Travel: Amelia Island

 This summer we knew we wanted to go to the beach.  Or I knew I wanted to go to the beach and since I do all the planning and booking...my vote counts for the most.  Matt is pretty willing to go most places and the boys are literally along for the ride!  So after traveling nowhere in 2020 and having a great (but cold) time in Michigan in 2019 and going to two big cities in 2018 (NYC & Vegas)...we were overdue for a beach vacation.

The Plan
As I said on Tuesday, I looked at what felt like every beach condo in our price range from Texas to Florida.  There I wanted to be walking distance to the beach, have a pool & 2 bedrooms.  Those were the main criteria besides price.  By the time we decided we felt safe going somewhere there weren't many somewheres available.  So I expanded our search to the Atlantic coast and looked at SO MANY PLACES from North Carolina down to Florida.  This might be the broadest search I've ever done for a trip (although I am usually looking much further in advance and our last 2 beach trips have been during the school year).  

We finally settled on fewer days (due to what was available) and the Atlantic coast, again, due to what was available.  That's how Savannah ended up factoring into our travel plans, we wanted somewhere else to go besides just our few days at the beach!  I was unsure about the waves on the Atlantic but the Google Map pictures seemed reasonable and the reviews were good.  We've experienced big waves in the Outer Banks and gentle swells like the Gulf in Miami so we were expecting somewhere in the middle since this was, literally, in the middle of those two.

Where We Stayed
I was hoping for a beach view like we had in Miramar but then I looked at what that place rents for during the prime season (we went late September last trip) and I realized that was outside of our budget.  We ended up at a condo on property of the Omni resort.  We didn't get a beach view but it did have a treehouse feeling to it, being literally surrounded by gorgeous trees.  

We had two bedrooms and two bathrooms even though the light was so bad in the "master" shower that we all pretty much used the boys' shower the whole time.  But having two toilets was a huge plus!  We also had a washer & dryer (crucial for a beach vacation, in my opinion) and a full kitchen.  There was a pool we could see from our balcony (helpful for when one of us went up to start lunch or supper while the other stayed at the pool with the boys.  Very easy summoning!).  Again, the tap water was disgusting (worse than Savannah) but we bought a new Brita pitcher on our second day and that greatly helped!

The beach was about a 5 minute walk away, even with a 3 year old.  The only downside was that the only outdoor shower we found to rinse off at post beach was all the way around by the pool which meant walking all the way around our building when coming back from the beach.  It wasn't far but when you are sandy and salty...that extra minute or two of walking right past your door is annoying. 

The Omni Resort was HUGE and most of it wasn't available to us but Matt & I each ran twice while we were there and that was pretty fun.  Running with a view of the ocean at times and through the winding paths.  I got lost SO MANY TIMES on my first run, if my phone didn't have GPS I might still be out there wandering around but it did make for fun running!  Even though my pace was abysmal.  (I blame the heat & humidity.)

What We Did
We did exactly what I wanted to do on a beach vacation which was spend time at the beach and relax and read a lot and catch up on sleep and generally just enjoy vacation.  The waves varied by day but they were never so big that the boys couldn't play in them (although Luke did enjoy them more than Sam).  

We were only there 4 nights which meant 3 full days at the beach.  We spent a good chunk of each late morning/early afternoon at the beach, playing in the waves and the sand.  Most evenings we also went back to walk along the water and sometimes the boys and Matt played in the water too (I was done being wet by that point in the day).  We picked up A LOT of shells, the boys especially enjoyed this.  

It was pretty much exactly what I was looking forward to on a beach trip.  Nobody needed a sweatshirt or pants the whole trip, I got in a lot of reading, we slept 8 hours a night, ate sweets and played at the beach.  It was the first time to the Atlantic for the boys and the last time Matt & I saw it was from Ireland 9 years earlier.  It had been 4 years since a beach vacation and it was so calming and rejuvenating to get our feet back in the water.  There was something so healing about being back at the beach and just taking in the vastness of the ocean.  I realized that I don't want to go that long between beach trips again, it was so good for my mental health. 

We had some time to waste between checking out of our Savannah apartment and checking into our Amelia Island condo, even with the 2 hour drive so we spent about 90 minutes at Fort Clinch State Park on the north part of Amelia Island.  We spent most of that time at a secluded playground we had to ourselves for over an hour.  The boys really enjoyed that part even if I was on the lookout for gators the whole time (we saw exactly zero the whole trip).  

The drive home was the trickiest part of this trip.  We did the drive to Amelia Island in 3 chunks - Home to Cincinnati, Cincinnati to Savannah and Savannah to Amelia Island.  Now we were driving home in one long stretch. (Who decided this would be a good idea...very cheap people, that's who.)  It was a 20½ hour drive home, leaving at 7am and getting home at 3:30am.  Part of that was a slight (hour) detour to visit The Bookshelf in Thomasville Georgia which I had been supporting via Patreon for years and with book purchases since the beginning of the pandemic.   I had a quick 40 minutes to browse and buy a few things and it was SO EXCITING to be there in person after listening to the podcast for nearly 5 years.  But that also threw us in Atlanta traffic at 3:45pm on a Friday in the rain.  SO...I don't think Matt will be letting me make that detour again anytime soon.  Then there was more traffic, a stop in Cincinnati for our laundry bag, TOO MUCH driving around by that hotel to find ANY gas station at midnight, a few missed exits and somehow I messed up the drive home from Dayton that I did a couple dozen times in college (in my defense, it was 1:30am by that point and it was also dark).  So, the drive home was a pain but we did it and learned we never want to drive that much at once.  

BUT the beach part of the trip (and the Savannah part) was absolutely wonderful.  It was by far the furthest we've driven with two kids and our first beach vacation with two.  It was a great way to kick off our summer and pack in some good family time!  We loved it.