Author: bbpeck

On Friday, Bob and I left Rosemary Beach to head to The Villages, FL. It was a 5+ hour drive with a time change. We lost an hour moving from the Central Time zone to the Eastern Time zone. We only spent a night at The Villages, where we did a housesit a few years ago.

We arrived about mid afternoon. We got Bob a much needed haircut, picked me up a new book from a free little library (which also happens to be on my To Read list!), and listened to the free concert at the town square near our hotel, so it was a productive and fun stop.

We left the hotel in The Villages late morning to drive the 2.5 hours to Sarasota, where we will spend 3 nights before heading to St. Petersburg to begin our housesit. We were able to check into our room at the Westin Hotel in downtown Sarasota shortly after 1:00 pm this afternoon. Our room is on the 15th floor.

After checking out the hotel, we decided to walk 50+ minutes to City Island to check out St. Armand’s Circle and Lido Beach. The weather was in the 80s F. A cold front is coming through in the next couple of days, so we’re soaking in the warmth while we can.

After a fun happy hour last night, a great run on a trail this morning, and a trip to a couple of state parks today, Bob and I are feeling a stronger affinity for this area, although we just can’t get away from those nasty signs.

When Bob and I were walking around yesterday, we saw a nice looking place called Restaurant Paradis that promoted a happy hour from 5-6:00. We decided to go, and the locals were waiting to get in when we got there at 5 which seemed like a good sign. We each had an $8 martini and a nice chat with the bartender who told us about a recent big wine event that had just been held last weekend.

This morning I ran on a trail along scenic highway 30A. It was fun to see the current beach houses as well as those still being built. After breakfast, Bob and I drove a short 2 miles to Camp Helen State Park. The state park is on a site along Lake Powell and the Gulf that originally had a hotel in the 1920s and then became the site of a recreation camp for employees of Avondale Mills between 1945-1987.

Our Airbnb lies in between two state parks, so after leaving Camp Helen State Park, we drove about 6 miles to Deer Lake State Park. This park basically provides public access to the beach (for a $3.00 entry fee) via a long boardwalk. It had the same Gulf of America sign, but this time right in the parking lot.

Today was our first full day in Rosemary Beach, which is turning 30 this year. It was founded in 1995 along the rolling dunes of Florida’s Northwest coast as a model of New Urbanism— a philosophy centered on sustainable, walkable neighborhoods, human-scaled architecture and vibrant mixed-use spaces. It encompasses 107 acres along the Gulf of Mexico and scenic highway 30A.

It is definitely walkable (and bike friendly) with lots of mixed-use spaces. It is also easy on the eyes — pretty architecture, clean, nicely landscaped with a good bit of public art. We enjoyed our walk in the 70 degree F heat, but we’re not sure we would highly recommend a visit to this particular area.

It is walkable — to high end shops as well as a good selection of cafes and restaurants. There is no large grocery store nearby. The beaches in this area are private, so you can only obtain access through a code, key, etc. for your particular residential area. We also saw a lot of “no” signs — no public restroom, no access except for residents, no golf carts or e-bikes. One area even had a no photographs sign. I’m sure all of that helps to maintain the area, but it’s a little off putting as a visitor.

Bob and I returned to the states last night. We had an easy flight from Jersey in the morning after a great visit to the small airport’s lounge — very nice. Then a few hours to kill in Heathrow before a 3:30 flight, which got us into the Atlanta airport (with a delay and a strong headwind) at 8:30. With Global Entry, the customs process was super easy, but we had a long wait for luggage, a bus ride from the international terminal to the domestic terminal, a short skytrain ride to the hotel area, and finally a short walk to our hotel. We were in our room about 9:45 pm and in bed shortly after that.

This morning we had breakfast in the AC Hotel where we stayed, and Bob walked to the nearby long-term parking lot to pick up our car. We then headed out for a five hour drive to Rosemary Beach, Florida.

A few photos from the drive on a sunny, warm day. Our route took us mostly south, but a little west of Atlanta, through parts of Georgia, Alabama, and then into the narrow panhandle of Florida.

We are seeing a bit of Florida before starting our St. Petersburg, FL, housesit on November 12. We’ll be in Rosemary Beach for 3 nights. Since we travelled west of Atlanta, we are surprisingly back in the central time zone in Rosemary Beach based on how the dividing line for time zones is drawn.

How can it be November?! Time flies, but what a year (so far) it’s been. Bob and I headed west today to see a bit more of the west coast of the island. This time a bit farther north than the Corbiere Lighthouse that we saw on our first day.

We did see a bit more of the west coast, but mostly from the bus ride there, as bright sunshine turned to blowing rain. We ended up spending most of our time at the Jersey Pearl shop — first perusing the lovely store and exhibits and then keeping out of the rain with a stop at their cafe.

We walked downtown to the bus station to catch the number 22 bus to the Jersey Pearl store near the coast. It was about a 50 minute ride out there. Some photos of the ride out —

Bob and I had visited the Guernsey Pearl shop while we were there, but only because we had to go into the shop to get tickets for the shipwreck museum. It was packed with jewelry and a bit kitschy. The Jersey Pearl shop was much more refined in presentation.

After we perused the store, we left to explore a bit more of the coast. We got a few photos before the clouds looked like they were about to open up on us. We headed back inside and had a bite at the cafe. We did not end up buying any jewelry.

It rained and blew quite hard for most of the time we were in the cafe. We left about 2:00 to catch the bus back and stood in the rain (with umbrellas) to await the bus, but luckily, the wind and rain had lightened considerably by then.

