Wandering

To celebrate my husband retiring last summer, we decided to go on an extended trip. It started by visiting my mom in Destin, Florida for Christmas. After ten days with her we moved to a beach condo not far from her.

We spent the next two weeks visiting mom, seeing old military friends and neighbors, making new friends, walking the beach, watching sunrises and sunsets, and enjoying life. A mimosa or two may have been consumed. Then we started visiting places we’d never been.

First up was Amelia Island, Florida which is just north of Jacksonville. It was beautiful. Author Maya Corrigan told us about a park to visit and we saw some amazing birds. We spent most of our days there walking the beach or sitting and watching the ocean. Friends of ours from Virginia were in the area so we saw them one day. I decided that watching pelicans should be a sport. They are fascinating whether they’re gliding over the waves or diving into the water.

The oldest bar in Florida!

We spent a couple of nights in Savannah, Georgia, did the hop on hop off tour, and walked around the city. Blogger Kristopher Zgorski told us to eat at The Olde Pink House and it was fantastic.

We then headed to North Myrtle Beach wending our way on back roads. We had more lovely, long stretches of beach to walk on, shells to pick up, and sunsets to watch.

Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge

Our next stop was the Outer Banks – another place we’d always heard of but never been. If any of you are military check out the Armed Forces Vacation Club – for active duty and veterans. We got an incredible deal on a place near the beach. It’s old and there are a lot of steps but it’s quiet and spacious. We also have Virginia friends here Ruth and Mark Bergin.

They took us to look for the famous wild horses in their Jeep. It was an amazing adventure! The drive on the long stretch of deserted beach was so fun. Then we turned into the neighborhoods and started looking for horses. There was a lot of poop talk. It turns out one way to find the horses is to look for fresh horse poop! I’m not sure that the poop led us to the horses, but we did see some. It was such a fun day.

One of these days we will head home—we have to because we have company arriving soon. But what a lovely time away it’s been for us.

Readers: Do you love a back road or would you rather get to where you are going? Or maybe like for me it depends on the trip.