Woods

I love the woods,

there isn't anything that sends more 

love through my veins

than the feeling of pine needles

under my feet

Cumberland Island, GA

I've never ridden on a boat before, so today, I was rather nervous, because dad and I were taking a ferry ride over to
Cumberland Island, Georgia.

We got up reeeallyy quite early that morning and drove over to St. Mary's where the boat docks are.

Dad and I bought our tickets, and stood outside with the other fifty-or-so people who'd be taking this journey as well. The "tour guide" preceded to tell us important things, such as when the boat would be coming back to bring us home, or where all the bathrooms on the island were.

     


And let me tell you, I was pretty freaking nervous about this boat ride, especially because it was over an hour long.

...But I have to admit, it was also pretty awesome to be on a boat.


Upon arriving at the Island, you had two options: 1 being you could follow the tour guide, or 2 you could just wander by yourself. Of course, Dad wanted to just go by ourselves... at least we had a map.

Our first stop was the beach, then we headed to the ruins to check out the fallen-down castle.








This island is actually an interesting place - the first thing that I was excited about was the wild feral horses that live on the island. It's an estimate of 150 in total that roam free here. (we even got to see one!) Along with the horses, numerous other animals live here as well. You have the white tailed deer, armadillo (which we got a close encounter with!), alligators, wild boars, and even raccoons.

So many years ago lived the Spanish Settlement & the English Settlement, but now the only people residing on Cumberland Island are the ones who work here, there is no stores or restaurants on the island.

I won't bore you with all the information about this islands past and such, but I hope you at least enjoy the photos I took, it was a fun day :)





 one of the animals we saw, which just so happens to be a common sight around here. The great blue heron, one of my favorite birds that loves to stalk fish in the water.

evening hike

I went for a well needed hike over to the more smaller lake. In the campground we're staying in, if you look closely you can see a small path leading into the woods. You follow it for about fifteen minutes (depending on how fast you walk, I tend to walk rather slow if I'm taking pictures, this day in particular, the cardinals were out-and-about) anyways, eventually you arrive at this lake.
Unfortunately you can only hike about half-way around it before the trees become too thick and the weeds are over grown. It was an afternoon that made me rather happy.

Back to Georgia

So I get back to Georgia, which is something I'm very excited for.

I missed it here, granted we were only gone for a week, 

for some reason I was just homesick...

And of course, I'm welcomed by cold.

My late afternoon hike was very,

very quite cold.

the woods are my home

I love wandering, and it drives my parents insane (for the most part).
I pack my backpack with my camera, notebook, book, and snacks, and I just go.

Obviously if there is a no-trespassing sign, I back away, but otherwise I just wander.

There is a road right outside the campground, and I noticed a patch of woods on the other side.

I checked google maps first, just to get a general idea of the area, and then I went off. I just wandered in these woods for awhile, and let me tell you, it was the best thing ever.













The ground was covered in pine needles, making the ground so soft with every step.
Sounds of birds echoed throughout the woods.
Trees filled the landscape, going on for what seemed like miles.
I noticed mushrooms at my feet, I even found a toad.
And, it didn't take me long to realize there is a small creek running through the woods, which was super awesome.
Simple things like this, make me so incredibly happy.

Exploring GA

I wanted to share some pictures from our first adventure in Georgia. It was kind of a slow day and we didn't have much planned, honestly, all of us are still pretty exhausted from those few weeks of eventful traveling we had.

Today we just stopped around Historic St. Mary's Georgia. We drove around the area, trying to figure out where everything was, and we ended up taking a wrong turn and driving into Florida! So, the first time we went to Florida, was by a complete mistake, haha :)

I loved being in downtown St. Mary's, it has such a nice vibe there, and I loved all of the historic beautiful buildings and architecture :)

at the marina, st mary's ga.

back home, at the board walk

Walk A' Bout Campground, Woodbine GA

Finally, we've settled into Woodbine, Georgia. Not too far from the Florida line, we're staying in a really nice family-friendly campground for the time being. I have no idea how long we'll be staying here, but at least it got us further south. Because the camper has so many issues, it tends to overheat really bad after going to many miles, and plus dad is worried about it breaking down (again) we tried our best not to over-work the camper.

playground & basketball court,
right across from our camper!

I'm not sure if I like it here in Georgia or not... it's definitely different... but maybe it's a good kind of different. The people here are pretty awesome! The owners of the campground are actually from Australia! :)

Also, I'm pretty excited because we are RIGHT next to the crooked river (that is actually ocean fed water!) the campground has access right to the river, with a board walk and everything. Pretty cool, right?









I'll post more about the campground later, I'm off to explore the area!
Happy Travels to my fellow camping friends.

Almost to our Destination

Whoop, whoop! We have almost, finally, made it to our more permanent destination of Woodbine, Georgia!

And here is a picture of me trying to maintain my sanity whilst driving for so many hours. I also discovered I can do this with a pen.