June 3, 2018. Final Blog From Saint Simons Island.

June 3, 2018.  Final Blog From Saint Simons Island.  This is the final installment from SSI.  Yesterday, we traveled north on the island to visit the Wesley Gardens.  The gardens were established next to a Methodist church constructed to honor the Wesley brothers, John and Charles.  Both preached on SSI in the mid 1730s.  I mentioned to you earlier that John Wesley founded the Methodist movement after returning to England.  The gardens are small, but feature live oaks, ferns and several varieties of hedges and bushes.  Interestingly, there were not a lot of flowers.  There is a columbarium next to the gardens.  It reminded me of the columbarium at Estes Park Center.  This one is fairly new, too.  There were but a few residents, most of whom relocated there in 2015 or thereafter.

We have a pet lizard who hangs out on our patio.  Neither of us knew what kind of lizard he was, so I asked Google.  Google told me that he is a red-throated anole.  They are also known as green anole lizards and they are indigenous to the southeast United States.  The pink bubble under its head is a "dewlap."  It can appear in different colors depending upon the lighting conditions.

The dewlap is inflated to frighten off competitors or potential predators.  It is also used during mating season to attract partners.  Annie now calls my cavalcade of chins a dewlap.  That isn't very nice, is it.

We made one last stop the the Southern Soul Barbecue.  The pulled pork was good, but not as good as it was the first time.  I think the difference is that we sat outside the first time and the smoke in the air transferred to the meat.  This time we were inside and couldn't smell the smoke.  The restaurant is located in an old gas station.  Does that sound familiar?   That's the way hometown Joe's started, too.

We will leave in the morning and hope to avoid the traffic snarl in Atlanta.  The plan is to arrive home sometime Wednesday.  That should be doable.  That will allow for frequent stops to keep the blood moving and the eyelids open.

That's it from here on Saint Simons Island.  Goodnight and goodbye. 

June 1, 2018. Quiz Results and Beach Pictures.

June 1, 2018. Quiz Results and Beach Pictures.  The results of the quiz are in.  The Cobbles and Tourtillotts correctly identified the date of each of the cutouts from pictures appearing in the blog.  The Thurmonds have been traveling, so I have extended the deadline for them.  I am pretty sure that each set of grandchildren will win first place money.  I am not surprised.  They are the smartest and best-looking kids in the universe.  Congratulations to all.

Today's pictures were taken on the East Beach here on Saint Simons Island.  It is hard to get a lot of variety.  Annie won't allow me to publish pictures of bikini-clad beach goers.  She scans the photographs with a magnifying glass to be sure there are none in the background.  I think that violates my First Amendment Rights, don't you.  She says it has nothing to do with my rights.  She says it's about her right not to be associated with a nut job.  I say, yes dear, you are right.

There is a picture of a young woman lying on her belly taking a picture of a potato chip wrapper with the sea in the background.  I was tempted to ask why.  But, I just concluded that maybe she is one of those avant garde photographers.  Maybe she was trying to illustrate the horror of trash on the seashore.  And, maybe she was just trying out the camera feature on her new phone.

We have a couple more days here before starting home on Monday.  I will do one more blog before we leave.  That will be it for this trip.  We don't have plans for a fall trip yet.  Annie keeps saying how pretty home is in the fall.  Who knows, we may just travel within a several-hundred mile radius of the midwest.

Goodnight.