Fernandina Beach, Part Four

The next morning, Jeff and I tried to fit in the last few things we could before heading north. First on the agenda was a drive to Old Town. Mom lived here as a child before the move over to North 4th Street but couldn't remember just which house it was. (Old Town is the original site of the city, before David Yulee convinced the people to relocate further south to a place more conducive to building a railroad.)

We have lots of pictures of Jeff's little Beetle, Gandalf, in various places on the island, but here's one of my favorites, taken in Old Town:

And one more beauty shot of Villa Villekulla, just because:

And one last long walk through downtown to get a few pictures I missed getting previously ... (Side note: Just LOOK at the sky in these pictures. We had absolutely stunning weather the entire time.)

St. Peter's Episcopal Church

The Courthouse

The historic Post Office, which is undergoing renovation. There's a big new soulless building for the post office outside town.

And now the picture that made my mom roll her eyes, laughing at me. "You took a picture of that?" But she knew right away exactly why I had.

This, the sidewalk in some areas of town, is an image that has stayed with me. On every walk to Fred's or especially the library or wherever, I would jump from dark tile to dark tile, avoiding all the light ones. It's just a sweet memory for me: hopping, skipping along and daydreaming about the rundown, beautiful-to-me old Victorian-ish homes, eager to see the fish in the downtown concrete tanks.

Our final stop was T-Ray's. Seriously, people. Best Burger Ever. This was a gas station in my parents' day, but when the owner passed away, his son T-Ray opened what is destined to be a new Fernandina icon.

Now, you may not have noticed, but the one thing missing from this trip was the beach! We never set foot on it. We really tried, but other things kept taking priority. This trip was all about the nostalgia, family, and food for us. We did drive down to the "Main Beach", but that was mainly to see the Seaside Inn, where Granny used to waitress back in the 60's. I never even got a sunrise walk along the beach like we used to do with mom when I was a kid! But that's okay ... just leaves us something to look forward to on our next trip!