On Monday, we’ll be heading back to Jekyll Island in Georgia. We are thrilled to be returning to the lusciously varied environment on the island — ocean and beaches, wetland meadows, and a rich forest — all in one place! This photo of Vanda is from our camping trip to Jekyll from April 2024–we had a wonderful site at the edge of a loop that we liked so much that we’ve reserved the same site for this visit!
I have not written a blog post for nearly two months as we have not been traveling in Vanda since we returned from our fall color trip in early November. How I have missed the #vanlife! We visited family over both holidays, in Florida for Thanksgiving, and to the Boston area, New York, and DC for Xmas and New Years. Both of those were long car trips during which we stayed in numerous hotels. I did not love hoteling, which is ironic because prior to #vanlife, hotels were all we knew! I can definitively state that I much prefer being in Vanda, where we can live our life, where I can cook for us, where the bed is familiar and firm, and where we do not have to schlep our personal items in and out everyday. This complaint is a first world complaint, I am well aware, nonetheless the two, 2-week+ trips in the car and hotels affirmed my alliance to Vanda, and also elevated my enthusiasm to be immersed once again in #vanlife adventures.
It has been so much fun to become reacquainted with Vanda as I have been restocking supplies and packing up the non-perishable foods while going through my lists to be sure we’ll leave with all that we want to be comfy and well-fed. Packing the fridge with my famously huge salad, dairy, and a few prepared meals-from-home won’t happen until Sunday evening. John bought us a WeBoost device that (supposedly) amplifies a cell signal for those times we camp in areas with limited cell service; we took Vanda out to Lincoln State Park the other day to test the device (it made a big difference!), and to have lunch, just so we could hang out in the van. It reminded us of everything we love about Vanda!
Jekyll Island is other-worldly, in my opinion. Not only because of the varied topography but also because the wildlife is … wild! There are so many spectacular birds–songbirds, wading birds, and raptors, including clapper rails, painted buntings, kingfishers, eagles, pelicans, herons, osprey, several types of warblers, egrets, wood storks, roseate spoonbills (my fave!), tanagers, and more! What’s not to love?! Then, there are the elusive otters, skunk, raccoons, and coyotes to admire, if we get lucky. The night skies are huge and unburdened by manmade light. There are numerous bike and hiking trails. The comfy campground with electricity and water at each site, along with hot showers pretty much rounds out this experience as one of the best! Just look at two meadow and wetland views from past trips there…luscious!
John’s favorite activity is to be on Driftwood Beach for the sunrise. He prefers clouds on the horizon in which the delightful colors are reflected but a cloudless morning allows for a gorgeous sky also! After an hour or so on the beach, we wander the path through the wetland meadow which eventually leads to the forest. The beach is home to the pelicans and osprey as well as the small shorebirds that run in and out of the gentle waves, the wetland meadow hosts a plethora of wading birds and the clapper rails–who pry open oyster shells that flourish in the muddy banks–the same banks into which the kingfishers tunnel their nesting cavities.
The forest, with its huge old trees festooned with strands of Spanish moss, is a perfect home for the marvelous variety of songbirds and warblers that either live there year round or migrate through in spring. These photos from the island forest show the magnificent old trees and a summer tanager, from our April 2024 trip.
I am posting this blog entry on FB and IG, before we leave, as I am going to participate in the world-wide 1-week blackout boycott of Meta platforms, from January 19th – 26th. Whether Zuck notices my absence or not, I feel compelled to make my point that I am quite dismayed by his capitulation to the incoming administration, not to mention his corporate greed and self-serving interests. At this point, I do intend to jump back on after the blackout, but I will not — for the first time — be posting a real-time view of our travel adventures. In the meantime, we will be wandering, once again.
