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| Reservations - Party of 2 NMP |
Saturday October 21, 2023
Much need vacation. We've been trying to buy a house so I thought this was bad timing, but the house buying process has been emotionally exhausting so this is actually perfect timing.
We fly into Jacksonville. No direct flights so we connect through Dallas. Praying to the TravelGods for and easy travel day. I received an alert that our flight changed. Mini panic while logging in. We will be arriving two minutes earlier than scheduled! LOL I'll take it.
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Long travel day but it was smooth sailing. I got in line for the car while he waited for the luggage. It took a long time for the luggage to come down but I'm always thankful when it does. It was still there before my turn at the rental counter. One agent on a Saturday afternoon. Mark and Ivar got to the VRBO Condo a little before us and the owner was there. She was awesome. She showed us around and how to use everything from the espresso machine to the sanitizing light in the bathroom! Paul did a great job picking this one. It’s just as beautiful as it was in the pictures online.
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| Ivar, Paul, Me, Mark on one of our balconies overlooking the ocean |
Mark and I have been BFFs since before BFF was a thing. 41 years!! We figured out it was 2018 when he last visited in Phoenix. In 2019 he had gone to Europe and shortly after his Mom died. 2020 Covid and practically nobody traveled if it wasn't a necessity for 2-3 years. So great to catch up. Ivar is his fiancé and he's awesome.
We went to Salt Life for dinner. I probably don't need to mention it's a seafood restaurant. Everything was great.
We stayed up late and of course I was up early as usual.
Sunday October 22, 2023
I'm usually up at 4. I woke up several times during the night with leg cramps. Also typical when I fly. I got up at 5 and thought "wow, I slept in". That was all good and fine until I realized it was only 2 at home! I was wide awake and I don't like to compare time zones when I travel because I'm here in the now. I just go with current. So I SF&P'd (showered, fluffed, and puffed) and thought this would be a good time to catch up my TravelBlog while everyone is still sleeping. I'm not exactly sure what we're going to do today. We talked about a few things. Ivar has to leave this afternoon because he has to work tomorrow but Mark got the day off so he's going to stay one more night.
Check back later to today's activity list.
***
When Ivar got up, Paul and Mark were still sleeping so we went for a walk on the beach. The weather was absolutely perfect. Where the path ended at the beach we took a left and walked down past the Ritz. I would say we walked and talked for over an hour.
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| Seashell collecting seashells |
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| Reserved |
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| I think I nailed it with this shot! |
Later Mark said “what did you guys talk about?” Ivar’s Mom passed away recently. I said “losing our Moms, sex, politics, religion, travel. We basically solved all the problems of the world”.
We went to breakfast at Ms. Carolyn’s. It’s been there as far back as he could remember It was okay, standard breakfast fare. Mark said it wasn’t as good as usual. From there we went to Historic Fernandina Beach. We walked over to the wharf to check out a boat tour. It wasn’t until 2:30. It’s a one-and-a-half hour tour of the coast line that goes past the wild horses and areas with dolphins and sea turtles. We had over three hours so we walked around the train station and up and down the shops.
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| Hangin' with the locals |
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| Cute stairs to an art gallery |
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| Yikes! |
Back to the condo and Mark got out a bottle of prosecco and some fresh strawberries and we went out on the balcony. Oh, I forgot to mention there must be a dragonfly convention going on. There are thousands of dragonflies all around the condo. Hovering around the grassy areas, putting on aerial show outside the balcony. I’ve never seen so many dragonflies at one time. Anyhow, Paul got up and joined us for glass of prosecco.
Ivar decided to stay and leave early in the morning to be at
work for a 9:00 meeting. It’s about a 3
hour drive.
We went to dinner at Sliders Seaside Grill. We sat outside which would have been an ocean view if it wasn’t pitch black out. The food and service were great. I had the seafood boil. Mark had fried shrimp. Paul and Ivar had grilled redfish. We split a piece of key lime pie and it was amazing.
I think we stayed up until about 11 when my eyelids were
getting VERY HEAVY. Maybe I’ll sleep in
until 5 again!!
Monday September 23, 2023
Ivar left this morning [insert super sad face]. He said when Lisa and I go to Greece, maybe they will go too. We don't have anything planned but have talked about a cruise that goes to Italy, Croatia, and Greece in 2025. Mark, Paul and I are going to go to an early lunch and then he’s going to head home. [insert another super sad face]. He’d like to be on the road at 2 so he’s a little in front of the traffic at home. He lives near Orlando.
