Today we got up and went over to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, which is a turtle hosptial and rescue center on Jekyll Island.
Amelia was quite sassy upon arrival and couldn’t decide if she wanted to be in her stroller or not. She gets funny about not wanting to sit in it, but doesn’t want the stroller to be pushed anywhere with out her. Little nugget… it didn’t help we came into the small front entry with a bunch of other families and had to wait to pay to enter. Amelia doesn’t wait well… never has.
Once we got in, she enjoyed the exhibit a little bit, but was more interested in her iPad. Jackson and Becca’s kids enjoyed the activities and interactive stuff all about sea turtles.
They have a separate building with the rehab pools for the turtles and this is where Amelia really lit up. She was so excited and seemingly interested in the turtles. (However, I think she was really just trying to get into the pools to swim). Either way, we all enjoyed how engaged she was.
That face! Happy, excited, and a lot of determination all in one look.
They have the smaller turtles separated from each other as to not stress them out. The bigger turtles get their own pools.
After the sea turtle center, we walked around some of the old, original Jekyll Island buildings and houses. Most of them were built in the very early 1900’s. Many of buildings and houses have been converted into shops and hotels now and are up-kept very well.
While slowly wandering around and eventually walking back to the cars, the crew spotted 6 sting rays in the shallow water. Glad we weren’t trying to swim! (Only one shown in the photo, just right of center).
Lunch was next and we got subs at a place near the hotels. Then DJ, Amelia, and I went to go grab the camper and hook it up. Becca took the other kids back to Driftwood Beach.
On the walk from where we parked the truck to the beach, there was an ALLIGATOR! It was DJ’s mission to see one in the wild this trip and we accomplished that today. Mission complete!
The big kids went back to “their” tree and played some more. Amelia got really interested in the sand and then Becca’s youngest daughter. It was cute to see the two girls interacting together, on Amelia’s terms. Amelia was fascinated with Becca’s daughter’s pants as they had ruffles at the ankles. Amelia was also very motivated to remove her newly discovered friend’s shoes at the beach and was determined and even helped to make sure it happened. Amelia was quite proud and happy once her new friend was barefoot.
While at the beach today, Becca spotted some dolphins pretty close off shore. It was a pretty awesome day to have seen an alligator, sting rays, and dolphins… all without trying.
We got on the road at about 2:30 pm. We had lots and lots of fun with Becca and her family these last few days and will miss them!
We may or may not have planned where we are staying tonight based on a billboard ad for BUC-EE’S in Florence, SC. Yep, totally hit up our 3rd BUC-EE’S in route to our hotel tonight. They started advertising like 150 miles out. Not kidding. (And we probably saw between 20-30+ ads for BUC-EE’S in that distance). We got a couple new snacks to try and Jackson got a shirt. Fortunately, this BUC-EE’S redeemed BUC-EE’S for us as it was huge, well thought out for traffic patterns, and not swamped with people.
We are getting cozy and settled in for the night. This will be our last night on the road! We should be at our new house tomorrow!
Adventuring with Amelia 