The 70th Birthday Tour With an album
by Jean Martin
Rock stars do it. Why shouldn’t we? Only we decided that this would not be the beginning of an annual farewell tour. It would not have anything to do with a bucket list. It would just be a birthday tour.
We started out on March 16, heading out to visit family in Trinity, Florida which is north of Tampa. Because there was a slight traffic jam consisting of too many in-laws in Florida, we decided to take a side trip to Savannah and St. Simons Island, Georgia.
Cheap Date in Savannah
It turns out that if you can find a place to ditch your car, a Visitors Center for instance, you can take a free shuttle bus all over town. You can even take a free ferry ride to Hilton Head Island. Of course the assumption is that while you are touring the city and island you will be dropping great gobs of money all along the way. But that does not have to happen.
St. Simons Island
There is a famous lightouse located on this island. As it turns out, the lighthouse is surrounded by hugely expensive real estate. This real estate butts up against the lighthouse grounds so closely that it is difficult to get a decent photo of the light.
Trinity area attractions
The Trinity area consists of a must-visit Greek restaurant in Tarpon Springs, free room and board and children on a beach.
Not-so-cheap date in Key West
The trip down to Key West is very congested and frankly quite tedious. The overall impression we had was that there were entirely too many people crammed onto too little land all along the Keys. The drive consisted of strip malls relieved with occasional breath-taking vistas of aquamarine waters.
The architecture in Key West is unique, and buildings are located within a few feet of one another. The 90 plus degree muggy weather made the air conditioned shuttle bus even more attractive than a stroll down historic Duval Street. We were glad we went, but we have no plans to return.
St. Augustine by night was cold and interesting.
Mobile Bay
Civil War pension records indicate that my gread-grandfather, JD VanTassel, was entitled to a pension because he had been blown off a gunboat during the Battle of Mobile Bay. The drive down from Mobile to Ft. Gaines on Dauphin Island was all that we wished the drive to Key West could have been. It was remote, and the drive over causeway and bridges was lovely.
And then it was time to head back north to the land of gray skies and unsure footing.