Weekly Photo Challenge: Friendship II

I tried to find this photo for the challenge and it turned up in my husband’s computer!  So here’s my Friendship ll photo!

 Though miles may lie between us, we’re never far apart, for friendship doesn’t count the miles, it’s measured by the heart.
~Rozina Hasham

At the beach with Gail on St. Simons Island, GA.

  Good friends who don’t see each other often can pick up right where they left off the last time they met.  They can talk all day about what they’ve missed in each other’s lives.   But sometimes friends don’t need to talk at all.  They often share the same thoughts and feelings anyway.  Just sitting side by side, two good friends can enjoy each other’s company, the scenery, and searching for that elusive cormorant bobbing up and down in the waves of the St. Simons sound!!! 😉

In friendship,

Judy

All text and images are copyright © 2002-2012 and are the exclusive property of Judy Johnson (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved. All Images are protected under United States and International copyright laws. None of the images on this site are in the Public Domain.

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Seagulls

When it blows here, even the seagulls walk.  ~Nick Faldo

It doesn’t sound appropriate to say “I shot some seagulls” when we were on St. Simons Island.
But that’s what I did!   With a camera, of course!

Seagull.

“AHHHH!  I see some Northerners down there.  They always have food for us!”

Seagull lands in front of people.

“What’cha got for me?  I like any crumbs.  Come on, I know you’re good for a treat.”

Seagull pleading.

“Whaddaya mean you’ve got nothing?!  Hmmmph! What good are ya?  (giving the cold gull shoulder)”

…….

“Forget it.  Just FORGET IT.”

“SO LONG AMIGOS!  I’m OUTTA HERE!”

…….

“Hey….WHAT ARE YOU STARING AT?”  😉

Have a good day and make sure you laugh!

Judy

All text and images are copyright © 2002-2012 and are the exclusive property of Judy Johnson (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved. All Images are protected under United States and International copyright laws. None of the images on this site are in the Public Domain.

First tour stop: St. Simons Island, GA!

Hello everyone!  

Between sorting and editing photos, we’ve had internet problems.  Then I got a new laptop and a new photo editing program!  eek!  The learning curve is back!  Thank you for your patience with me!
I got shut out last night again by ATT.  New router….no one can figure out the answer.  

Are you ready to start our trip?  Climb aboard!  Today we visit lovely, lush, sub-tropical St. Simons Island, Georgia.  St. Simons Island is a barrier island off the coast of Georgia, along with Jekyll, Sea Island and privately owned Little Simons Island.  Of the four Golden Isles, St Simons is the largest with 16.6 square miles of land, and 1.3 square miles of water.  Their temperatures average  in the 80’s in the late spring and summer, and the 50’s in the winter.  July is usually hottest with temperatures in the 90’s.  (information from weather.com)

My best friend from college, Gail,  is fortunate to live on St. Simons, so we stayed with her.   Gail took us to some new places we haven’t been and that was fun.  As always, my camera was stuck to my hip!

As we pass over the causeway from the mainland, we can see the marsh, where a variety of fauna live.

The marsh.

We are greeted by a bustling marina!

The marina.

St. Simons Island is known for their beautiful Live Oak trees, often draped with lacy Spanish Moss.  This street is an example.  It’s like driving through a lush green tunnel!

Street on St. Simons Island.

Spanish Moss in Gail’s yard.  Spanish Moss is an air plant.

Spanish Moss.

If you love beautiful beaches, come to St. Simons Island for a visit!  They have long stretches of sandy beaches and they even have some rocky areas!  They’ve got it all!

Wide sandy beaches with the tide out.

Rocky coastline.  “Splash on the rocks”

The St. Simons Lighthouse has been in existence since 1807, when it was commissioned to be erected on the site known as Couper’s Point.  That lighthouse was 85 feet tall.  In 1862, during the Civil War,  Federal troops formed a blockade and invaded Georgia, and caused the Confederate army to evacuate the area.   Before leaving, the Confederate army destroyed the lighthouse so the Federal troops could not use it as a navigational aid.  The new lighthouse was built in 1872 by Charles Cluskey, a world-renowned architect from Georgia.  It is 104 feet tall and has a 129 step cast iron spiral stairway.  (I know because I walked on each of those steps!!)  The lighthouse has a third order Fresnel Lens that projects its beam 18 miles.

The lighthouse today.

