Henry and I didn’t want to travel too far from home to celebrate our 50th Anniversary so we chose to spend the weekend at a historic hotel in the beautiful Golden Isles of Georgia. Located about 100 miles down the coast from our home, the Golden Isles include the town of Brunswick and four barrier islands – St. Simons Island, Sea Island, Jekyll Island, and Little St. Simons Island.
We started our trip with a stop on St. Simon’s Island to take a walk on the pier. The St. Simons Lighthouse was on land in one direction and the capsized cargo ship Golden Ray was in the sound between St. Simons and Jekyll in the other direction. I’ll have more about the ship in a later post.
On our drive from St. Simons to Jekyll we were surrounded by the green Marshes of Glynn. Two causeways over the marsh and several bridges later we arrived at our destination, the beautiful and historic Jekyll Island Club Resort.
We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing by the pool. As we were getting ready to go out to dinner there was a knock on the door from Room Service. The resort was not providing room service during our stay so I couldn’t imagine what was going on. Complimentary champagne and truffles to celebrate our golden anniversary! What a surprise and special treat!
The champagne and truffles would have to wait until after dinner at the Wharf Restaurant on the Jekyll River, just a short walk away from our room.
After dinner we watched the sun begin to set before going back to the room to pop the champagne.
The rest of the evening we enjoyed our champagne and truffles watching the sky change colors and listening to the band playing outside at the Wharf as we rocked in the rocking chairs on our porch.
After an amazing first day on Jekyll, the next day our 50th anniversary was filled with more surprises and celebrating. The first thing on our agenda was to find Driftwood Beach and to take a drive around the island.
Our anniversary dinner at the 80 Ocean couldn’t have been any more special. Our server Gabriella treated us like royalty the entire time we were there. As we were finishing up our complimentary deserts, she surprised us by placing an envelope on our table. It was from our daughter and her family, with a picture of the family holding a Happy Anniversary sign. To top it all off, our daughter paid for our dinner! The best surprise present either of us had ever received!
We still weren’t done celebrating. Back at the hotel, we walked to the river to see the sunset. A perfect ending to a beautiful day!
Stay tuned for more about our Jekyll Island adventure and the cargo ship Golden Ray.