If you follow me on any sort of social media platform, you probably noticed a few snaps, Instagram stories or posts around the end of April with lots of spanish moss, oaks trees and beach hair (from both Brinkley & myself). There were also a few bike rides mixed in there, too. Matt and I decided to take a mini-vacation to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary and also decided to take Brinkley along for the ride. This was obviously to avoid me having to say “I miss Brinkley” eighty-two times before the vacation was over but also because Saint Simons is super dog friendly.
We stumbled upon Saint Simons like how all good travelers stumble upon a good destination – the TV! Where are all of my fellow HGTV watchers? If you watched HGTV at any time around the new year, you probably noticed tons of commercials about the new HGTV home contest. This home just happened to be in Saint Simons Island, GA (cue me on my iPhone after an episode of Fixer Upper figuring out where the heck this dreamy place was). There you have it. Our trip was booked within a week.
We arrived in Saint Simons on a Thursday night but it wasn’t until the next morning, once the sun had come up, that we really started to realize just how beautiful this place was. While we were there, the weather was perfect and we spent a couple of hours each day on the beach – Brinkley’s first real beach trip. That sandy little pup loved everything about her life on the beach.
The food was also incredible! Because I’m weird and a habitual Yelper, I started following a few restaurants in Saint Simons prior to our visit. One of these places just so happened to be Halyard’s (after pre-dinner drinks at The Village Inn & Pub). To recap, I’ll share our conversation with our waitress after our meal was through:
Waitress to us: “How was everything?”
Matt to waitress: “That was awesome. It was literally the best food we’ve ever had.”
Laura to waitress: “Yes, everything was amazing.”
Waitress to us: “Well good, I’m glad!”
Us to waitress: “No really. That was the best food we’ve ever had.”
Waitress to us: “Good…”
Us to waitress: “No like you just need to know how good that was.”
Waitress to us: “Um well good. I’ll let the chef know…”
So yeah.
Other than the amazing food, we felt like there was a ton to do during the day, whether it was watching airplanes take off at the local airport or eating an ice cream bar on the Jekyll Island Pier, we stayed busy the entire time. If you ever happen to find yourself in Saint Simons and need a few things to do, here’s a list of some of the things we did and would recommend:
Must Do:
– Bike Rentals: Two Brothers Bike Shop
– Avenue of the Oaks
– Watch planes take off at McKinnon St. Simons Island Airport
– Driftwood Beach – Jekyll Island
– Ice Cream on the Jekyll Island Pier
– Drinks at Brogen’s (cornhole, outdoor seating, margaritas)
Other Things to Do:
– Saint Simons Pier/Neptune Park/Saint Simons Lighthouse (there’s a sidewalk from the Pier, through Neptune Park, that leads to the Lighthouse – you can pretty much hit up all 3 at once. We opted to not walk to the top of the lighthouse because it was a bit pricey)
– Fort Frederica (we got there right before close so we really didn’t give it a good shot because all of the tours were over)
– Jekyll Island Club Resort (we didn’t go inside but we did watch a pretty riveting croquet match)
If you need other things to do, go see Mary at the Golden Isles Welcome Center – she will take care of you.
Overall, we had a great time and it was the perfect way to celebrate one whole year of marriage. Now the only question is, where to next? 🙂
