way of memorable meals out, still we had a couple of nice experiences. Warren, PA, was about a 30 minute drive from Ludlow. It was here we had our only “fine dining” experience at the Liberty Street Cafe, which was quite nice indeed. But our favorite two meals out were breakfasts at Kimberly's Cool Beans Cafe in Bradford, where the vibe was relaxed, the coffee delicious and the breakfast a world class value. Highly recommended.

Most often we took advantage of the kitchen in our rental, finding fresh goodies to cook at the Farmer's Market in Bradford where we got some nice veggies as well as some local honey and jams. We also found some delicious peaches and grapes at one of the many roadside stands that dot seemingly every road in the area.

PS -- Man does not live by restaurants alone. 

Out & About:  Bradford, PA, is the home of Zippo lighters, and as befits this American icon, there is a Zippo Museum in town. The museum is free, is visited by thousands of people every year, and was more interesting than we anticipated. A few years ago Zippo acquired W. R. Case & Sons Cutlery, which is also headquartered in Bradford and makes the famous and much collected Case knives; the museum highlights Case also.

We also enjoyed visiting the Kane Manor Country Inn in Kane, PA, which is now a B&B. Originally it was built by General Thomas L. Kane, of Civil War fame, who helped found the town that bears his name. The owner of the inn, who gave us a little tour of the historic building he is now slowly renovating, told us that General Kane was a great friend of the Mormans, helped them settle in Utah, and that there is a statue of him in Salt Lake City.

This part of Pennsylvania is not wealthy by any measure, but it is not without its monied redoubt. Not far outside Bradford, within the ANF and on its own country road, is Glendorn. To gain entrance to the Lodge at Glendorn one must be buzzed in at the main iron gate, which swings open with seeming elegance (or is that reluctance?) to admit one's car. Glendorn is the type of place that has horseback riding, skeet shooting and Orvis guided fly fishing.  In the summer, “cabins” of four or five bedrooms can be rented for about $2,000 a day – yes, we said a day. The cuisine is Relais & Chateaux rated. The swimming pool gleams in its current emptiness and the fish hatchery is over there, off to the left. There is a “Big House” (main lodge) that has a fireplace worthy of the evil Sheriff of Nottingham, a patio of perfect flag stone, and a screened in porch that seats about a dozen for lunch or dinner. The 1,200+ acres include a trout stream and at least a half dozen trails with varied degrees of hiking difficulty. It should be noted, however, that from November through April there are several rooms available in the Big House for $199 a night, which Jake and Stone allowed themselves to dream of occupying for a night or two sometime in the off-season future.

Soon To Be in a Juice Near You

Along Lake Erie there are more than a few wineries. As is de rigueur marketing nowadays, there is even a Lake Erie Wine Trail that includes New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio wineries. We visited two of the Pennsylvania Wineries, Penn Shore and Mazza, but found no wines interesting enough to buy. However the drive along side Lake Erie, on Route 5, was most enjoyable. This NY-PA-OH area is the largest grape growing area in the eastern United States, and the mile after mile view of vineyards was like seeing corn in Iowa, only much better. However, most of the grapes (basically Concord and  Niagara) grown in this region  end up not as wine, but as products of Welch's, which is an agricultural cooperative of over 1,000 grape growers. Welch's was actually founded not in Concord, Mass, nor here near Lake Erie, but  in the 19th century in Vineland (of course!), New Jersey. Who knew?

Longhouse Rd Reservoir View

Two road trips can be recommended. One is the Longhouse Scenic Drive (aka: Forest Road 262) which runs for miles along side a fork of the Allegheny Reservoir and has several excellent views of the water. Another interesting drive that can be accomplished in under an hour is Route 666, which runs its way through the midst of the ANF but away from any towns or even hamlets. This truly rural ride follows a creek for many miles, and is so full of twists and turns that it is a favorite of the Harley-Davidson crowd, many members of which were enjoying the road also.

PS -- It is at first odd to note all the oil rigs around this neck of the woods (so to speak). It is actually not that unusual to see a rig in someone's (large) backyard. But in the late 1800's this part of Pennsylvania was enjoying an oil boom, and apparently there is still some in the ground to be found.