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| Morning coffee with this beauty |
***
Here are a couple of Mark’s photos from Monday.
We got a leisurely start to the day. Paul, Mark and I went for a nice walk on the beach. It was windy with just a bit of a chill coming off the ocean.
We went to Cedar River Restaurant for lunch. Paul is always on the hunt for the best clam strips when we’re on vacation somewhere coastal and these did not disappoint. Mark and I shared the shrimp special which had so much shrimp we couldn’t finish it!
We had a great server, Margarite, in fact Mark said when his sister’s in-laws go there, they call ahead and make sure she’s working and if not they go elsewhere. Low and behold, who walks in? The in-laws. They chatted a few minutes. They lived on Amelia Island for decades. They live off the island now but nearby. Mark’s parents lived on AI for years and so did his sister and her family.
After lunch we went back to the condo and Mark headed home.
We communicated with our realtor and are officially in escrow on a house in Southern Arizona. Paul and I relaxed a bit and then went to the grocery store to pick up a few things we forgot on our initial trip. We went back to Historic Fernandina, had delicious ice cream and walked around the shops a bit.
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| I’m the worst at selfies! |
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| Alley Art at a gallery |
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| Octoberfest Biergarten |
Back to the condo where we just relaxed the rest of the day and evening. We weren’t hungry for dinner so we skipped it. We watched Superman on Netflix. I’m not sure which one it was. It’s the one where his friend is dying and wants superman’s blood to survive.
Tuesday October 24, 2023
Agenda du jour – tour of Fort Clinch and maybe dinner at the Ritz. I need to check later to see what the reservation situation is.
***
Super windy day. We
started with a little rain in the morning so no walk on the beach.
We went to St. Marys, GA and ate early lunch at Riverside Café. We’ve been eating seafood all week so it was
a non-seafood day. I had the Gyro and
he had a Cajun Chicken Sandwich. Food,
service, and view were excellent.
We walked around a bit.
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| Hangin’ with the locals |
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| Ice cream garden |
This small town has big holiday spirt. Everyplace was decked out with Halloween décor. Down the median of the main street every business has Halloween displays. I took a video but it won’t upload here. I’ll try to post it on FB.
We went to the Cumberland Museum.
“The museum houses a collection of artifacts from Cumberland Island and is open and free to the public. The collection covers the timeline and people of the island. The lives of Native Americans, African Americans, the Stafford's and the Carnegie family, as well as others who lived on the island in the 19th and 20th centuries. An exhibit room on The War of 1812, the "Forgotten Invasion," is a highlight.”
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| Arrested! We’ve come a long way baby |
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| Check out the last one!! “Still don’t use slower friends as alligator bait” |
We checked out the ferry trip to Cumberland Island.
"Cumberland Island is a barrier island off Georgia’s southeast coast, with protected beaches and maritime forest. The Dungeness Ruins are the remains of a mansion built by Thomas Carnegie, brother and partner of steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie. Georgian Revival–style Plum Orchard is another Carnegie estate. The simple, 1-room First African Baptist Church lies north. Wildlife includes loggerhead turtles and feral horses. ― Google"
It’s a whole day. Pricing
was decent at $40 per person plus you have to have a National Parks Pass, which
we don’t. It’s $15 each or $20 for an
annual pass that is for you and four guests so ya, do the math, that’s the
better way to go. 45 minute ferry ride
so back around 5:30 p.m. The deal breaker was you leave at 10:30 a.m. and you’re
there until the ferry back at 4:45 p.m. That’s
a long ass day when you can’t pop into a café for a mid-day break.
There is a ton of history which he loves, but no facilities such as food and beverage, not even water. You have to take whatever you think you’ll need. “Pack out what you packed in”. No trash receptacles either. Back in its hay day people would go to the island for the day and picnic there. Paul thinks they are trying to keep with the nostalgia. There IS a B&B built in 1890, run by one of the remaining Carnegies. No wifi, no TV, just like the olden days. Includes three meals per day which I would think they would have to since there are no other options on the island. Around $900 per night for a room in the house and a few cottages that say “call for a price”.
We left there and went to Fort Clinch.
