Nothing comes to mind as I write this. Hmm, it happens once in a while. This is a swamp. Okefenokee Swamp to be more specific. In Georgia.
Category: Georgia
Morning in Savannah
Back in November we did a quick trip down the coast and stopped in Savannah. In the early morning I went down to the Savannah river in hopes to get some shots of the sunrise with all the shops and ships on the river. To my annoyance the sun was rising in very different spot so I had to take a few photos without any sun and then raced my bike up to the city squares in hopes of getting good light up there.
Okefenokee Swamp
On our drive back from Amelia Island to Charleston we decided to make a short detour and visit Okefenokee Swamp. Quick research revealed that this swamp has 3 different entrances, West side, North side and one on the East side. Since it was a Thanksgiving Day, only East entrance was open, and thankfully this is the entrance that we needed. Since it was a holiday, pretty much every person was loading on turkey somewhere else but not at the park, so when we arrived there, I think I only saw couple other cars parked by the main lodge.
One of the best attractions of this swamp is done via canoeing or kayaking expeditions into the swamp, but according to the park ranger right now most canals and access to the big water is dried out. Fortunately they have an 8+ mile paved biking road into the swamp area and even better – we had our trusted bikes strapped to my Pilot. I was not expecting to see much of a wild life and we did not see whole a lot, except a mama alligator with two babies. This was a highlight of this day as I never saw baby alligators before, both of them seating on top of the mama, soaking under the sun.
This swamp had couple fires in recent years and it was seen in many places. The boardwalk was burned away and throughout the trail we could see areas of old fires and new tree grows. One area really got our attention as it looked really nice under late afternoon sun and it is how in my imagination I expected the swamp to look! So I had to take a photo. Some fancy maneuvering between tree trunks, dry humps and patches led me to the edge of this green swampy area. About 30-40 feet of the road. No alligators attacked me and overall I escaped back to dry ground unharmed. I have couple other shots with different views into this wetland, share it some other day!
And btw, this photo is better viewed in higher resolution – just click on it to open it in my photo gallery. Enjoy!
The Six Pence Pub
I’ve been to Savannah a few times and on my visits I like to bring bikes so we can ride around the town. Savannah is flat and it is easy on your legs to pedal around it. This is the best way to explorer all of the Savannah’s 22 Squares. All of them unique in its own way and without a bike it will take you really forever to see all of them.
The Six Pence Pub is located near Chippewa Square. On my previous visit couple years ago we had dinner here, not bad at all. This time we wanted to have dinner by the river, but I could not resist from taking this picture while we biked back from the Forsyth Park to the river district. Maybe next time I’ll eat here again – fish&chips – isn’t it what they mostly eat in British pubs?
Sea monster
If you ever happen to be driving on i95 in Georgia, I’d highly recommend to make a quick detour and visit Jekyll Island. You’ll have to pay a small fee to get on the island, but this is because island itself is not very commercialized, not yet. There are a lot of hiking trails and bike trails to take you around the island and see its beautiful nature. We parked on the north side of the island and took one of the bike paths through the marsh, it took us to the beach. I have never seen beach like that. Ocean is slowly eroding the island and kills huge old trees that once stood there. The entire beach is like a cemetery of old washed out skeletons of different trees, trunks and what most look like a sea monsters. I’d like to come back there one day during sunrise or sunset and see how spooky it can get with dark shadows and skeletons trying to get me.