Weather:  Since the initial draw of this area of Pennsylvania was the cooler weather, a weather report is necessary. Bottom line: it was indeed cooler than Jersey, especially at night. One morning the temp was 47 degrees. But the Bradford area is not a guaranteed oasis. At least two of our seven days were hot by any standard, but even on those days it was noticeably cooler in the shade, which is not often the case at home. Though we didn't stay in Bradford this time, we might next time as we noticed it was even cooler in Bradford than it was in Ludlow. For the record, for the six full days we were away the high temps at home were: 82, 78, 83, 92, 93 and 95. In Bradford, the same days saw highs of: 66, 69, 76, 82, 83 and 83.

PS -- So Bradford's chamber of commerce is telling the truth when it terms itself, “The cool town with the warm heart.” We plan to return next summer, when we are sure we will need another retreat.

Other Places

Top Nine in Rochester, NY

With "Sweetness!" out of her Rochester East End apartment for a week visiting the Exotic and the Humid in Hong Kong, Stone and Jake decided to finally fulfill a promise to see not the usual suburbs of Rochester but a slice of the city itself. This summer has been miserably hot all around, but it seemed that going north couldn't hurt, and indeed it did not. It was a bit cooler and quite a bit less humid for both days. And the apt's A/C was adequate. We arrived at lunch time on Wednesday, July 14, 2010, and came back home on Friday morning. We tried to leave the car and walk as much as possible. Here, rather briefly, is our Top Nine list from this brief visit:

1.  Getting lunch items to go at the Wegman's on East Ave – a small, older store of the famous chain with some charm and the usual great selection of “to go” goodies.

2.  Our brief walk along S. Fitzhugh St. and its interesting mix of buildings in the Corn Hill nieghborhood before going on the Mary Jemison for a 90 min afternoon cruise on the Genesee River and Erie Canal. Well, "cruise" might not be the right word. It was more exactly a boat ride. But is was fun, relaxing, and interesting.

3.  Dinner at Pier 45 up on Lake Ontario. This night the beach scene is crowded (mostly due to a free concert that night) and it is not easy to park, but we enjoyed the locals with their frisbees, frisky children and lawn chairs. The restaurant itself is not immediately visible, being accessed via elevator to the second floor of a rather sad looking pavilion type building. We ate outside overlooking an inlet and the passing sailboats; food was good, wine by the glass was good, martinis were just OK. There was a good summer al fresco feel to the evening.

4.  Breakfast at Charlie's Frog Pond. Has recently changed ownership but is good as ever. Next door is Jines, sort of the go-to breakfast place for the Park Ave scene in Rochester and is very good but we wanted something less busy and lower key.

5. Walked to the George Eastman House and Museum. Peeked in quickly at the Museum's galleries, liked best the gallery with all the old cameras, but the highlight for us was a 45 min tour of Eastman's mansion which is both clever and beautiful in both its design and execution, and surprisingly liveable. Very cool.

6.  Walked to the Memorial Art Gallery for lunch at Max at the Gallery restaurant. Despite its upscale environment, the prices were reasonable and our sandwiches and salads (not to mention the homemade lemonade) were top shelf. Friendly wait staff and not crowded when we visited. Excellent.

7.  Dinner at Edibles on University Avenue. Stylish place. Good wine by the glass, good food. Can eat outside if so inclined. Gets crowded late, especially the bar scene.

8.  Walked back to the Eastman House and the Dryden Theater for a 8 pm showing of "Les Demoiselles De Rochefort" (don't worry, we'd never heard of the movie either), a French musical directed by Jacques Remy, which was fun to see. The Dryden is an “art theater” (the theater includes a little lectern where more often than not that night's movie is briefly introduced) but its range of cinematic offerings is truly wide and not exclusively for the film buff. With a new movie almost every night at  $7 a ticket it's always a good deal.

9.  As we walked along University Ave in this (artsy) neighborhood we also discovered a wonderful creative crafts shop called Craft Company No. 6 and the indulgence of late night nibbles at a little place called Chocolate and Vines.

