One Week Out

This morning I had to cancel our Hertz rental in St. Simons Island GA. Just to recap, I broke my wrist on August 4th and was told 8-12 weeks if everything heals as it should, if not surgery time. Thankfully the scaphoid bone is showing signs of healing and I can remain in a hard splint. Unfortunately, I am still grounded.

What was going to be a fun flying week will now be an extended ground pounding session. We are planning to depart Ocean City on the 16th at 3am arriving at the Ocean Inn & Suites around 2pm just ahead of check in. the trip will take 10 hours and 30 minutes, and works out to 695 miles.

Departure Day 9.16

Rise and shine...it's 3 am and time to hit the road. For this Georgia get-away we are going to take our new to us Porsche Cayenne. Time to give the new kid a road test, besides, new blue can rest up since she will be the ride of choice when we head to Florida in January. Old blue will rest easy in the hangar and enjoy her partial retirement alongside 3 Tango Charlie.

We have the Porsche packed, fueled, and fresh off her recent Maryland inspection. The only thing we need to do this morning is pack the snacks and water.

The trip down to Peninsula was very quiet. When the sun finally came up, it was overcast most of the way. We made a fuel stop just west of Emporia finding an Exxon for 2.88 a gallon and and took on 10 to top off. We ran into some weather, heading down through Virginia and came upon one really bad accident. A large SUV went through the guard rail and almost stood up on the left front quarter panel up against the trees no idea what happened to the people. Continued on from that point south and I ran with two trucks a large 18 wheeler with that nickname big red and a hot shot Dooley Dodge pick up pulling up empty car trailer and the three of us ran really well together. Into the Carolinas traffic backed up and we crawled along for about 40 minutes, there was another SUV coming northbound that went into the median, rolled over on its left side into the trees and caught fire. I’m talking a big fire. I was driving so I didn’t really get to see much but you couldn’t miss the flames. Mary said she saw a family standing not too far away from the accident scene and the fire department was there so hopefully they’re all fine.

We arrived in Saint Simons Island about 12 hours from our departure time. We were up at 3 AM left at 3:30 and we got into Saint Simons about 4pm. We walked right into the hotel and checked in and then went to find some dinner. 

For dinner, we decided on Georgia Sea Grill. We got one of the last reservations at 5:30, the place filled up rather quickly. Mary had the scallops over a medley of Sweet Potato, Farro, White Rice Peas, Wilted Spinach, and Basil Aioli. The scallops were large and Mary said it was delicious. 

I had the blackened flounder over Charleston Gold Blue Crab Rice, Carrots, Green Onion, and Citrus Soy Aioli, it was excellent. 

We decided on dessert, Mary had chocolate cheesecake and I had bourbon pecan pie with vanilla gelato. Neither Mary or I could finish our dessert, just too much food.

Exploration 9.17

After our long drive yesterday and very filling dinner, we slept in until 7:30 this morning. Across the street from our dinner choice last night was a breakfast place Called Mallery Street Café, we decided to check it out. 

Mary had apple crêpes with a cream cheese drizzle and the apples were fresh cut. It looked awesome and Mary said it tasted delicious. Yours truly had the conventional two eggs over medium hash-browns with fried onions and cheese and a biscuit. The hash browns were very crispy. Mary even had some and liked them, and the biscuit was large and awesome.

Once we finished breakfast, we decided to head north and check out the Fort Frederica National Park.  

Fort Frederica was once a thriving British town and fort founded in 1736 by General James Edward Oglethorpe. The Fort was designed to defend the northern colonies against Spanish attack. 

After exploring Fort Frederica, we watched about a 20 minute video that talked about the history of the fort and the people there. The short piece did a great job explaining the area and all the goings on.

After spending time at Fort Frederica, we headed south and made a stop at the Red Fern Village. There were various shops to explore and plenty of restaurants. Since it was just about 1 PM, we decided to stop for lunch at Bubba Garcia’s, a great little Mexican place. 

Mary had a shrimp taco with a pineapple salsa and I had I had a carne asada, marinated steak with onions and cilantro. Both dishes were very good.

On the way back to the hotel, we made a slight detour since the lighthouse is not far from where we’re staying. I went out on the edge of beach and took a picture. It’s a beautiful area and the waterfront was very clean.

Mary and I tried Del Sur for dinner. The restaurant was just around the corner from our hotel on the street that leads to the pier.  Service and food were very good. I had rigatoni bolognese, my bride had salmon. No dessert tonight. We checked out the shops leading to the pier then made one stop to pick up a battery for my key fob.

Heading to Augusta 9.18

We were up early and checked out, deciding on breakfast at Mallory’s before driving to Augusta. 

Yes, we are headed to Augusta GA for the Commander Owners Group Annual Event. More on this event in my next post.