A couple of pics from the drive back —

Thursday is house cleaner day, so we tend to schedule our outings for later in the day, as the cleaner comes late afternoon and stays for 2 hours. Yesterday, we decided to do the portion of the St Saviour walk that we hadn’t done before, which is the very narrow bit that runs to the coast.

The book of parish walks that we have been using states that each parish was required to have a bit of seafront access for the collection of vraic (seaweed) for the fields. St Saviour has the smallest stretch of shoreline, the Dicq, squeezed between St Helier and St Clement.

Our walk started along the busy road near our house. When we could (as sidewalks abruptly end here), we switched to the side with a bit more protection from the road.

Ironically, for the portion of the walk that was dubbed “more urban,” as it goes into the town center, we began our descent into the town of St Helier via a country road with both rural and urban views.

One of the sites that we wanted to see on the walk was Howard Davis Park which is used for some town festivals. The park is on land acquired by entrepreneur TB Davis where his boyhood home used to sit. He demolished his former home after acquiring the land and created a park named in memory of his son who was killed in WW I.

Walking out of the park, we began to make our way to the coast.

Having reached the end of our walk, we headed back to the Five Oaks Pub near the house for a drink before heading home to a cleaner house.

How can it be that we leave early Monday to fly back to the States?! We have definitely enjoyed Jersey, just like we did Guernsey, and would love to visit again.

It has been quite the rainy Wednesday here, but with a feels-like temp in the high 40s F and little wind, it still made for an okay day for a walk. One of the sites in Jersey that they stop at on the bus tour that we hadn’t seen yet was the Glass Church. It is free to visit, so after a breakfast at the local pub (Wednesday is discount day, so we thought we’d treat ourselves.), we headed out to see the church.

I didn’t take many photos on the walk as one, it was raining, and two, we had done most of the same walk on the day that we went to the Artisan Market in St Brelade. But, a couple of things caught my eye. The first one was a park near a church that we had seen on our bus ride yesterday.

Now for the Glass Church, which is not made of glass but does have a lot of glass features. It is St Matthew’s Church was built as a modest chapel in the 1840s at the foot of Mount Felard to keep parishioners from having to walk up the steep hill to the parish church. In 1934, Lady Trent (widow of Jesse Boot of the Boot Pharmacy chain) commissioned Rene Lalique to decorate the renovated church with glass features, including an illuminated cross, a glass font, and glass screens adorned with the Jersey lily motif. The Glass Church is the only surviving Lalique commission of its kind, making it a unique and globally significant work of art.

Rene Lalique (1860-1945) was a French jeweler, medalist, and glass designer known for his creations of glass art, perfume bottles (notably in collaboration with Francois Coty), vases, jewelry, chandeliers, clocks, and automobile hood ornaments.

Louise Ramsay was born and educated in England but now lives and works in Jersey.

We haven’t included photos of the cats recently. They are both sweet cats with perhaps the strongest interest in food of any cats we have cared for. Although you can see, they can also be sweet snugglers as well.

Bob and I walked downtown today to catch the number 7 bus to the Devil’s Hole (a natural crater in a cliff along the sea coast) on the north coast of the island. We hadn’t made it to the north coast before, and it did not disappoint—amazing rugged cliffs, lovely blue sea, and truth in advertising, a devil as well.

There is a bus stop in the parking lot of an inn/pub where the footpath down to Devil’s Hole begins.

Devil’s Hole used to be called the Spiral Cave. One possible reason for the current name stems from a shipwreck of a French boat in 1851. Its figurehead was thrust straight into the hole by the tide, and a local sculptor transformed the torso into a wooden devil. This is that sculpture. It sets a mood.

The bus only runs hourly, so we had some time to kill before walking back near the La Mare Wine Estate where we needed to catch the bus heading back to St Helier. There was a posted footpath nearby, so we followed that for a bit back towards the sea.

Lovely scenery on that walk too.

After a windy, rainy start to the day, the sun came out, and we decided it looked too good to stay inside. We had been talking about doing a half-day bus tour of the island, so we decided maybe today was the day. The website said no tickets were available, but we didn’t know if that was because the tour was full or they don’t sell tickets online for same day tours. We had other things that we wanted to see in St Helier anyway, so we thought we’d walk down to Liberation Square to try to get tickets for the tour, and if not, we’d see more of St Helier.

Turns out that no tickets were available because it is the end of the season, so the half day tours are no longer on offer. There is a full day tour option available on Wednesday of this week. We went to our Plan B for today. Bob wanted to walk some of the promenade along the water in downtown St Helier, and I wanted to see the Maritime Museum (just for a photo) and a steam clock.

There had been an art show for paintings in the arches of the pier. The time for the exhibition was officially over, but the paintings were still there. Here’s a couple.

The steam clock apparently actually releases steam at regular intervals, but we weren’t there at the right time. We were quite happy with our Plan B day — and the weather.

Bob suggested a walk to Mount Orgueil Castle today, as no rain was in the forecast until late tonight. It was a 3+ mile walk that was pretty along the way and even better at the end. Who would have thought that our best view of the trip to date would be in a village called Gorey?

We walked from St Saviour Parish east into St Martin Parish and ultimately to the east coast of the island.

The current structure of Mount Orgueil Castle was built in 1204 when the Channel Islands became a front line between England and France. It successfully withstood several French assaults. It was refortified in the 16th century, but it was eventually replaced by Elizabeth Castle on the south coast of the island due to the invention of cannons.

During World War II and the German Occupation, the castle was used as a barracks and observation post, and the Germans added concrete fortifications.

It was all downhill into the village, so up on the way back.