Throughout history, it has always been easier to destroy than to create. And so it was with Fort Pulaski. Pulaski’s eleven foot thick walls took 18 years to construct, and were thought to be impenetrable by the smooth bore cannon balls of the time. But it only took 30 hours of shelling by the new rifled artillery of Union Forces in 1862 to breach the walls and force the fort’s surrender. In little over a day, the age of large defensive fortresses came to an end.
The French Gothic Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in historic downtown Savannah, GA.
We spent the day mountain biking some of Skidaway’s great trails, which pass through miles of moss-draped, twisted, oak trees. A highlight was watching what I think was a Great Blue Heron fish in the shallow water marsh in the outskirts the park.
But don’t take my word that this picture is really of a Great Blue Heron. I know nearly as much about birds as I do about breathing underwater, which is to say that if my survival depends on my knowledge of either, I’m kind of screwed. So while this could be a Great Blue Heron, it could also be a peacock for all I know.
This is something you have to see for yourself, because capturing the beauty of sunlight filtered through the Spanish moss draped oak trees at the entrance to Skidaway State Park, near Savannah, Georgia, is well beyond my skill as a photographer. I’m coming to the view that Spanish Moss doesn’t really exist, or that maybe it exists in the way vampires are said to; you can see it, but it can’t be photographed. Which leads to the inevitable question, does Spanish Moss have a soul? I’m guessing no, because every picture I’ve taken of the stuff comes out as complete crap. All of the subtle shadows and highlights that make it such a wonderful sight get blown out on film. So if you want to see it for real, you’ll have to come here. It’s worth the trip.
Or maybe it is Shannon’s inner Druid. But for whatever reason, we first lured Bambi out of her woodland realm to join us for a jog through Falls Lake State park. Now we’ve enticed Aquaman to accompany our run on Hunting Island Beach. In truth, we didn’t actually see Aquaman, just one of his dolphins, but I’m pretty sure he was there too. The dolphin, meanwhile, swam in our direction just 50 yards offshore; playfully jumping alongside us as we lumbered down the beach.
In case you couldn’t tell, that isn’t an actual picture of our exercise companions. Dolphins are shy, so I didn’t take a photo. I also don’t normally bring my camera along on runs, but maybe I should start.
