Sunday, late afternoon

The weekend was so hectic, I was afraid we might not be able to take advantage of the National Parks Service fee-free weekend. I thought we would be delivering our 2 roosters to their new home . . . but . . . .we are still working on that. No worries! It gave us the chance, late Sunday afternoon, for a quick visit to Fort Pulaski.

The weather was perfect, breezy and warm but not too hot. The kids ran around the fort for a bit, Fletcher tracing the “path” created by the old canon grooves in the fort floor and making up a game to see what had caused the marks.

Then on to my true objective, the 1.5 mile path through the coastal forest, emerging at last onto the oyster beach at the mouth of the Savannah River across from the Cockspur Lighthouse. The tide was high at that time of day, so we were not able to venture as far as we had hoped, but that didn’t really matter. Coming out of the trees and seeing the expanse of beach, covered in dried seagrass and bleached white oyster shells, marshy green vegetation and quiet blue skies . . . it takes my breath away every time.

We watched a huge freighter heading out of the river and towards the sea. We collected shells. We examined barnacles clinging to seagrass.  We saw seagulls and fish, snails and skittering crabs. We breathed deeply of the warm, salty air and dreamed of the day when we will have a boat and can sail across to Cockspur Island and the lighthouse.

The walk back was a long one, none of us really ready to leave. But dinner, and bed, were calling us and it was time to go. I have a feeling it won’t be long before we are back there again.