More on St. Simons Island = Christ Church

Along with being the site of the first English colony in Georgia, St. Simons Island was also the site of the 2004 G8 summit. They must have picked St. Simons for its beauty and recreational beaches. We thought it was a little ironic that the swimming pools are right next to the beautiful beaches. Why?

Here's proof that Gimpy and I made it to the top of the light house.

I couldn't pass up slipping this pic in of the cute herb garden at Ft. Frederica. Several years ago, we took out a spa (I'm not a spa person, really!), and put roses in the hole. After seeing this, I'm rethinking the rose thing.

Christ Church is one of the oldest churches in Georgia. For whatever crazy reason, I forgot to take pictures of the graveyard in the rear. As both my husband and I have southern roots, we may have had ancestors buried here.

gates leading to the church grounds

Better pictures on the above link.... I was trying to capture the solid wooden interiors- very cool, calming and restful.

Louis Comfort Tiffany stained glass window.

Trip Across Georgia

After Dane's graduation, we drove from Columbus, GA to Savannah, GA, visiting historical points of interest along the way. Our first stop was beautiful St. Simons Island just south of Savannah. James Oglethorpe founded the colony of Georgia at Fort Frederica. Best thing about being married to a history teacher: personal tours!

The weather was just what we expected - humid and hot. Spanish Moss grows everywhere, except, mysteriously, one little area in Savannah (more on that later).

James Oglethorpe was an early social reformer. He came up with the idea of offering folks in Debtors' Prison a second chance to make it in Georgia. While Georgia is beautiful, it is HOT, and we found ourselves wondering if the early colonists planned to stay, or did they hope to pay off their debts and return to the more temperate English climate.

All that is left of the original fort...

View of the swampy area - and the gators - from the fort

Capt. Sawyer, here sporting the wooden shoe he wore while recovering from earlier foot surgery, examined the early field artillery .

Pretty garden area

Early bee hive.

Dane's Graduation

Last week, we watched our son, Dane, graduate from Officer Candidate School in Fort Benning, GA. His class, 008-010, was known as "Crusher Company". He received the Distinguished Academic Graduate Award having earned a 99.27% on all his testing - not too shabby, Dane.

After graduation, per tradition, John uncovered his Lieutenant bars.

Here he is with his cadre, Capt. Brown, Sergeant Rosado, and Cpt. Cox. He had a great time working with them! After the graduation, his First Sergeant and Commander told us a very funny story about Dane - something to do with legs and a very, very long marathon to Savannah, GA they all ran together. I'll have to get Dane to tell that story some day.

Sister Kristin

We're not really sure what he was doing there, but 3 Star General Pollett attended the graduation, and was one for the first to congratulate Dane on his award. As I have never met a 3 star general - in my life, I wasn't really sure of his rank until my husband pointed it out to me. He very nicely agreed to pose for me AND asked Kristin and I to pose with him.

I really, really, really HATE this picture of me as I feel (and hope) it bears no resemblance to me in the least, but how often do I get to have my picture taken with a 3 star general! My husband tells me there are only a few of them around. He seems like such a nice man!

Having gone through Basic Training and then OCS right afterwards, Dane made some great friends. Alex, on the right, was the first person he met in Basic Training. Alex's mom described them as two of the same person - too cool for school. We had a fun time with Alex, his family and friends, and Clint (middle) and his wife at lunch after graduation. More very funny stories were told. Honestly, too bad there weren't any Hollywood screen writers taking notes.

Well done, Men!

Hooah