Other Places

A Paradise Lite

Jake and Stone had been to Jekyll Island back in the pre-blog days of early 2008 on our way down to Florida to visit our old friends, the Farles, who were being held captive in Hollywood, FL, by the collapsing real estate market. On our drive down we stayed two nights in Jekyll and liked it so much we vowed to come back for a longer visit. Two years later we did so.

Thursday, January 21, 2010 – Our ride down from Jersey to Washington, DC, proves to be surprisingly easy. We rendezvous with our old DC pals, Da Labetts, and the previously mentioned Farles, for dinner at the Carlyle in the DC suburb of Shirlington. When we parked in the garage nearest the restaurant we parked in one of the many spots reserved for “The MacNeil/Lehrer Report: 9am-5pm.” And sure enough, WNET was right across the street, where they are apparently in no hurry to repaint the reservations with the updated “NewsHour” name.

Our meal was a wonderful all-around experience – great food, good wine, good service, and a stylish atmosphere. The crowd was typically DC, which meant it was hard to find anyone over 30 years old. And it was busy. It seems that in DC they have yet to hear about the recession. The dinner was a terrific way to start this vacation, that celebrates our 30th anniversary, with two other couples so happily married for almost as long. God bless us, everyone.

Friday, January 22, 2010 – We breakfast at a suburban DC diner called the Music Box and again we are six in number. But here Mrs Da L (who had to work, poor dear) has been replaced by the Farles’ son who will soon begin work in DC as a lawyer. After eggs and ham, and hugs and goodbyes, we hit the road aiming for Lexington, VA. The drive is rainy and cool, with some trees actually frosted by twinkling ice.

In Lexington we have some soup at a little bakery on Washington Street, then walk over to the campus of Washington and Lee University for a tour of Lee Chapel and Museum, which we can highly recommend. Highlights: the early portrait of a young George Washington by Peale that hangs on the left side of the chapel, the recumbent statue of Lee which dominates the scene, the concise museum downstairs, and finally, the Lee family crypt. This chapel -- which is not really a chapel in the usual sense, having no religious or denominational connection -- serves as a reminder of the religiosity that marked the Civil War, since it could be argued that Robert E. Lee lies in the crypt below the chapel in the same manner and for the same reasons that Popes are interred in the Vatican Grotto.
But then again, this is Virginia, not Rome, and it should be noted that outside the chapel, near the crypt doors as a matter of fact, one can visit another marked interment: that of General Lee’s horse, Traveller.

We spend the night at the Kerr House B&B in Statesville, NC. Unlike DC, here there is a recession. The restaurant we wanted to go to has closed, as has the music place we had hoped to frequent after dinner. At least the B&B proves to be quite nice (though up for sale!) and we get a good night’s sleep.

Saturday, January 23, 2010 – After a good breakfast and a friendly chat with the B&B owners we head down toward Walterboro, SC, which bills itself as “The Front Porch of the Low Country.” In the attractive historic area of town we drop into the Downtown Books and Espresso for a light lunch of coffee and pastry. Two elderly women sit and knit at one of the communal tables; we ask if we can join them, they say "of course."

One of the best reasons to travel is to realize your own presumptions. We had sat down thinking we would find little in common with these two old, small town women and their knitting. Well, turns out they had just come back from a vacation themselves – to Peru! They talked of sharing some local “brew” with almost toothless native men in a dirt floored café of sorts, of hiking around Machu Picchu, and of para-gliding(!) off the cliffs of Lima. It all made Jekyll Island seem rather tame. Still we had a wonderful time talking with them, and realized what we would realize again and again on this trip – that down here conversation comes easily.

We get to Jekyll at 4pm, get the keys to our 2 BR duplex, and move in, all before dark. Down here just above Florida there is at least one more hour of daylight than back home. We want to make it over to the Jekyll Island Club Hotel while there is still light, for we know from previous experience that the Club’s sprawling grounds can be difficult to navigate after dark.

