Our weekend in the Golden Isles
Way back in March, Mac and I decided to spend a quick weekend in the Golden Isles. It was the last weekend trip we wanted to do before we moved, and we squeezed it in a few weeks before I moved to Kansas.
Where we stayed
We opted for the Holiday Inn Resort Jekyll Island. Since we went at the end of March (aka Spring Break season), prices were a little bit higher. We decided to stay one night since we lived about 3.5 hours away. It was easy to get to and reasonably quiet. And it had the most amazing beach sunrises.
Where we ate
The Holiday Inn Resort has a restaurant on property, but it had a 90 minute wait when we stopped in. So we headed into the downtown area of Jekyll Island and found the McGarvey’s Wee Pub. Considering it was a Friday night during Spring Break and March Madness, the service was fast. I tried an amazing turkey melt (with grilled pineapple) while Mac had the bangers and mash. We grabbed breakfast sandwiches at the Jekyll Market and a few snacks on our way out of town the next morning.
What we did
You could easily spend a whole week in the Golden Isles and dedicate a day on each island. We were a bit more crunched for time, and we (I) wanted to get the National Park stamps in Golden Isles. After breakfast, we drove up to Driftwood Beach on Jekyll Island. I love the stark colors of the driftwood against the beach and sky.
From there, we drove down to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. The Georgia Sea Turtle Center rescues and rehabilitates sea turtles in need of some help. Most of the patients when we visited were either hit by cars or boats or suffered from reptile hypothermia.
We then headed over to St. Mary’s. My original plan was to visit Cumberland Island, but I didn’t realize that the ferry made its last run of the day before we got there. We walked around the museum and around downtown St. Mary’s to stretch our legs.
Our final stop was Fort Frederica. Fort Frederica served as a buffer between British Georgia and Spanish Florida. A battle is 1742 ensured that Georgia stayed part of British Colonial America. The weather was perfect, and we were able to cross off the last NPS stamp outside of the Atlanta area.
