Panama City

We stayed at a Marriott timeshare called Legend’s Edge.  It is a small one as it only has two buildings but it was lovely.  We were in the Bluebelle building.

We were across the bay from Panama City itself.  Mavis & DeVon again joined us for the week.

Sunset from Panama City

  We played lots of Ticket to Ride and did some exploring of the area.  We walked the few blocks of historic St Andrews, seeing some of the historical buildings. The printing office was very interesting.

 We ate dinner at Bayou Joe’s which was recommended to us.  We thought it was really great and they even gave out baskets of bread to feed to the fish. 

  We drove to Panama City Beach, stopped at an outlet mall (where I purchased a card shuffler) and walked a bit on the beach.  

We took two boat excursions.  One was a historical cruise where we learned lots about the history of the area especially during WWII.  We learned that the Germans sunk the HMS Empire Mica only 7 miles off shore but also were seen at a movie theater in town. We did get to see dolphins on both cruises.

A type of jelly fish that Mavis held.

Captain Hal

 The other was a trip to Shell Island for a couple of hours.  Mavis & I spent most of the time in the water. 

We drove to a small town area called Millville where we explored the old hardware that had anything you would need and where you could still purchase nails by the pound.  We ate dinner at Gene’s Oyster bar.  I had the most awesome oyster stew ever.  There had to be more than 2 dozen oysters in my bowl.  Bob had oysters on the half shell (large oysters on the half shell) and they were only $6.85 for a dozen and he actually got 13.  

Hilton Head and Orlando

We all left Myrtle Beach early.  Mavis & DeVon headed home and we drove to Savannah to pick up Deb at the airport.  She had to wait about 45 minutes for us.  We ate some lunch and then drove to Hilton Head to check in at the Heritage Club.  This is a small resort but we really liked our condo and thoroughly enjoyed the area.

We were able to walk to the pier area and the Hilton Head Lighthouse.

Sunday we headed to the Savannah visitor center to stop for information.  We then went to Ft. Pulaski National Battlefield

  and Tybee Island Lighthouse.

 We could also see the Cockspur Island Lighthouse in the harbor. 

  We bought 6 blue crabs and a pound of shrimp for dinner.  The lady showed us how to break open the crab.  It was an eventful evening, a delicious and fun filled dinner.  I couldn’t put the crab into the boiling water so Bob had to do it.

 We spent sometime in the evenings playing Ticket to Ride.  We are completely hooked on the game
.

On Wednesday we went to Savannah and took a tour around the city on Oglethorpe Tours-Gray Line.  It was very informative.  We saw the Savannah Light and many more interesting sights.

We ate lunch down at the riverfront and walked back to the trolley through the parks and stopped at some shops along the way.  We didn't eat here but thought the hot dog sounded interesting.

Thursday we went to Savannah and toured the Andrew Low house, Juliet Gordon Low birthplace and the Isaac Davenport house.  We stopped to see the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist which was built in 1873.  

It took most of the day so we found a nice pub for a late lunch.

Friday afternoon was warm and sunny so we went on a dolphin cruise in Calibogue Sound and were rewarded by sighting lots of dolphin.

Saturday we packed, loaded the van and left Hilton Head.  We stopped at St Simon’s Island to see the lighthouse

 and Fort Frederica National Park. We went to see the lighthouse at Amelia Island, Florida. 

Then we continued on to Orlando and spent the week at Marriott Grande Vista. 

Deb was only able to spend one night and headed home on Sunday.

During our week in Orlando we were able to visit a bit with Bob’s brother Barry, his wife Karen and her mother Pat as well as Sara, Dan & Maggie.  We met them two different times in Downtown Disney.  We actually spent time working on future reservations, playing more Ticket to Ride, reading and playing computer games.  We left Orlando on Saturday and drove to Panama City.