We make it to one of the hotel's several eateries, Vincent’s Pub, just as happy hour is ending, which is good, because it opens up some seats in this intimate place. We toast our first night in Jekyll with a couple of martinis, then order some crab cakes and a burger from the room service menu, despite the 20% service charge. Though happy hour has expired, several southern male aristocrats are still seriously in the spirit of the hour(s) past, but we find charm in their bluster, thanks to their accents and our martinis.

Just outside Vincent’s and up one level is the hotel’s in-house deli where we get some java and croissants to go. Even at night the grounds of this grand old place, once the exclusive haunt of millionaires, are quietly enchanting. Our walk back to the car, amidst the quiet demi-dark of palm trees and formal gardens, seems magical, but looming as well. But once back in our simple but sweet 2BR place all that truly looms is a good night’s sleep.

Sunday, January 24, 2010 – Bike rental for the two of us for what’s left of the week is about $100. We take the bikes for a little exploratory ride down to the beach via King Avenue where we see way more birds than people. We do some food shopping at the little grocery store in the strip mall that is the only serious retail on the island. Today’s temp is perfect for us: 61 degrees.

Stone drops Jake off for some windy golf at Great Dunes, an interesting 9-holer that dates from 1926 and costs but $10 to walk. The layout is basically links-like, except for the occasional stand of wind-blown trees, and the grass is all brown (dormant, Jake guesses) except for the greens, which range in size from small to micro. In fact, Jake stepped off the two axises of the the circular 9th green and they each measured 16 paces. While Jake fights the wind and his game, Stone drives around a bit, visiting the sea turtle center and finding a close-in parking spot for our next visit to the hotel. Back at the ranch/duplex we do some lunch, some napping, some reading, and then it is time for dinner and a DVD movie.

Monday, January 25, 2010 – Stone says Jake slept trough a major thunderstorm last night and on Jake’s morning bike ride to get a newspaper the evidence of the downpour is everywhere. Puddles dot the bike trail, and the broad and empty beach looks newly washed, with nary a footprint marring its plaster like sand.

Besides Great Dunes, Jekyll has three 18-hole golf courses, but today Oleander is closed because it is too wet to play. The starter suggests Indian Mound where, even though it is sunny and prime golf time (10 am) Jake tees off alone. The course has brown fairways, is very wet and the wind is quite stiff most of the time, but the sky is sun-filled and for $26 to walk it's one heck of a deal. There is no extra charge for seeing a rather large turtle (at least by Jersey standards) and several herons. Stone spends the morning biking and walking along the beach. We both need some nap time after our lunch back in the duplex.

When we were here before we had a good meal at Coastal Kitchen so we go then again tonight for dinner; we are not disappointed. This classy restaurant, right off the causeway on the way to St. Simons Island, features a large list of wine by the glass and great seafood, including fresh, wild Georgia shrimp.

After dinner we drive into St. Simons looking for the movie theater that seems so easy to find on Google maps. Alas, we get lost in a maze of malls that would do Jersey proud, and are about to give up when we spot a small sign that saves the night. We catch the last show of the night, “Sherlock Holmes,” which gets out at about midnight. Rather than risk another mall maze we see a sign for I-95 and know our way from there, so we take the Interstate home.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 -- Jake bikes into the strip mall again for the morning paper. The day is sunny and breezy. The ocean along the bike path is much calmer than yesterday and several people walk the sand. After breakfast we two take a beach walk. After our walk we visit the Georgia Sea Turtle Center and its attached turtle hospital, which proves quite interesting. We had hoped to have lunch at the Crane Cottage but it is closed, so we walk over to Latitude 31, but they are not doing lunch either. We end up at Morgan’s Grill at the golf course(s), which serves surprisingly good golfer food.

Since tonight is our anniversary night we go upscale to Halyards restaurant on St. Simons Island. The drinks and wine are first rate. Stone’s Chilean sea bass is wonderful, as is Jake’s blue fin tuna salad. Finding out that it is our anniversary they give us a free dessert. It all makes for a memorable evening and we don’t even get lost going home.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 – Another day of sunshine and temps (eventually) in the low 60’s. Did somebody say perfect? We do breakfast at Morgan's before Jake does another 18 holes, this time on Pine Lakes. Jake plays with a friendly married couple who summer in Maine and winter down here. The green fairways (different type of grass?) give Pine Lakes a better look than Indian Mound, and the course is surprising dry, giving a good run to drives that fine the generous fairways.

