Beach, Bikes and Bistro

We have awakened to a beautiful day in Jekyll. The weather predictions are showing cloudy skies and rain coming in, but it's not happening! Who's here? Oh yeah, the Weather Witch!!!

Coffee on the balcony hosts the most glorious wake-up hour, as we watch a beautiful sunrise over the Atlantic in front of us. An hour and a half hike is a must on the waiting beach, which welcomes us with sand dollars galore. The sand on Jekyll is dark and packed, making for an easy hike, but, certainly miss that beautiful white, soft sand on the gulf in Florida.

As the sun still seems to be shining, we decide to bring our chairs and books down to the beach for awhile. This is actually the first time we've had a chance to just relax since getting on the road and oh, how absolutely magnificent these few hours provide.

The weather still holding out, we decide to take a little bike tour of the island. Yes, as part of this great deal at the Beachview, we also have access to bikes. Trails run all around the island, and we head out to the north end, through the marshes, the fishing pier and Driftwood Beach. Just spectacular. We ride, stop and walk, ride a bit further and take a break. It's all just peaceful and truly beautiful. We are so enjoying our day of outdoors and spring weather!!!

As the afternoon comes to an end, we regroup and head out for dinner at a little place that has been recommended at the Welcome Center. The menu has seemed to us to be quite intriguing as the foods seem quite lovely and the prices far below the usual. The Driftwood Bistro is a find. I have eaten in many restaurants over the years in many locations and I have never encountered a place quite like this. The menu is simple, today's southern, a choice of petite and regular portion sizes (petite being more than adequate for most appetites) and all with prices under $13.00. Most under $10.00. And, this is not ordinary food. Some of the choices rival fine dining.

The staff love working here. They are all delightful. The ambiance is casual southern, as I looked around I found it more than charming. Our first evening here (yes, we did return) we chose the fried shrimp (lightly battered and very tasty) and chose the squash casserole and cheese grits as the sides. All were wonderful. The other entree was the stuffed collard greens (a creative take on the stuffed cabbage recipe) and, oh my goodness, truly delicious. This we paired with a non-traditional fried okra (which was very lightly battered and not chopped but whole) and, honestly, out of this world good. Black-eyed peas proved equally delicious.

There was a Winter Wine Special that allowed a full bottle purchase at only $10 with any entree ordered. The wines offered were quite decent indeed. There was a Clos du Bois Chardonnay, Blackstone Merlot and Lindmans Pinot Noir to start. All would cost the $10 alone at an ABC. Unheard of in a restaurant.

We closed our meal, even though we were quite satiated, with their homemade peach cobbler a la mode. Yes, amazing.

We had dined early with the other snow birds and heading home just past dusk we eyed two deer in the brush. We love this little island!