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Jekyll Island Trip
Mar 11, 2005

Bev was invited to a conference at Jekyll Island. We love the Golden Isles on the Georgia Coast. The trip was right before her mid-winter break, so we decided to make a little vacation out of it.

We went down on Thursday, February 17th. We took the Golden Isles Parkway from Macon to Brunswick. It was a pretty drive through South Georgia, and I wasn't paying close attention to our speed. We were stopped by the Georgia State Patrol. After a brief argument on the side of the road, we were back on our way.

We found our way to Jekyll Island, and checked into our hotel, the Oceanfront Resort. We dropped our bags and went out on the beach. Then we drove around the island a little bit.

Jekyll Island is a state park. From the 1880s until 1942, it was a playground for a very exclusive group of industrialists, the Jekyll Island Club. They wintered on the island and used it as a hunting club. They built a luxurious clubhouse, and some of the families built 'cottages' for themselves. The group declined, especially during the depression. After the 1942 season, no one came back. In 1946, the state condemned the island for use as a park and resort for all Georgians. The historic district on the island preserves the surviving cottages and the clubhouse (The tour is nice). There are two golf courses, a water park, 4-H center, hotels, and a few thousand permanent homes.

The state owns the entire island. Everyone who lives or builds here is on a 99-year lease. Even though the land is owned by the state, the homes aren't cheap. Home prices on the island start at about $350,000. They're all nice, but they're not that nice. By law, only 65% of the island can be developed. That means there's a lot of nature to be seen, but there's not a lot to do.

On Friday, Bev went to the conference. I stayed at the resort and read. Eventually, I started walking around. I borrowed a bike from the hotel, and road to the northern tip of the island. Then I came back on the beach. I rode the bike some, and walked some.

The beaches on Jekyll are very pretty. Mostly, they're very wide, and there are a lot of shells there. On the northeastern part of the island, there's Driftwood Beach. It's supposed to be one of the most romantic beaches anywhere. Entire trees are strewn about the beach stripped of their bark. Some of them look like they're swimming through the sand.

As soon as Bev returned, he took her to go see it. We walked along the beach and took pictures. Then we found path that cut through the maritime forest, so we explored that. After a couple of hours of walking, it was getting dark. We returned to the car, and went in search of food.

For some reason, it's hard to find anything to eat on Jekyll Island. We stopped at one restaurant at the island's one small strip mall, but it was packed (I've since found out that it's where all the locals go to eat; so it must be quite good). The restaurant in the hotel had a one-hour wait time. We drove back on to mainland and went to eat in Brunswick. We found a Mexican restaurant, El Potro's. It had a buffet that didn't look like much, but the food was excellent!

On Saturday, Bev had a short day at the conference. I spent the morning in bed reading. Once Bev returned, we went to the historic district. We'd previously taken the trolley tour through the area, so we walked around. We looked in a couple of the small shops that they have on the grounds. We walked around a bit and took some pictures.

Then we went to Saint Andrews Beach (At least we think that's where we went. Different maps show it in different places). Bev had heard that was where the best seashells were to be found. We went up and down the beach. Then it was once again time to look for food. We were in luck. We were able to get a table right away at the hotel. The food was good, but they were very proud of it.

We had all of Sunday to ourselves, although we weren't sure what to do with it. I wanted to get some more pictures of Driftwood Beach. Some of my digital shots from Friday night didn't come out the way he wanted them. We were playing on some of the larger pieces of driftwood taking pictures. During one timer activated shot, I tried to leap up on the log. I fell off the log and hit my head fairly hard. Then the camera took the picture. Luckily, no damage has been noticeable yet.

After that we drove to Saint Simon's Island, the next island to the north. First, we went to the village near the St. Simon's lighthouse. There are a lot of cute shops there. You could spend weeks on St. Simon's Island, without getting through all the shops. We had an excellent lunch at Barbara Jean's Restaurant and Bar. It was some of the best food we ever had.

Then we drove around the island some. We crossed over to Sea Island. It's a tradition for us to drive through the neighborhood on Sea Island and see the fabulous homes they have there. They're truly spectacular. It makes you proud to be an American where we can produce so much wealth, that there can be blocks upon blocks of million dollar+ homes.

