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 But here Mrs Da L (who had to work, poor dear) has been replaced by the Farles’ son who will soon begin work in DC as a lawyer.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 ri
vulets 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.
