Beach Trip!

Bryan and I were able to get away for six days at Amelia Island, Florida last week. It was getting super hot in Memphis and I was ready to cool off with a sea breeze.

Word of warning: this post will be lengthy and picture heavy. 

We drove down all day Saturday. We weren't sure when we left if we wanted to make it all the way or stop over halfway. But once we got through Macon, GA we still had energy and decided to push on.  It was so nice to wake up Sunday morning to this view.





We started our day with coffee and a walk on the beach.

Afterwards we headed out to breakfast and to do our grocery shopping.



We always make a stop at Atlantic Seafood for all our local seafood needs. The guy behind the counter was super helpful and suggested this Pompano for us. He even invited us in the back room to watch him fillet it.



Once we got back to the condo the weather had changed. There was a hurricane off the east coast and it effected us for the next three days. Crazy wind for most of the time and mostly cloudy Sunday afternoon.



We did some shopping Monday and Tuesday since it was too windy to be at the beach.



We were walking on the docks at the marina looking for wildlife when Bryan spotted this little guy. A river otter living under the dock near Atlantic Seafood. Turns out there is a family, a mother and three babies, who live there. They were adorable to watch.



There were many walks on the beach.





Wednesday the wind finally died down enough for us to put the tent up. Bryan used sand buckets to reinforce the tent from blowing away.

My aunt had taken my mom and other aunt to Big Talbot Island State Park not far away a couple weeks before we went. Seeing their pictures and hearing the description we wanted to go and check it out for ourselves.



Big Talbot Island is one island south of Amelia. In the picture above you can see Amelia on the horizon. The tide is causing the bluff of Big Talbot to wash away, creating a graveyard of trees. It was fascinating to walk along the beach among them. It felt other worldly.



But to get to the beach you have to walk a 1/3 mile trail. It was beautiful... until we saw the spiders. Which there were lots of. Big ones. Not far from our heads.





Bryan armed himself with a stick to protect us.



Finally we made it down to the beach.









We happened upon a young osprey bird who let us getting pretty close to him. He'd just taken a dive before perching here.





To avoid the spiders we decided to try climbing the bluff to get back to our car. Bryan got a lot of sand in his shoes.

We spent Thursday and Friday morning on the beach.







Bryan made a little fort in the front of our tent.



We had a great trip. The last beach trip as a couple. Next year I guess we'll have a little one in tow.

Where we ate:
- Cafe Karibo
- Timoti's
- 29 South

What I made:
- Baked pomano, served with roasted potatoes and asparagus
- She Crab Soup
- Sauteed shirmp with lemon garlic butter sauce over pasta

Where we went:
- Downtown Fernandina Beach
- Atlantic Seafood - for fresh seafood
- The Plantation Shop
- Big Talbot Island State Park
- The Ritz Carlton - for drinks on their patio at dusk