May 17 – “Day Fourteen: We shoulda gone to Iguana’s”

We got up and headed right out to the next thing on Chris’ must see/do list.  That put us at the Cumberland Island National Seashore visitor’s center.  We decided not to get on the ferry to go across to the ruins on an island.  If we had gone, the return ferry didn’t leave until after 4 p.m.  But the visitor’s center had what we came for … a stamp.  Check.

 

And then … yup.  Another lighthouse.  But this time we had to cross the Georgia state line.  We made our way to St. Simons Island and the lighthouse there.  This one only had 129 steps, so it was a piece of cake after 203 and 219.  We even passed a fire fighter from Tennessee who saw my cap and said, “This must be easy for you.”  He couldn’t see the back of the hat that identified me as a chaplain and not a firefighter.  Same family, though.  I encouraged him in his work and both of us continued our climb – me up and him down. 

 

Once we finished the grand tour, we asked the lady in the gift shop for a recommendation of some local cuisine.  She mentioned two places, Iguana and Barbara’s.  Barbara sounded a little more like something we were prepared to take a chance on.  Their PR claims that they were the originators of the crab cake.  Well … they got off to a bad start.  After waiting an hour, our food finally came out – cold.  We sent it back.  And in just a few minutes he returned with our now hot food, perfectly microwaved.  Wow.  The guy from Restaurant Impossible would have had a coronary.  We went ahead and ate, though.  Chris was feeling a little queasy and needed some food in her, and I was just plain hungry.  We shoulda gone to Iguana’s.  No five stars from us. 

 

We moved on to our next stop, making our way through the town of roundabouts, St. Simons.  On to Fort Frederica.  It was named after my grandmother.  Or was it my dog?  It has taken on an Americanized spelling.  “A” at the end instead of the German “E.”  OK.  OK.  Chris looked it up.  It was named after some Prince of Wales guy.  After following our golf cart escort (not nationally approved.  He just happened to be driving through town) for a long time, us and a hundred or so other cars behind us were finally freed when he turned off.  It didn’t take long and we arrived.  It reminded me of visiting a battleground like Gettysburg or something.  Lots of empty spaces and some ruins in between.  But there was a map to follow with a really detailed history.  James Oglethorpe used to come there.  And both Charles and John Wesley preached there.  Cool history. 

 

Since we still had a day or two to kill before meeting up with the Waco Vaughan’s in Alabama, we headed north.  We finally ended up in Savannah.  So what is happening in Savannah?  Or better yet, what has happened in Savannah?

 

Romans 8:35 says, “Who shall separate from the love of Christ?  Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?”

 

Father, it has been lots of fun to be off book and just find places to see and things to do as they come up.  Amen.