Gotta Love Relaxing Vacations

For our first big vacation of the year, Russ planned a trip for us to Jekyll Island, GA. He rented a condo which was just the right size for the two of us. I packed all the food we'd need for the week and we've basically been enjoying a pretty relaxing vacation here. I love the island. It's very picturesque with it's large cedar trees (or whatever they are). They look like the perfect climbing trees and I could envision Cory having a blast climbing them if he were here 15 years ago. We went on daily 4 or 5 mile walks along the beach. We had to time them for when the tide was low. One day we had gone for a walk and took too long looking for sand dollars and by the time we got almost back to our section of beach, the tide had come in and we were walking in water trying to get to the nearest dock to climb up to dry land. It came in fast and by the tide tables, the high tide wasn't due for two more hours. We had to dry our shoes out after that walk. Each day we would go on a hunt for sand dollars and would each find about 8-10 good ones. On our last day here we each found about 35 a piece. It was a jackpot day for sand dollars. We kept them on our deck to dry out and hopefully will get them home all in one piece. We went to the dock area and watched the sunset every night and a few mornings I got up to catch the sunrise too. Our afternoons we would find open chairs on one of the piers and spend the afternoon reading. I would also do some writing in my travel journal. I've thoroughly enjoyed this week and feel so relaxed. I also got to experience a first while here. Russ bought me a kite to fly and taught me how to fly a kite. At 50, this was the first time I've ever flown a kite before. It was fun and the wind was perfect for it. We also built a sand castle and it was fun being a kid again. Tonight we went to the driftwood beach area and took some photos with my camera. I love taking pictures right before sunset because the lighting is so much more dynamic. I got some really great pictures of Russ. It's rare that he will pose for me to take pictures of him. I usually get the "put the camera away" looks. Tomorrow we leave to drive back home but plan to spend the morning and early afternoon here before driving home. It's been a wonderful week of relaxing and togetherness with my wonderful husband. I would love to make this a yearly trip. It's close to home and such a nice area. We had the beach to ourselves most of the week. I think this was probably the perfect week to rent here. The weather was even wonderful the entire trip. It's been a happy week.