Crooked River

While we were in North Georgia (Talullah Falls), we picked up a book called The Best Tent Camping in Georgia. It occured to me while on our recent venture to Kingland, that not everyone's idea of a great camp spot will coinside. We spent fout nights at a beautiful little state park called Crooked River. It had nice fishing and picnicking places, very helpful folks at the office, some nice piney woods hiking with lots of birds and critters around. It was very clean and the campground was flat and easy to see around. Some spots were better than others, ofcourse. But we found this great site under lots of long leaf pines with lots of space to run around behind the tent. It backed up to the Crooked River and the sunset right over the river and the marsh. Really clean bathroom, too...

I tend to wake up earlier than the rest of the family, so I was up at 6-6:30 everyday. Songbirds just going to town. I'd get up, make some coffee, grab my book, watch the sun come up and relax. Once the sun got high enough to be considered "day", the crows came out. Nature's alarm clock. My spouse wished more than once for a bb gun. These crows like to start their day with a game of tag in the trees and they seemed to take a particular shine to us. So I never had to be the bad guy waking everyone up! We saw racoon, fox, a bunny, armadillo (lumbered right through our camp!), and a 6' gopher snake. One night something tried to burrow under the tent. The box spouse was using as a side table started bouncing around. He woke and gave the box a swift bonkbonk and whatever it was ran off. Just not cool to upset a sleeping man's side table...
We really like this park. We'll be back...

Cumberland

We returned last night from a trip to southeat GA. The girls were glad to be back after being gone for a week. While Bruce was working in Alabama last year, he signed up for a program with the hotel he was using and he ended up with enough points to stay for 1 night in Savannah or 3 nights in Kingsland. We hied us hence to Kingsland! It is just in land from St. Marys. Cute place and the launch for Cumberland Island. I've heard so much about Cumberland and was quite excited to see it. Honestly, it's a lot of walking. However, if this doesn't deter you, you really must see this place. To get a concise history of the island, go here: http://www.ameliamaritime.com/tour/cumberland2.html
We left as early as we could. At the first stop are the Carnegie houses. Thomas Carnegie (younger brother of Andrew) and Lucy (Thomas' wife) raised their family on this little island. It seemed so bizarre to me to picutre the island with almost no live oaks, but the plantation owners had just about cleared the island for crops at one time. It was also amazing to think that the ladies who lived on the island wore all those clothes. It was HOT!
Around lunch, we caught the second ferry to the second dock for our visit to the beach. The second dock is at the narrowest part of the island-only 1/2 mile to the beach. It is also where you can camp, which we plan to do one day...
The walk between the dock and the beach is one of the prettiest things I've ever seen. Rather like walking through a fairy tale with all the wonder and just enough menace if you let your self think about it. The dunes are very wide and high. What dunes on this coast should look like were it not for all the development. The beach was astonishingly wide and shallow. We got there at low tide so it seemed even more so. Bruce and I had a blast throwing the baseball and he and the girls ahad a great time in the water. I neglected to wear my bathing suit. THAT won't happen again.
We made it back to the dock early to catch the boat back to St. Marys. On our way back a buttfly/fairy led us along the path all the way to the dock. It was a bit strange. Because it was low tide, the river side of the island water was low and there were thousands of small fiddler crabs on the banks. Ysabel figures she could herd them around and began to use then to chase Molly. Hysterical!
When we got back to St. Marys, we were starving, so we stopped at a quaint (I hate that word but it WAS!) hotel restaurant and I had the best shrimp and grits! They tossed in some spicy andouille sausage, too. YUMMO!
We got back to the hotel for a swim and serious sleep.
I can't really describe what Cumberland did to my senses. All fairytale and all history and all nature and how does one make all of this combine.

Heeeeeeeeeeere's SUMMER!

Well, we've been to the pool for the first time. That can only mean that summer is officially here. Holy heck! And the temperatures are soaring... Ten til 8 a.m. and it's 78 degrees with a high today between 95 and 100. Kristen and I sat under the umbrella almost the whole time we were at the pool and I still got sun. Molly and Bells got a bit crispy depite strong sunscreen appilcations. As I'm writing this, I'm thinking I'll change my alloted computer time to the afternoon so I can get out before the heat becomes unbearable.

I've read 3 and 1/2 books since school got out. In the kids lit, I finished The Titan's Curse and The Calder Game. I had to read The Titan's Curse because the next book in the series had come out and I am in the middle of that (The Battle of the Labyrinth) now, hence the 1/2. All good stuff. Actually, I was so excited about The Calder Game that I read it in two days. It's been a minute since Ms. Balliett put out The Wright Three. She is so much fun, because of the puzzles and art information and pretty darn good mystery and adventure she adds to her stories. These books are great for kids 4th-8th grade boys and girls. The Titan's Curse and The Battle of the Labyrinth are part of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan. Great series for boys, due the high adventure. In truth, my girls love them, too. And they are quite a lot of fun to read aloud. Another thing I like about them is that you get introductions to all the gods and monsters of Mount Olympus. (In an earlier post, I mentioned that we had gone to see him at a book signing and couldn't get near him. Well, we went back to that bookstore and they happened to have an autographed copy of his newest book. Niiiiiiiice.)
The other book I read was Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult (sp?). When I mentioned to Rosa I was reading one of her books, she got mildly excited and said what a good author she was. Hmmmmmm. The book is about a boy what goes on a shooting spree in his high school, why, and what happened after, I had a real problem with mostly two dimensional characters in the first half of the book. The second half is devoted to the trial and was easier for me to get into. I must say, it's brought bullying to the front of my head.

O.k. Enough of my soap box. It's Saturday and that means cleaning! Woot! Rosa is dog sitting for friends and they just got a Wii!!! So, Molly and Ysabel are going to go play this afternoon. Had to let 'em or I'd have to sleep with my door locked. So, I get the afternoon to myself!

I'm out! Hope you have an awesome weekend! Take a look around... It IS awesome...