Visiting the little town of St. Marys

We really didn’t have any plans for Sunday, so after getting home from church, I some ribs in the crock pot for dinner, and we went out for a drive.

 

 

Just across the border into Georgia is the little coastal town of St. Mary’s, right next to the King’s Bay Naval Submarine Station.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a surface Sailor, Nicolas won;t be stationed there. but many of his fellow Nukes call this base home.

We continued into the historical downtown district of St. Marys, along the river.  St. Marys is the gateway to Cumberland Island, home to a herd of wild horses.

We had thought about going, but not soon enough – the boat to Cumberland Island only has two trips over to the island, and both are in the morning. 

Oh well, we made due with the St. Marys Submarine Museum instead.

The Museum was two floors of submarine models and artifacts from US Navy submarines – early submarines on the first floor and nuclear submarines on the second floor, as well as a video of life aboard a Navy submarine and a working periscope.

The periscope was really cool – you could spin it around 360 degrees and see boats on the river and the entire area surrounding St. Marys.

We looked at the collection of submarine artifacts – we were amazed at some of those early submarines,

and how much they have grown in size as technology has improved.

USS Silversides – this one is a Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Upstairs, we looked at the numerous displays donated by crewmembers of various subs – there were a lot of subs!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After looking through the displays and models, we watched the video of life on a nuclear submarine.

It was directed at kids, but was very interesting and informative, even for adults.

The Museum was very nicely done . . . and I’m still glad Nicolas is going to be on a carrier instead of a sub!

Across the road from the Museum is a nice little park, next to the Cumberland Island boat dock.

 

We walked through the park, and along the edge of the river.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were several swings along the walkway, overlooking the river – we had to try them out!

 

From the river walk, we turned up the main street.  It was Sunday, so all of the little shops were closed, but we walked along and admired the old, historic buildings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a very cute little town!

Back home, our ribs in the crockpot smelled really good!  We crisped them up on the grill for a few minutes while I cooked some vegetables inside, and the 3 of us enjoyed a delicious dinner!  I usually cook ribs in the oven, but I used the crockpot this time so we could go out for the day.  They turned out really well, so I think I’ll use the crockpot from now on.

On Monday, we just hung out at the RV Park.  Nicolas cleaned up his car, and then got on the road back to Charleston after lunch.  Rain was expected later in the afternoon, and we wanted him to get home before it arrived.  We were really glad to spend his days off with him, and he enjoyed it, too! 

Meeting up with our Sailor in Jacksonville

We were scheduled to stay in The Villages through the end of the month, but Nicolas had a scheduled 4-day weekend, so we left a couple days early to meet him up in Jacksonville. 

It was a short drive for us, just 140 miles, to Kelly’s Countryside RV Park in Callahan, FL.  With the exception of about 15 miles on I-75 to avoid going through Ocala, we travelled US-301 the entire way.  It was a pleasant drive, and we had arrived and were all set up by 1:30pm.

Now we just had to wait for Nicolas to arrive!  He had to work all day, so it would be evening by the time he got there.

 

Sure enough, by the time he got out of work, picked up Casey at home and packed his car, and dealt with rush hour traffic in Charleston, it was after 9:30 by the time he finally rolled in to the campground.

We were happy to see him!

 

 

 

 

 

He’s in shopping mode for a truck and 5th wheel to live in at his new duty station, so we spent Friday looking around in Jacksonville.  There weren’t too many trucks to look at, but we did stop at several RV dealers.  He’s narrowing in on the size and amenities he wants, and has a few Manufacturers on his radar – still researching!

With our shopping for the day almost complete, we stopped at Jacksonville Beach for a look around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pier was damaged by Hurricane Matthew last fall, and it still remains closed.  It looks deserted in this picture.

It was a beautiful day, but there weren’t too many people at the beach – just a few soaking in the sun, and some surfers out near the pier.  They were brave – that water was a little chilly!

Since we had another RV dealership we wanted to stop at before going to dinner, we thought we’d get an ice cream or yogurt as a snack to tide us over.  I searched on my phone, and found a place called the Flava Moose . . . it sounded interesting, so we walked in that direction.

The first thing we noticed when we walked in was a huge chalkboard full of flavors, and options for milk, and sweetener . . . we were very confused.  There were some people ordering ahead of us, so we watched the process. 

It turned out to be made-to-order ice cream.  You picked a flavor (from a list of about 100 – including broccoli!), a milk (whole, 2%, coconut milk, and some others that I don’t remember), and a sweetener (sugar, stevia, brown sugar, honey).  Then, the girl behind the counter mixed up your ingredients and poured them into a shallow stainless steel pan that was apparently very cold.  As she mixed them with a flat spatula, it became ice cream before your eyes.

Once it was frozen, you could select 2 ingredients to mix into your ice cream, and then she would scoop it into a waffle bowl.

Tom had mexican chocolate, I had caramel, and Nicolas had hazelnut -  they were all really good!

Definitely a novel idea – just don’t be in a hurry – it’s a labor-intensive process!

We finished our day with a stop at General RV and dinner at Olive Garden – where they were having their Eat One, Take One Deal – a good deal with all of our favorites on the menu, so we all left with a dinner to enjoy this week!

We got off to a slow start on Saturday – Nicolas made bacon on the grill and I made cinnamon french toast, and cut up some of the strawberries that Nicolas had picked last weekend and brought with him.

After breakfast, I made a strawberry pie from some more of the strawberries – YUM – that will make a nice dessert after a day at the beach!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the pie in the fridge, we loaded up the Jeep, took the top down, and headed to Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island.

It was a beautiful day – temps in the mid-80s, and not a cloud in the sky – a perfect day to be at the beach!

We all soaked up some sun (maybe a little too much!) and enjoyed the afternoon. 

I read my book while Nicolas and Tom walked along the beach, and later Tom and I took a walk along the water – still chilly!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We wondered if Casey could have come to the beach with us, and assumed she wouldn’t be allowed, but I guess were were wrong – there were quite a few dogs enjoying this day at the beach!

 

There was some evidence of beach erosion and repairs still on-going since the hurricane here also.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were a lot of people at the beach, and we were sure glad not to be sitting next to this guy, who kept throwing food up in the air to the seagulls so his wife could take pictures of him!  The people who were unlucky enough to be next to him looked really annoyed!

After 2-1/2 hours, we decided that we’d had enough sun,

 

and it was time to pack up and head home.  What a great day – we are all a little redder than we started out (especially Nicolas, who’s still whining about his back hurting!), but it was worth it!

 

Back home, we grilled steaks for dinner, I helped Nicolas do his taxes, and we enjoyed our strawberry pie for dessert – YUM!!