The Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island

SO, the plan was 8 days touring Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.  But at 10:30 the night before, the trip was canceled.  Boo.
SO, the new plan, hatched the next morning, had us heading south instead.  I called at noon on Saturday of a holiday weekend and managed to get us 2 rooms in a beach-front hotel on Amelia Island.  At the Ritz-Carlton.  Yay!
My parents and I piled in the car and drove the 7 hours to Fernadina Beach.  My mom was good for most of the trip but very impatient for the last couple hours.  We checked into the hotel around 8 and spent 3 days relaxing, catching up with old friends, and eating all the seafood we could find.  Plan B didn't turn out to be half bad.

We stopped in randomville south Georgia for dinner.  Nuf said.

Really?!?

Parents

They're cute.

We drove to Jacksonville, picked up my mom's oldest friend (in friendship not in age) and meandered to Mayport for lunch.  Shack is correct.  Get the shrimp.  NOT the crab cakes.

Check out the 3rd item on the menu.  And the 7th.

Shack from the other side.

Pretty clouds from the Mayport ferry

View from my room

Hotel from the beach

Front of hotel

Entry

A whole room dedicated to salt.

Dave's wife, Ashley, and youngest daughter

Dave, one of my favorite high school friends with his family

I'm a morbid tourist--I love old cemeteries.  And old cemeteries dripping with Spanish moss, LOVE IT!

These nuns stuck around when everyone else evacuated running from yellow fever.  And paid the price in 1877.

Someone recently donated new headstones to the saintly nuns.

My Mama and a really cool bottle of wine.

Dave's dinner recommendation.  Sweet tea brined pork chop--Fantastic!  And a good break from seafood.

The Chef supports local food and the slow food movement.  It doesn't get fresher than out the backdoor.

Shell assortment on the beach

The condos nextdoor

Surf

Parents on our last morning

View from my parents' room.  Four rooms over makes a difference.