JourneyLeaf: Life a Page at a Time

When the Sea Looks Like a Pearl

 

 

    

 

 

 

   

 

 

   

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Sunbury Crab Company

 If you're tootling through Georgia on Interstate 95 and the smell of the salt air is making you crave seafood, I have your solution.  We lived on the Georgia coast when I was little, and the Sunbury Crab Company reminds me of the off-the-beaten-path, fresh-and-local restaurants of my childhood.

 

Yeah, there's some beachy decor.

 

 

There's a Jimmy Buffetesque place to eat outside under the live oaks and Spanish moss.

   

There's even a dock to stroll out on for a lovely marsh view. 

 

 

 

But you see that boat behind Eli?  That's where the Sunbury Crab Company's seafood comes from.

   

  

The boiled shrimp were plump, firm, and full of flavor.  When I tasted other dishes at our table, the fried shrimp and oysters had a breading so light that you could see the food through it.  So different than the doughy grease sponges at so many seafood restaurants!  The breading had a nice spice to it and actually accentuated the flavor of the seafood.  All this with a view of light rain over the spring marsh.  I feel like I found a coastal treasure.

Sunbury Crab Company
www.sunburycrabco.com
541 Brigantine-Dunmore Road, Sunbury GA 31320
Less than eight miles off I-95 via exit 76

   

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All Things Irish

It isn't even dawn yet.  Eli pads in through the dark, wriggles up on my side of the bed, and snuggles in.  All is silent.  Then his little voice pipes up, but not to say good morning.  Instead, he takes a deep breath and announces, "A long time ago in Ireland, if kids got a splinter they had to jump on one foot until it stopped bleeding."

Huh?

I still haven't figured out where that one came from nor what it means.  
But it did remind me that I didn't post our Savannah St. Paddy's Day Parade pictures.  It was wet that day, so I didn't risk taking my good camera.  But an iPhone works fine in a pinch.

 

Although it rained on our parade, it didn't ruin a thing.  We found a dry spot under a magnolia tree and enjoyed that the crowds were thinner this year.

   

Um.  Why did I think it was a good idea to buy my kid a toy trumpet?

 

 

 

Still hooting! 

 

 

 

Aaaaaaand maybe it is time to give the horn a rest when the huge horses come tromping by... 

 

 

    

This was Eli's first Savannah St. Paddy's parade and I was so excited to share it with him.  Looking forward to many years to come!

 

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Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge (Georgia Coast)

 If you're zipping up or down the Georgia coast on I-95, exit #67 for South Newport is worth a stop.  Not only will you pass the Smallest Church in America (click HERE for link), but you can also get to the Harris Neck Wildlife Refuge -- an excellent spot for a stroll, a day hike, a bike ride, or a Sunday drive.

 

 

 

The trees are lovely, but I think Eli's favorite were the ponds full of alligators. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we visited in mid-March, the pine trees were just setting loose their annual pollen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

But I should also add that the birds were lovely too.

 

 

 

 

Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, 5000 Wildlife Drive NE, Townsend GA 31331.  912-832-4608.  http://www.fws.gov/harrisneck/

 

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The Smallest Church in America

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click HERE for an article about the church.

Click HERE for Roadside America's entry on the church.

Smallest Church in America
(nondenominational Memory Park Christ Chapel)
Coastal Highway 17, South Newport, GA 31323
(Interstate 95, Exit 67.  Turn left/southeast off exit and go about one mile.)

 

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Drawing Explained -- I'll Be Darned.

Yesterday was the 100th Day of School.  This occasion wasn't a blip on the radar when I was a kid, but these days clever teachers use it to teach math.  The night before, Eli carefully counted out 10 stacks of 10 colored toothpicks to take to school with him and in the morning there were 100 footprint-shaped pieces of paper down the sidewalk towards his classroom for him to step on and count.

When I picked Eli up at the end of the school day, he was wearing a paper shield decorated with a handwritten "100."  With a sigh, I noticed the whole thing was filled with quick squiggles.  Yeah.  The woman with a bachelor's and master's in Art Education has a kid who tends to draw only under duress.

   

When we got in the car, I asked Eli why he scribbled out one of the zeros.  (See my yellow highlights on the drawing below.)

"I didn't scribble it out, Mama.  I filled it.  It's winter time and bears hibernate.  So I filled one of the zeros with dark in case a bear comes by and needs a dark, sleepy hole."

 

Huh.  It certainly never occurred to me those black marks could be a bear habitat!  Upon second look, I also realized his colored pencil work was a little more careful and deliberate than I gave him credit for.

"Buddy, tell me more about your shield."  Eli leaned over and gave me a tour of his artwork.  "I'm not a very good star maker, but this is a star.  They shine in the night and make you feel brave even if there are bears." 

True.  And it does look like a twinkling star.

 

"This is a space ship.  Because I drew it on my shield, I can fly all the way to Jupiter in it.  It has windows so I can see the stars to be brave in the spaceship."

 

"And those red lines are red dust on the planet whooshing around in the wind.  WHOOSH!  It is very windy there!"

 

I'll be darned.  