Stone does a long bike ride of around 10 miles, heading up to the northern end of Jekyll Island and back. Along the way she discovers some gift shops, marsh lands with lots of birds, the historic Horton House and an equally historic cemetery.

As the afternoon lengthens, we head over to the hotel, which is on the western side of this small island (Jekyll must be only about 1.5 miles wide in most places) in hopes of seeing the sunset. At the Lobby Bar (which was featured in the movie, “The Legend of Bagger Vance”) we get our drinks, then find some seats on the veranda overlooking the sculptured lawns, the palms trees, the walking paths, and the developing sunset over the small river that separates Jekyll from mainland Georgia. There are maybe half a dozen other people on the veranda. We all fall into easy conversation as the sun sets, the sky ribbons itself in purplish rust, and another wonderful day on Jekyll slips into darkness.

Thursday, January 27, 2010 – Stone is eager to show Jake what she discovered on yesterday’s bike ride, so off we go on the main bike path north. Last night on the veranda we were told not to miss Driftwood Beach, which is on the northern part of the island, and indeed to day we find it just off the bike path through a set of trees. Driftwood Beach is littered with giant trees, apparently washed up during Hurricane Hugo. No wonder it is the most photographed place on a very picturesque island. Along the beach we find some sand dollars that are still alive and some unusual shells, including welks, one with the little animal still inside!

The bike trail then heads into a vast marshland where herons and egrets stalk the muddy rivulets with patience and a ballet-like tempo that can be mesmerizing to watch. At the top of the island there is a fishing pier and a picnic area. Then we bike down the west side of Jekyll, curving through miles of high trees that drip Spanish moss almost ostentatiously, as if each tree were trying to out festoon its neighbor.

Back down near the hotel we ride on Old Plantation Road to the Crane Cottage (built in 1919 by one of Jekyll’s millionaire families), where after a comfortable 15 minute wait in the cottage’s “living room,” (made more comfortable by a waitress taking our drink order) we have an alfresco lunch aside the cottage’s center courtyard and loggia (this millionaire had a thing for Italian architecture); delightful in every way.

Later in the day, around 4:30, when it’s safe to say hardly anyone will be on the golf courses, Jake finally gets Stone to join him in hitting and then chasing the little white ball around the landscaping. We have a wonderful time by ourselves on the Oleander course, which is now open for play but still quite wet. We end up having only time for seven holes before darkness sets in, but during our good-walk-not-spoiled we see a family of deer and a lone bald eagle, hear an owl hoot from somewhere in the gloaming, and watch the almost full moon harden into view above the pine trees, tall guardians of this bit of Nature.

Friday, January 29, 2010 – This morning both of us bike for the paper, and as we pass the beach we spot four or five dolphins less than 100 yards off shore; quite thrilling for us. While watching the dolphins we meet a guy from Florida (he is not particularly impressed by the dolphins’ presence – he says sees them all the time where he lives) who used to live on St. Simons. Again we fall into easy conversation about this and that, and he ends up giving us some local recommendations for food on St. Simons: Barbara Jean's for crab cakes, Sweet Mama’s for breakfast and the 4th of May for just good local food.

While Stone spends the day reading and biking and walking, it’s another golf day for Jake. He plays on Pine Lakes again, with another husband and wife duo, this time from North Carolina. Jake enjoys the round, which includes a baby alligator sighting, yet finds that the golf on Jekyll has not all that he had hoped. Perhaps his hopes had been too high. The golf is plentiful and cheap, but he found the 18-holers to be without much personality, and with few memorable holes. In fact, the Great Dunes Nine had the most memorable hole: #5: a 466 yard par 5 that ends with a pur-blind shot to a seriously elevated mini green that overlooks the ocean.

