Tybee Island, our vacation

Every year, we go to Tybee Island, Georgia to the beach. Its just minutes from beautiful Savannah, and such a pretty drive to the Island from the center of the old city. You can see Fort Pulaski & the cockspur beacon, shrimp boats, marshes and the tybee lighthouse too.

This was the first time my parents have taken a real vacation & they're already planning the next trip with us!



Every year that we go to Tybee Island, we visit Mrs. Wilkes Boardinghouse restaurant on Jones St. in Savannah. We've been to Paula Deens & while it's not bad, it's not worth the wait or the money. Save yourself time & get a reliable, uncontested meal at http://www.mrswilkes.com/ (I don't know how to do that clever sneaky thing where you don't actually see the link, sorry!) This is my favorite restaurant, right next to Commander's Palace in New Orleans... Every dish you can imagine is laid out on the table when you walk in. They seat "family style" at a table with 10. Then after you've eaten til you "cain't eat no more", they bring out trays full of banana pudding and strawberry shortcake. They make the BEST sweet tea here, and that and coffee are your only options. Gotta love a restaurant that confidant! You can't go wrong with any of their food, and they have shirts that say "if the colonel fried chicken this good, he'd be a general!"
Look at all that food! Creamed corn, Okra & tomato gumbo, potatoes, cabbage, beef stew, rice & red beans, green beans, macaroni salad, apple salad, squash, pickled beets, meat loaf. Biscuits, corn bread. Oh, my!
This is the beautiful draping spanish moss in one of the famous Savannah squares. This is a walking friendly city & you can just literally sit and watch the wind blow.

Or you can watch the fish! My 2 year old thought this fish downspot was odd. He stopped at every one we walked past.

One of my favorite things about the south are the trees. My 3 year old in the blue dress is sitting on the root part, but the trunk grew across the ground rather than straight up.
Tybee's beach is one of the most naturally beautiful beaches I've ever seen. I love the dunes, the sea grass and the glittery sand. The sand is so smooth, but it glitters, like gold flakes. Even the water glitters because of all the sparkles in the sand. Nothing like it.
My parents met us at Tybee this year, it was their first time seeing the ocean. They were totally against the trip, we weren't a "vacationing" family when I was growing up. We went to visit relatives in the South, and followed my dad while he worked out of town, but we never took a week and went on vacation. They loved it though and my mom is making plans to go back with us next summer.

We also went to the top of the Tybee Island Lighthouse. 178 steps. My dad carried the baby all the way to the top! Then, when he set him down on the widows walk, Jack cried "bown, bown!" He was afraid to be up so high, it was incredibly windy!

Tybee is a beach that is almost empty at most times. It's not a really well know destination, and there isn't a whole lot of space. For us, with the kids, that is such a blessing. We don't have to look for our kids in the crowd, we can spot them right away. I always buy the girls matching BRIGHT green or orange suits so I can see them quickly. Its a little bit hard to keep track of 3 babies at the beach!

See that water sparkle? Love it.

They also have these swings every so often on the beach, so you can walk empty handed to the ocean, carrying nothing but a book. You don't even have to worry about a chair. Some of the swings have roofs. (Rooves? ;) ) If you've never been to the beach in the rain, you should try it at least once. The clouds, the waves and the sand are so different then.

We've been to other beaches and other places, but I do hold a special spot in my heart for Tybee. We can walk to anywhere on the island. You can just be still or you can see the many sights. I love seeing different historical things, so I love that Savannah is such a short distance away.