“This site was first fortified in 1736 by the Spanish, when they held colonies in Florida. From 1736, various nations to control the territory have garrisoned and fortified this site to protect the entrance to the St. Marys River and Cumberland Sound.
After the end of the Second Seminole War, the United States started construction of a fort, later named Fort Clinch, in 1847. It was part of its Third System of coastal defenses conceived earlier in the century, which guided fortifications throughout this period. The fortified compound is pentagonal in shape, with both inner and outer walls, and consists of almost five million bricks. There are corner bastions and embrasures in the outer walls and several structures in the interior courtyards, including a two-story barracks. The fort was named in honor of General Duncan Lamont Clinch after his death in 1849. General Clinch fought in the War of 1812 and was an important figure in the First and Second Seminole Wars.”
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| Passage to secret stuff |
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| Protection essentials |
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| Kitchen essentials |
Those are your history lessons of the day.
After wondering around there for a while we headed back to
the condo for about an hour or so before leaving for dinner.
We decided against the Ritz. Strict dress code which is fine, we brought dressy, but the time availability was too early or too late and a prepaid non-refundable deposit at time of reservation of $75 each which would have been okay IF we could have gone at a decent time for us. Plan B, reservations at Bob’s Steakhouse at the Omni. Also dress code which apparently they don't enforce by some of the casual attire of a few other guests. It was fantastic. We started off on the patio which was beautiful but it was too windy. We sat down and a minute later the tablecloth tried to fly away so we decided it was only going to get worse as it got later. Moved inside.
He started with the Lobster Bisque. It was good but it was different. More of a tomato herb base than a cream base.
I got the Porterhouse Veal Chop and he got the Filet Mignon. They were both excellent.
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| My Chop Take 1 Skillet potatoes were more like potato chips |
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| Take 2 She brought me smashed instead |
We shared a Key Lime Pie. It was very good but the KLP at Sliders was amazing.
He had wine with dinner so I drove back. This is the first time we had driven at night
since Mark and Ivar had driven Saturday and Sunday night. Monday night we didn’t go out. I said “the headlights aren’t very bright”. Paul thought it was because the car wasn’t very
clean and maybe the headlights needed a shot of Windex. I mostly drove with the brights on until
there was an oncoming vehicle. We got
back to the condo and he checked out the situation. The headlights weren’t on! EiYiYi. We are so used to them being set on
auto! I said I was surprised nobody
flashed their lights at me. There are
running lights above the headlights so there was SOME light. I told him we were lucky my AMAZING driving
skills got us home safely! Lesson
learned.
Dark and gloomy this morning with some scattered sprinkles but the sun is making a breakthrough.
Todays agenda – Lunch and then the ferry boat
ride out of Historic Fernandina that we didn’t do when Mark and Ivar were
here. Scratch that. We’ll have our leftovers for
dinner and then we have reservations for the haunted pub crawl “Boos and Brews”. Not to worry about me driving home after he
has a few brewskies. We now have the
headlights set on auto!
***
First stop was the Ferry Boat Ticket office where we decided
to go tomorrow morning instead. They have
a 2.5 hour tour at 10 or a 1.5 tour at 2:30.
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| Morning staff meeting |
We had lunch at Timoti’s. He had the fried clam basket and I had the fried shrimp. It was really good but we decided it was our last fried Fried FRIED meal this trip!
Then we went to the Amelia Island Museum of History.
“It houses exhibits focusing on the history of Nassau County, Florida and is situated inside the old Nassau county jail. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 18, 2009.”
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| Random wall art |
Quick stop at a cigar shop where the Vaughn Scott Cemetery was right there at the parking lot. He was a patriot in 1812.
Back to the condo to relax/nap before our big outing tonight which starts past my bedtime!!
***
We skipped dinner again.
Ghost Tours of Amelia Island, Haunted Bar Crawl, Boos and Brews
Meeting spot was behind a bank in the parking lot where they offered wine while people were gathering.