We do an early dinner, do the packing for tomorrow’s leaving, and watch another DVD movie. Outside, our near week of perfect weather (ever day sunny, usually a breeze, mornings in the 40’s, highs near 60) seems about to change. The evening’s sky is full of scudding clouds, the moon rises and then disappears behind a bank of pearly, soon to be charcoal, clouds. On a final check before bedtime, raindrops begin to dot the sidewalk.

Saturday, January 30, 2010 – Rainy but a balmy 57 degrees as we drop off the duplex keys and head back north. Our weather continues to be rainy but is not problematic till just outside Fayetteville, NC, where I-95 slows down due to ice and snow. We pull into Dunn, NC, to find the town beginning to shut down, virtually paralyzed by what is a major ice storm. On the main street we find a fast food place that remains open and have what passes for lunch. We are there a good half hour and all the while not another soul enters the place.

Worried that dinner in town will be impossible, we ask where we might buy provisions and are directed to Wal-Mart where we get some nice snacks and two good looking salad platters. When we arrive at our B&B – it is only a couple of blocks off the main street (which seems to be the only plowed street around) and we are one of the few cars on the road which makes driving on the ice and snow a lot easier – our hosts are kind enough to invite us to dinner that night with them and two other couples who live within walking distance. We offer our salads and a bottle of wine as our contribution to dinner, then go up to our room delighted with our good luck.

The dinner is everything a good dinner party should be – good food, good drinks, good people. Jake and Stone are both put immediately at ease, and we both revel in the dinner conversation that ranges from local politics, neighbors, and the history of Dunn, to more worldly affairs – and those southern accents as well!

After such a dinner it should go without saying that this B&B in Dunn is on our highly recommended list, but even if the storm had not occasioned such generosity from our hosts, we would still think that the Simply Divine B&B simply lives up to its name. The bedrooms are large and smartly decorated, the parlors are several and comfortable, and throughout the house, which dates from 1906, there is a pervading sense of quality and pride. And the price was divine, too.

Sunday, January 31, 2010 – The drive north from Dunn on I-95 is slow going at first. After our first 2 hours we had gone only 60 miles. But then things got better and once we hit Virginia it was pretty much clear sailing all the way to Washington, DC – or more specifically, Alexandria, VA.

We checked into the Morrison House in the Old Town part of Alexandria, where somehow we had gotten a room for under $200 total – including taxes and valet parking. We feared such a luxury place might be a little snooty, but everyone on the staff was friendly and helpful, and what few patrons we saw seemed normal enough. Everything was just about perfect – from the plush bathrobes to the free wine hour – except for the WiFi. Why such a “luxury boutique hotel,” has such a Byzantine wireless sign-up process is baffling. We ended up doing without the service. But just to get even, Jake wears his plush bathrobe as often as possible.

We didn't have much time to explore the area, and the foot travel was made difficult by the often still not-shoveled snow on the narrow sidewalks, but we did discover an interesting place for coffee: Misha's Coffee Roaster Coffeehouse. Misha's is the opposite of elegant, but with art on the walls, coffee bean bags lying about, and a variety of clientele, it is its own kind of scene and worth a visit.

Down King Street, about a 10 minute walk from our hotel, is Brabo restaurant, where we meet a couple we became friends with recently and who live in the DC area. We hadn’t seen each other in some time and it was great seeing them again. Brabo is a fairly new restaurant and we hoped it would live up to its generally rave reviews. Well, it did. The room is elegant without being stuffy, the service both friendly and impeccable, the wine affordable, and the menu so enticing that we all had to ask for more time to decide what to eat. At the end of the night we all agreed the evening had been – well, great.

Monday, February 1, 2010 – On the way home, which took us but 3 hours from the hotel to exit 9 on the Dear Old Jersey Pike(!), we reviewed Jekyll to see if we might go again. The weather, the golf, the biking, the walking, the ocean, and the (sea)food, had mostly met or surpassed our expectations. Indeed, our week in Jekyll had turned out to be a sort of toned down version of our month in Sequim, WA, which we consider our summer paradise. We could never spend a month in Jekyll as we did in Sequim, but for a winter’s week (or maybe two weeks, next year) it certainly turned out to be a Paradise Lite.

Other Places