We drove up to the north of the island, and looked at some more expensive homes. Then we went through Brunswick. We tried to take the driving tour, but the city seems like it's fallen on hard times. It has a lovely area around courthouse. There's a park like area with some truly impressive trees, but the houses that were across the street were all dilapidated. We didn't stay long.

On Monday, we packed up and headed north. We stopped in Savannah on the way back. Georgia's first city was laid out on a grid system by General Oglethorpe. There are a series of parks that block major through streets. One of which was featured in Forrest Gump. We stopped and walked through some of them. They're beautiful and they're surrounded by well-maintained historic homes.

After our walk, we went down to River Street on the waterfront. River Street is paved with ballast stones left by merchant ships when Savannah was a major cotton port. Now it's a tourist destination with restaurants and markers. We had dinner at a Greek restaurant called the Olympia. The food was pretty good. We were entertained by the birds that flew in to get the scraps off of the floor. Once we were full, we headed home.

It was a pretty good trip.

(2 replies, Latest reply: Oct 11, 2005)

Trivia Reunion
Jan 21, 2005

An old Army buddy of mine, Richard, has lived in Atlanta for the last five years or so while he’s been going through law school. Every year, Bev and I send him a newsletter, and every year, we talk on the phone shortly thereafter. Well, this year he’s done with law school. He’s been admitted to the bar in Delaware, and he has job lined up.

After our annual talk on the phone this week, we resolved to finally meet up for the first time in about 12 years.

Every week, Bev and I go to play trivia at Graffiti’s [A694550] in Jonesboro with our friends Chris, his girlfriend Chris, and Matt. I invited Richard down to play tonight.

It was good to see him after so long. He’s a really good guy, and even if he is a liberal. He’s looking pretty good. I almost didn’t recognize him. He probably weighs the same as he did back in ’89. I probably weigh at least 60 pounds more than I did back then.

Well, we came in second, and we had a pretty good time.

(No replies)

Moustache
Sep 22, 2004

Sixteen years ago, I was seventeen and in the Army. I started to grow a moustache to make me look older (the drinking age on base in Korea was 18). Today, I shaved it off.

I was getting tired of trying to keep it trimmed up nicely. The thing is unmanageable. It's especially a pain now because I have to trim it down to military standards every month. They don't want to grow passed a line that goes straight up from the corner of your mouth. That's why guys in the military wear those stupid looking Hitler type moustaches.

I've shaved a few times for brief periods. I also shaved it off for the police academy and once when I was sick.

After you get out of the Army, it's pretty standard to grow a beard, the wilder the better. After about a year, I had trimmed up as nice as I could. Bev and I went to have our Glamourshot made. When we came home, I shaved everything off.

Bev has been against it. She thinks it makes me look too young. I don't know. With facial hair, most people mistake me for being about 10 years older than I really am. I suspect that being sans moustache just brings me back to looking like I'm in my early thirties.

I don't know how long I'll keep it off this time.

(3 replies, Latest reply: Nov 16, 2004)

Air Force Reserve
Dec 26, 2003

Today, I enlisted in the Air Force Reserve as an EOD tech.

It was kind of strange. We made an appointment to meet today, but when I showed up, most of the base was closed. We needed to find a military officer so that I could be sworn in. We hopped in his car, and drove to the Base Exchange, which is a small department store for service members. We started walking around looking for an officer.

My recruiter spotted a colonel that he knew. It took some talking, but he convinced the colonel to swear me in. We went into the storage room. My recruiter had a table top US flag. Apparently the law requires that a flag is present during an enlistment. We put it on top of a stack of radios as I took the oath.

It was truly bizarre.

(6 replies, Latest reply: Jan 13, 2004)

On the Road at Last
Oct 28, 2003

Last Wednesday, I was in my office with my new boss. It was his first day working in our unit in the jail. The sheriff walked in and said, "Sergeant, you've only been in here one day, and you're already running your people off." I don't think anyone knew what he was talking about. The sheriff finally got around to saying that one of the field deputies resigned, and I was going to replace him.

It was an incredible relief. I have been eating my heart out in the jail for a year waiting for a position on the road. I'm a street cop, and it's hard to go into a jail environment from the street.

I have learned some valuable lessons in the jail. My ability to read people is much improved, and I know our thug population much better than most of the police.

Today was my first day on the street. It wasn't terribly exciting, but it was nice to be out and about again.

(2 replies, Latest reply: Nov 24, 2003)