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| Yikes!! When I looked at the pic I said "you weren't smiling" He said "I was smiling" LOL |
They had about 25 people from a group called Newcomers. Originally formed to get new people to the area introduced to things to do, but the lady I was talking to said its not just for newcomers, some people have been members for 30 years. She moved to AI about six months ago. While we were waiting she showed me the line up on her phone. They do all kinds of things from exercise like beginners ballet to games like mahjong and foodie things and day trips. She said it is great for her to do things on her own without being alone because her husband is “the most anti-social person on the planet”. Ha! I love the idea. Maybe I should start something like that after we move. 🤣
Anyhow, because of the group it turned into a Haunted History Tour instead of the bar crawl which was fine. We took off across the street to the church where she told stories about the man who used to be the bell ringer who got trapped in a fire in the bell tower and died. There have been sightings of him on property sprinkling holy water, always from left to right, inside the church as well as on the grounds and in the cemetery. She showed us pictures as well. She said spirts and orbs are so fast we can’t always see them with the naked eye, but they show up on our pictures. We left there and went to an old school house where they had a horrible slide in the playground that kids died falling off of. Also a little boy who wandered in the night that was killed right outside the school house by a car, which was new to the area, they were still in the horse and buggy days. It’s now a B&B. People have reported feeling sheets being moved off of them and a lady saw a little boy on the bed but only when she looked in the mirror. Down the street to several houses where lots of activity was recorded. One horrible story of a beautiful young lady whose husband was out to sea and she was bored so she did crazy things to occupy her time like taking herself on a buggy ride. Back then women must be accompanied by a man to do go anywhere. She made up a story when her husband got back home that the banker touched her ”bosom”. He immediately got his horsewhip and went to the banker, whipped him asking what he did to his wife. He begged for his life and said he didn’t even know his wife. He shot and killed him. Two years later she got ill and on her death bed confessed she made the story up. He ended up killing himself from the guilt of killing an innocent man. She still roams the house which is currently owned by snowbirds so it’s vacant right now. She said sometimes ghosts/spirts will respond if you ask them to do things. Sometimes the requests are granted after the group leaves as reported by neighbors. She asked her to show us a sign she was there by turning on or flickering a light. As we were walking away one porch light came on, then another a few seconds later. Paul and a couple of others said they are on a timer. She said “you laugh but I walk by this house every night at the same time and I assure you there are no timers. Sometimes it’s a light in a room upstairs, sometimes downstairs.”
Believers to the right, nay sayers to the left.
We went by the hanging tree for more stories.
She explained the verbiage and Mr Google confirmed:
“Why is it called widow's Walk? Legend has it that the wives of whalers in 19th-century Nantucket stared forlornly out to sea from rooftop platforms in search of their husbands' ships. Over time, as sailors failed to return home, those platforms became known as widow's walks.”
Mr G also says women would walk up there to check for fires
which would often start at the chimney. Might
as well get some use out of them in current times!
Anyhow Kate Baley broke her neck when she died so if you see her at the front of the house you will see her with a crook in her neck. If you see her on the side of the house
(it’s a corner house) she’s often peeking out the window as her whole self. She's also been seen in the garden walking with a candelabra. Again you can typically only see her if you
take a picture and zoom in. Done!
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| Front of the house. How cool is that porch? |
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| If you zoom in, she’s in that dark window at the top |
More stories at more houses.
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| Front door, man lurking out the window at the bottom right |
Then we walked through the cemetery. As soon as we passed through the gate it started to rain. She told some stories about those buried there. As soon as we passed through the gate again it stopped raining. WoooOhhhhOhhhhh. Like the rain was on a timer too! She said a little chant after she closed the gate behind us so the graveyard spirts wouldn't follow us home. We walked back to the starting point and THE END. It was interesting to say the least. Paul thinks the images of faces in the windows are just dirt and light reflecting and the orbs in the photos are flashes from the camera. I’m a believer, are you? Either way the pictures are cool.
Thursday October 26, 2023
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| Morning situation on the balcony |
This is our last full day on the island. We go home tomorrow. Todays agenda is the ferry ride at 10. We’re supposed to be there between 9:30 and 9:45 because “this captain leaves exactly at 10”.
Tour is over at 12:30 so we’ll have lunch down there. No other plans for the afternoon. Tonight we’ll have our leftovers from Bob’s
because it was too good to leave behind.
***
Amelia Island River Cruise 2.5 hour version.
It was very nice. Quite a few people on board, mostly
seniors mid-week. There was a crew member who narrated along the way giving
some history and pointing out places of interest and wildlife. Again, we wish there was printed info because
Paul had a difficult time understanding him.