              

 

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St. Marys Submarine Museum

Just yesterday we were putting up with humidity and clouds of biting sand gnats.  Hours later, we woke up to a world where the chilly wind whistled down our coat collars.  Today we had a wealth of beaches, historic forts or plantations, lighthouse tours, piers, and hiking trails for our choosing.  Sigh.  None seemed very attractive on the first truly cold day of the season.  Then I found a blurb on the web about the St. Marys Submarine Museum.  Why not?

  

They had the expected glass cases full of submarine models, medals, construction plans, and the like.  But they had other tidbits too...

 

Here's a Styrofoam cup that a submarine crew sent down into the crushing depths of the ocean.  When it reached the surface again, it was wrinkled and about half its original size.  It looked like a deflated shot glass.

 

After we first arrived, I feared that the museum wouldn't have much appeal for a preschooler.  But then Eli discovered a control panel where he could sit down and pretend to command a sub.  Captain Eli pushed buttons and peered at gauges for quite a while.  

 

And then -- oh, bliss -- he discovered that the museum has a real working periscope that pops out of the top of its two-story building.  It was a quiet day at the museum, so Eli could endlessly search the streets and waterway outside for all signs of life.  Eli also loved their 45-minute kids' documentary called The Big Submarine (Little Mammoth Media's Big Adventure series).  We learned a lot from the film and it may turn up in Eli's Christmas stocking.

Click HERE for web information on the museum.

 

After the museum, we strolled the streets of St. Mary's historic district.  The Cumberland Island National Seashore Museum is also located there, but it was closed today.  We still enjoyed popping into the various shops and strolling along the waterway.

 

 

 

We left St. Marys and got back to Interstate 95.  We planned to stop for a snack, and I suddenly got a crazy idea to get a little something to eat in Florida.  It is a state Eli had never been to before, the border was just a few miles away, and the Visitor's Center gives away free orange juice.  Mmmm.

 

 

The Visitor's Center has a little photo booth where they superimpose an image of an alligator in the foreground of your picture.  The catch is that the photo must be emailed to you -- and thus they have your email address for spamming you with Florida vacation information.  But I have a junk email box just for such purposes anyway...

   

So we ended up having a lovely day despite the chill.  In addition to the adventures outlined above, we had a nice lunch (including treats from a cupcake bakery) in Brunswick's historic district.  We found a few antique stores.  In the late afternoon we braved the beach for a few minutes, marveling at the rough waves.  (Eli looked at the pounding surf for a moment and said, "If any sand gnats come out tonight, I bet they get blown away by the wind and smack into a tree.")

 

But as the sun began to set, the wind settled a little and the foam along the water took on a soft glow.

  

 

It wasn't the coastal vacation day I planned, but it sure was fun anyway.

   

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There's nothing quite like the colors of the Georgia coast near sunset.

   

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

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Savannah Children's Museum

In the quiet hours after Eli is in bed, I've been working on cleaning out photos from this summer.  If you visit this blog periodically, you know I take a lot of pictures.  And for every image I save, there are around ten I delete.  Whew!  I found some photos of adventures that didn't get blogged during our whirlwind summer...

While we were staying on Tybee Island in July, Eli and I ventured to the Savannah Children's Museum.  A part of the Coastal Heritage Society complex (along with the Savannah History Museum and the Georgia State Railroad Museum), the Children's Museum is located in an industrial zone that is home to some of the city's oldest structures.  (Click HERE for their website.)  Since the museum is almost all outdoors, we arrived early to beat the heat.  If we hadn't gotten hot as well as hungry for lunch, I bet we could have stayed all day.

 

There is a close-cropped lawn at the entrance that is filled with a musical instrument area, huge rubber balls, oversized foam building blocks, a sand box, water sprinklers, and a long water table.

 

The real boxcars shown in the picture above are used for offices and storage but also for an art area and reading library.  On the day we visited, there was homemade Play-Doh with lots of tools.  It was nice to get into air conditioning for a little while and Eli got to take his dough home with him.

  

 

The remainder of this hands-on museum is located in what used to be the basement of an old cotton warehouse.  The brick walls have been preserved, but the space is now open to the sky.  Short wood walls have been added to house various exhibits, but the museum also makes great use of the arches, columns, and cubbies left from the original building structure.

 

 

 

 

A metal drum with ways to make various musical notes...

 

 

Chalk and water play... 

 

Lego Duplo wall... 

 

We had a ball!

One Mama's Two Cents:  
Going early to make the most of the morning cool was definitely a help.  I'm glad I had sunblock, bug spray, and sun hats for us.  I wish I'd thought to bring a backpack, though.  There are various water play opportunities, so extra clothes and a towel would have been great.  Lots of water to drink is a must too.

We love hands-on museums for kids!  Two others in Georgia that we enjoy are:

Interactive Neighborhood for Kids (Gainesville)

Imagine It!  Children's Museum of Atlanta
(Oh dear.  We visited in June and I haven't blogged about that one yet either.  Sigh.  Soon!) 

 

Here are some hands-on museums we've found on our travels:

Bay Area Discovery Museum, Sausalito, CA (near San Francisco)

Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, Dayton, OH

Discovery Gateway Children's Museum, Salt Lake City, UT

The Discovery Center, Murfreesboro, TN (near Nashville)

 

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