Walking on the Beach

We love Tybee and Savannah because it’s always a little warmer there than it is in Atlanta. So, even though spring comes early to Atlanta, it comes even earlier to Savannah. So, even though it was a little too cold to swim, we could still walk around barefoot and get our feet a little wet.

Dinner at Stingray’s

There’s a seafood place on Tybee called Stingray’s that specializes in all the critters that swim or crawl in the ocean. Since Sarah is a huge seafood fan (it’s the only animal-based food she’ll eat), we decided to check it out. Just like in NYC, we decided to go all out and order the Captains Platter.

Lights out with the college kids

A strong windstorm hit the island on Saturday night, knocking out power to our entire neighborhood. We came back from the beach wondering why everyones’ lights were off, but we got the idea when we saw people on the porches with candles.

We found a few candles in our room, but no matches, so we decided to go hunting. Two houses up, we found a young couple smoking and asked to borrow the lighter. This gave an opportunity to strike up a conversation, and we ended up talking to Daniel and Tracy the rest of the evening.

They are both physical therapy students on the verge of graduating. It was fun to talk to them and vicariously live the young, college lifestyle again. Then, at one point, after a few too many beers, Daniel and Tracey wanted to talk about John McCain, so we made a hasty exit. Once Anne Coulter’s name gets mentioned, we’re out the door.

Where’s my breakfast?

Getting up on Sunday morning, we discovered that the 17th St. Inn is no longer a Bed and Breakfast. After searching in vain for the hidden delicious breakfast, we went to a place called Sunshine, which turned out to be a breakfast buffet. A big letdown… I called the innkeeper and she explained that the price of parking had risen recently, so they had decided to cut out breakfast in order to keep prices down. I can understand their reasoning, but I don’t think we’ll be staying there again. Breakfast is where you get to meet the other B&B guests, and that community aspect is what distinguishes the experience from a normal hotel.

North Beach

For day two, we decided to mix it up a bit, and go to the North Beach. They have a lot more seashells there, just strewn about the beach in big piles. In addition, thanks to the fact that it was Spring Break for lots of colleges, there were plenty of Frat Boys, too.

Sunrise and Savannah

On Monday morning, our actual anniversary, we got up at 7:00 am to watch the sun rise over the ocean. I thought about bringing the camera, but I didn’t want to spoil the moment too much by trying to capture it. I guess I regret it now, as it was pretty amazing. The sun crests the ocean as a thin orange sliver, and then rises very quickly. In our case, it just so happened to appear behind a ship on the horizon, making for a really neat effect.

That morning, we went into Savannah and had brunch. After tooling around for an hour or so, it was back to Atlanta and the dogs!

I’ve been pretty silent lately (well, for several months) and it’s mainly because I’m just so busy. I successfully launched my website, Obsidian Portal, and enhancing and managing the site has been eating up a lot of my spare time. In addition, I’m trying to manage a startup company surrounding Obsidian Portal called AisleTen. My partner Ryan and I maintain a blog for AisleTen. So, that’s been eating a big chunk of my time as well.

Sarah got me a new digital camera for my birthday. Our previous camera was always taking blurry pictures for some reason. Some would be good, some not so good. She got tired of hearing me complain and just bought a new one for us. Hopefully I’ll get better at uploading them to the gallery so I can show some here on the blog.

I took a sick day for my birthday, but I really am sick, so I’m OK karma-wise. It’s a gorgeous day, too, so it was a good one to spend at home on the porch. I’ve got to go do some cleaning since we have guests coming over to celebrate tonight. It’s good to have friends.

Thanks to all for wishing me a happy birthday! Enjoy some pictures of the event.

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Sarah, the dogs, and I spent the morning on the porch, enjoying the great weather.

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I took some pictures of our backyard.

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Dotty enjoys just sitting in the sun.

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We have a spider that lives in our garden. I throw grasshoppers to her every now and then.

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From left to right: Bart, Paul, Sarah, Robin, and Paul. They all came to wish me a happy birthday, and Robin and Paul brought a cake!

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As always, there are very few pictures of the camera man. Bart was kind enough to offer to stand behind the lens every now and then.

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Boxey helped me blow out the candles on my cake. I asked not to do it, since I’m sick and the idea of blowing my germs across the whole caked seemed like a bad idea. Still, everyone insisted and I obliged.

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We spent the rest of the night on the porch just enjoying the evening.

There are several more pictures in the gallery album.

Micah took these pictures on our porch

Dotty and Boxey did get to see their first geese.

Micah and I are big fans of breakfast and brunch. We got up extra early on Saturday to go out and get something to eat at a trendy brunch spot in this vacation community. However, all we found was “The Village,” which offered a breakfast buffet of fried eggs, sausage, bacon, soggy hash browns, and slimy grits. We watched a man in an air force hat talk to his friend while covering the hole in his throat.

We get into Cedar Rapids Airport probably around 4:30 or 5:00 local time.