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| Paper mill. That big pile on the left is designated specifically for Amazon. That will be made into boxes to be delivered to your doorstep. |
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| Nuclear Sub Base. We’re safe |
It’s hard to see the horses and dolphins in my pics so you’ll have to trust me. Our narrator said people referred to them as wild horses, but they are actually feral. He said it wouldn’t make a great song 𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮“feral horses couldn’t drag me away!”𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮
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| We saw these guys rowing to raise money to prevent veteran suicide |
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| On the way back Captain Kirk needed a break so ya… |
After the tour we went to Brett’s Waterway Café. We sat on the patio and enjoyed the perfect weather. I had a Seafood Louis Salad and he had the Redfish Special of the Day. I haven’t had a Louis in a long time because I rarely see them on a menu. I don’t know why I don’t make my own at home.
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| Pineapple marinating in vodka |
We went back to where the ghost tour started and walked back to St Peter’s Cemetery circa 1858 and wondered around for a while.
Then back to the condo.
Tomorrow after we check out we’ll stop for lunch on the way to the airport. I received a text from the airline to plan on arriving at the airport two hours early due to construction around the TSA area. Plus we need to allow a little extra time to return the rental car. It will be a long ass travel day.
Friday October 28, 2023
We checked out and stopped at Shucker’s Oyster Bar on the
way to the airport. We sat out on the
patio soaking up the beautiful weather.
I had Bang Bang Shrimp and he had a Grilled Mahi Sammy.
Travel day home was horrible. We arrived super early. Rental car return was easy schmeasy and there was no construction delay at TSA as the early text had warned. I think there were three people ahead of us. After we checked our bags and headed to the gate we discovered our flight was delayed. We were supposed to have two hours between flights. Now estimated arrival was 8:30 and departure 9:05. Super stressful especially knowing we’d have to take the tram to get to the gate. Five hours later we boarded our flight from Jacksonville to Dallas. Our pilot must have come straight from NASCAR because we were out 9 minutes ahead and he was backed out, taxied down, and in the air in nothing flat. We arrived in Dallas at 8:00 p.m. We had to take the tram almost full circle around the airport and then a long ass walk down and around to the gate which was already boarding. Stright on and a big sigh of relief. We got to baggage claim and to add insult to injury, Paul’s bag which had four wheels when it was checked in, now is a three-wheeler. The wheel isn’t just out, the entire plastic is ripped out.
But hey, on the bright side, our luggage arrived.
Recap
The condo was amazing.
It was every bit as beautiful as it was in the VRBO pictures and the
owner was super nice.
Food was great everywhere we went.
Best meal – Bob’s Steak and Chop House.
Best seafood – I can’t even pick one. I had shrimp fried, in a seafood boil, a
seafood salad, and bang bang style. They were
all great. I’d say my least favorite,
although it was good, was the seafood salad.
I'm only knocking off points because they chopped the seafood together and I would have rather
had the shrimp, crab, and lobster separate.
Paul has decided that there is no such thing as bad fried
clam strips! He had them twice and they were equally as delicious.
We were blessed with amazing weather.
That was officially the last connecting route I will ever take with the exception of Europe where there is absolutely no other choice. I’ve been traveling by air for decades and this is the third time in a row that my connecting flight was delayed or cancelled. What is going on airline industry? It started in Charleston last year where we got stuck in the airport for hours. Then coming back from Alaska my connecting flight was cancelled until the next day. Now this flight. I’ve only had two other flights in my life that were delayed. Phoenix to Maui due to mechanical problems, and Paris to Dallas was delayed (they didn't say why) and we thought we’d miss the connecting flight. It is way too stressful for this old lady.
This is also officially our last set of hard shell luggage. This was a three piece set. My mid size was destroyed going to Boston and now his large size with a major blowout. I actually prefer the soft side anyhow because of the extra zip spaces on the outside.
Special thanks to my sis for taking such good care of the kit-kat and Jay for airport shuttle service.
Thanks for traveling along.
Next stop: Maybe Seattle President’s Day weekend. When we were in Alaska we discussed a girl’s
trip to WA in May and going to the San Juan Islands. I probably won’t be able to do that now that
we bought the house. Our house will probably be for sale at that time and I don’t
want to be gone if there are deals to be made or moving to be done.
March is a culinary cruise with my sis and two
besties.
Condo pics from the listing:
Feel free to leave comments anonymously but please tell me who you are. Apparently my crystal ball is on the fritz. 😆😜😝