St. Simons Island is a great place to catch the last rays of the sun.  We stood on the long pier to watch the colors change and enjoy the soft, balmy breeze.

St. Simons sunset from the pier.

The last shot of the day…….palms in the sunset….Good Night!

Thanks for joining me on our trip to St. Simons Island, Georgia!  
If you’d like tourist information on St. Simons, click here.
If you’d like information on the history of St. Simons, click here
Judy

All text and images are copyright © 2002-2012 and are the exclusive property of Judy Johnson (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved. All Images are protected under United States and International copyright laws. None of the images on this site are in the Public Domain.

Trip Teasers!

Hello to my wonderful, loyal blogging friends!  I’m baaaaaaaaack! 😉  
I missed every one of you and I also missed visiting your blogs!

We had a great time exploring and visiting friends and family in this beautiful country of ours.
I have some photos of our trip…..just some teasers so you’ll know the path we took.

Of course, many more will come later!  Let’s see….how many SD cards did I go through?  😉 

From Michigan, south through the Great Smokey Mountain Park below.

Driving through the Great Smokey Mountains after heavy rain. Love the mist in the mountains.

From the Smokey’s, continuing south, we arrived in St Simons Island, GA., to stay with our college friend below.   St Simons is a barrier island off the coast of GA.  It is lovely with marshes, tons of azaleas, live oaks dripping with spanish moss and wide open beaches.

The charming St Simons lighthouse after sunset.

With our college friend, we made the 2 hour trip north to Savannah.  I love architecture and this was a treat, below.

This is one of the lovely homes we saw on our "trolley" ride around Savannah.

From St Simons Island, we drove north to one of our favorite cities, Charleston, SC.  The next day we drove to my elementary school friend’s home in Pawley’s Island, SC.    Pawley’s Island is beautiful, lush and the home of the original rope hammock, see below.

This rope swing is on top of our friends' marina building. It gives a great view of the surrounding land and the Waccamaw River. (it's also fun to swing in it!)

We continued north.  Can you tell we are doing the “coastal crawl”?? !!  We stopped at Cape Hatteras and Ocean City before arriving at my cousin’s home near Wilmington, Delaware.   Of course the DuPont families are important in Wilmington, and one of my favorites has always been the Winterthur estate.  Winterthur has gorgeous gardens along with the massive mansion.  This time my cousin introduced us to another DuPont estate called Longwood.   The gardens were just outstanding.  Both of these estates should be on a “must see” list if you go to Delaware.

One of my favorite looks: woodland phlox or phlox divaricata, snuggled up against a tree. This photo is from Longwood Gardens.

We turned left from Delaware and continued west into Pennsylvania.  We had tour tickets for Kentuck Knob and Fallingwater.  If you know me, you know I’m a Frank Lloyd Wright design freak!  So this was a treat.  We’ve been to several others, but Fallingwater has always been on my bucket list.  Below you will see the smaller home, Kentuck Knob, a delightful gem, just 7 miles from Fallingwater.  The chimes in the surrounding landscape are great sculptures and also provide sound when the wind blows.  

One of the chimes at Kentuck Knob, and the corner of the low, wide-overhanging roofline...typical of FLW homes.

Alas, every good vacation must come to an end.  At this time of year, it’s fun to see what changed in the gardens while we were gone.  (mostly weeds!)   Home again, home again, jiggedy jig……

Home.

Thank you for hanging in there while I was gone.  I hope to see you soon.  I’ll have photos to share on each stop we made.
I’m even thinking of a wild and wooly post called “PHOTOS at 70 mph”  as I took many riding down the highway!  haha.

Peace and hugs….
Judy
All text and images are copyright © 2002-2012 and are the exclusive property of Judy Johnson (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved. All Images are protected under United States and International copyright laws. None of the images on this site are in the Public Domain.

Getting cold? Let’s go to an island!

St. Simons Island, Georgia!

St. Simons Island is a beautiful barrier island off the coast of Georgia.  It is the largest of Georgia’s Golden Isles.  St. Simons Island has a total area of 16.6 square miles.  The nearest town is Brunswick, GA, across the causeway.  Savannah, GA is about 2 hours north.  Many historical places to see, great restaurants, beautiful beaches and an average November temperature of 70 degrees make it a great place to visit! 

A cleat for tying a boat to the pier

A view of the shore.

Live Oaks with spanish moss.Beautiful beach and ocean….
Below: the St. Simons Lighthouse and Museum.