Brunswick, Georgia

Our first stop of this fifth leg of our journey was Brunswick, Georgia, in the Golden Isles region of the coast. Our friend Sharon was there, at the tail end of her month-long stay. Once we made camp we invited her over for dinner and got caught up. We made plans to go over to nearby St. Simons island the next day.

On the road to St. Simons we stopped at a dog park to let Kinsey, Toby and Sharon's dog, Harley, get re-acquainted. Harley's exuberant play style is well suited to an off-leash environment, and even more so with dogs his size. At the dog park our dogs got to run and play with a jack russell, a pug, two boxers, a hound, and a tiny maltese. It was great fun watching all of the dogs interact.

The long-haired jack russell terrier greets Harley at the water bowl, while Kinsey and Toby cling to Nancy:


Kinsey, Toby and the maltese are like tufts of cotton under the Georgia sun:


On St. Simons island we walked down to the beach, stopping to admire this sculpture of a mother and calf hump-backed whale, where the barnacles were made from sea shells and the tongue of carved driftwood:


Nancy poses with the dogs, with Sharon and Harley in the background:


The hard packed sand beach was great walking as the tide was out. The beachfront homes luxurious and immaculately maintained. Lots of other folks with dogs provided countless butt-sniffing opportunities (for our pets!)


On the walk back we enjoyed a beautiful sunset over Jekyll Island, and worked up an appetite for some smoky BBQ.


Here's my Southern Soul BBQ dinner of smoked chicken, pulled pork, Brunswick stew, collard greens and sweet-tea:


www.southernsoulbbq.com

After dinner we stopped by Sharon's favorite local cafe for a tasty adult beverage and to listen to the instrumental musings of a skilled local jazz trio. A great afternoon and evening.

The next day I took my mountain bike out on the short but fun trail system at the park, and then we all went back to the dog park again, where Harley got to do some all-out sparring with a youthful golden retriever, and then later Toby got to do the same with a dachshund/blue-tick hound mix. Dogs sure did sleep well that night!

And so did we. We had picked up some local shrimp for dinner, and Sharon mixed up a few batches of margaritas that were as delicous as they were potent. We enjoyed an evening of drink, food, drink, talk and drink before stumbling Sharon back to the Silver Snail and then crawling into bed ourselves.

We're so glad that we went down to Brunswick and visited with Sharon, and sincerely hope that our paths will cross again on this cross-country adventure, and beyond.