Up at Oh-Dark-30

To catch the early ferry to Cumberland Island. It was so worth it. It seemed pretty cool when we left home, but by the time we got to the ferry landing and checked in, Traveling Man was taking our jackets back to the car. what a perfect day! It was sunny with few clouds, a nice breeze and mild temps.

We started thru the woods with me trailing TM. Shortly after he walked into a spider web, he mentioned that I could walk next to him. HA! No dice - he can walk into those webs so I don't. He only walked into one more.

In about 45 minutes, we reached the beach on the Atlantic side of the island. Oh, it was so lovely. It was low tide and the breakers were slowly rolling in. TM took off his shoes and walked in the water. We thought we would walk down the beach a ways, then find a picnic table in the shade and relax. Well, we kept going and going and going - I am sure he walked me 15 miles (I wouldn't lie about that, maybe exagerate just a little?), probably was more like 3 miles. Since it was low tide, the sand was hard and that made walking easy. We picked up a bunch of shells, don't know what we will do with them, but we picked them up. TM found only one perfect Sand Dollar and we will definitely keep that. There were also lots of birds who weren't very afraid of us.

When we got to the last dune marker, we crossed over to the picnic area (and bathrooms, yea). Sat our weary bodies down and scarfed up lunch. We did not dare sit for too long, for fear we would not get back up. We walked over the the Dungeness ruins where the ranger was in the process of leading a tour. We stopped and listened to a bit of her spiel, which was interesting. There were several horses roaming around in that area, just ignoring the people. As we continued on toward the 1st Ranger Station, we saw several armadillo both large and small. At the Ranger Station, there was a foal just playing and having a good time. As we got closer, we realized he was playing with an armadillo! But when the foal stopped to check on his mama, the armadillo got away. Guess he was done being entertainment for the day.

As we walked river road to the 2nd Ranger Station we saw a few more armadillo and heard (didn't see) a pig rooting around. The pig made tracks when he realized we were near. Then we saw dung beetles moving poop around. Isn't that exciting? Actually TM did take a bunch of pictures, but I got away from the smell. At the ranger station we fell into a couple of rocking chairs and vowed not to move til the ferry came in about an hour. You know how long that lasted with TM, he was quickly down at the dock observing the men fishing. As we sat there rocking, along came about 7 or 8 wild turkey. They just strolled out of the woods and across the clearing without a care in the world.

We got home about 6pm and Traveling Dog was so-o-o glad to see us. I think he was really glad when TM picked up the leash. TD is such a good boy. We would love to take him to the island and he would love it. Dogs are allowed on the island, but not on the ferry, meaning if you want your dog with you, find your own transport.

After supper we sat around barely moving until time for bed.

God Bless