CUMBERLAND ISLAND, GA.

Having a blast and being silly in Saint Mary’s, Ga.

Our time in Kingsland, Ga. at the Country Oaks RV Park was nice and slow!! Our first day there we set up camp and relaxed. We woke up nice and early the next morning and hit the road to St. Mary’s. There we caught the ferry boat over to Cumberland Island. This is a dream come true!!! I visited Cumberland waaaaaaaay back in the day (20 years ago - can’t even believe I can say that!) with my high school Naturalist Club. We spent three nights camping on the island and having the times of our lives! I was fortunate enough to get to go on this adventure twice, in my junior year and then again in my senior year. I always wanted to go back and this time I got to take my entire family!!!

RyAnne is a horse lover! She has a HUGE collection of horse figurines of all breeds, she reads horse books and even writes stories about horses too! She is a fanatic! So, getting to take our baby girl to get to see WILD HORSES on an island has always been high on my bucket list! Once we arrived on the island, we all ate a snack, climbed some of those gorgeous live oak trees and then headed down he Spanish Moss lines trail. The Duck Pond was our first stop and I’m so glad we took this turn on the path!! As we came around the corner THERE. THEY. WERE!!!! The wild horses!!!

As you can imagine, RyAnne went completely bananas at their site! She immediately started naming off their breeds and spotted a foal too! Cumberland Island has always been such a magical place for me and getting to see that through our daughter’s eyes - shew! I’m just so thankful God brought us there to see His beautiful creations together!

Just past the Duck Pond we came across the famous ruins of the mansion, Dungeness. And, that is where I couldn’t stop thanking God for this trip with my sweet family. I had to hold back some serious emotions - I was overwhelmed by God’s goodness and faithfulness!! I still am!

After exploring the ruins and watching the horses, we made our way over the marsh, through more gorgeous oaks, over the dunes and to the beach!! Rocco and Olivia ran all over that huge beach while Trey, RyAnne and I took a quick nap! We were exhausted from hiking and to top if off I have a cold. So, we needed a quick pick-me-up siesta!

It was time to head back to meet our boat! Rocco was NOT happy about this! Poor baby was so tired and just had a mad face until we made it back home! He really didn’t want to leave the beach. We promised him we would go to another beach! And, we did! However, the next day, we all needed a day to catch up on “house” work, laundry and work-work!

But, the next day we drove over to Amelia Island and went to Fernandina Beach. We used public access #25. It was so fabulous!! It wasn’t crowded at all and just beautiful! We found loads of shells, shark teeth, star fish and several hermit crabs. We had a blast! We ended up spending five and a half hours on the beach with only ONE application of sunscreen - EEEK! I seriously had no clue we had been there that long. Unfortunately, we got burnt pretty bad and we are still recovering.

We were starving and the clouds and lighting started rolling in on us, so we decided to dust off the sand and head to the Salty Pelican for dinner in Saint Mary’s. It was SO good and much needed! After dinner we walked around for a bit and enjoyed being silly!

As soon as we started this trip, God put this verse on my heart. . .

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
Proverbs 16:9

This verse is on repeat in my head right now. I know all the plans that my family and I are making for our future but I’m so thankful that God will close doors that don’t need to be opened (even when we think they do) and bring us to His path to see His beautiful view!! EVERY. SINGLE. TIME!!! He does this over and over! He continues to open my eyes to see His beautiful signs and wonders. Looking back, it’s amazing to see how He has prepared us for things we just had no clue were about to happen! And, then I can’t stop praising Him!!

Looking forward to our next journey!!

Unicoi State Park | Helen, Ga.

Y’all, we are GLAMPERS!!!! There is NO turning back now!! Trey and I have been praying about this for over a year now. We had our first opportunity to purchase a camper and hit the road last year when the pandemic started. We had just sold our home and had very few responsibilities tying us down. We chose to become home owners again and restored Two Chimneys on Cherokee. Which was also an answered prayer!! We just didn’t have it in our timeline to pan out that way! lol

So, here we are, over a year later and God has answered our prayers as he always does in His beautiful timeline! Trey and I were in the market for a camper. We drove to the dealership and started checking them out for the first time. The options are incredible! We found a camper that worked the best for our family. We then called a family member who also has a camper. We wanted to make sure that my SUV had the power to pull a camper. We were concerned it would put too much strain on my car. Thankfully he was able to answer our questions and put us as ease. He also mentioned he was selling his. As we began questioning him about it’s featured we realized it was the exact layout we found at the dealership AND it was less expensive!!

We purchased the camper on Thursday and by Friday we were pulling out of our driveway and hitting the road for Unicoi State Park in Helen, Ga.!! Our first night didn’t go so well. OH man! We didn’t arrive at the park until after quiet time and as we were backing our camper up a hill and trying to turn it into our site, the screeching and moaning of my car, the camper, the brakes - it was a horrible sound - we woke up a camper and she yelled some things I won’t repeat. LESSON LEARNED!! Respect quiet time!!! Unfortunately, after all that, we weren’t even able to back our camper in our site. We had to pull it in car-first. We tried to hook up the power so we could turn on the heat but the plug was now on the wrong side of the camper because we pulled in instead of backed in. We laughed so hard!! It was a mess and we felt like total dirt being so rude as we made a heck of an entrance!! Goodness!! We didn’t sleep so good that night. . .

Rocco fell out of his bunk bad and hit the floor, it was SO quiet, I heard every sound, and, what the lady yelled at us upon our loud arrival, kept ringing in my head. The next morning I called the visitors center and asked if we could change locations because we were NEWBS! lol Thankfully, someone had just left and they had an opening for us. It was a much better site for us newbies! Once we got situated, we hoped out, set up and I made breakfast! Bacon, eggs and fruit. I started off cooking in the kitchen and quickly moved to the outdoor kitchen on the back side of the camper. Cooking bacon on the inside set off the smoke detector. I figured out, I could start the gas grill and set my frying pan on it. It worked but I will be bringing my griddle next trip to cook on. This will be much faster and we will save our propane gas.

After breakfast, we drove to Mount Airy, Ga. to visit our niece and nephew, Haley and Brandan. Haley just graduated college and we were ready to celebrate her accomplishments! After her party, we made our way back to our site and went fishing. The kids LOVED this so much and so did we! The water was so clear we could see the fish! Although, we had ZERO luck the first fishing trip. lol The next night, Trey, Rocco and Olivia went fishing and caught two rainbow trout! We brought them home with us and cooked them on the grill - they were so delish! I had not ever eaten trout before.

God’s creations are so incredible!! I loved hearing the kids going bananas over snails, woodpeckers, fish, trees, trails. . .the list goes on! This is what I have longed for - for years!!!

Freedom to explore!

Did we still have to take work phone calls and emails? Yes, but then we got right back to exploring with our family!

Can’t wait for our next expedition!!!