Occasionally I luck into making a good decision – not often, mind you, just once in a blue moon…

the moon wasn’t blue, but it was a full moon

(the view from our little balcony – the moonlight bathed our room)

My apparently good decision was to take Pretty to the beach for a couple of days for our anniversary. The background story involves Pretty’s penchant for purchasing her own treasures not only for herself but also for her antique businesses which means there is nothing left for me to buy for major occasions such as our anniversary. Enter my idea for the beach trip to Tybee Island, thanks to the magic of online surfing. Yes, Pretty totally gave me credit for this splendid idea.

neither Pretty nor I had ever been to Tybee Island

(which is just across the Savannah River into Georgia)

you betcha!

As soon as we got to our room, after a minor aggravation at the front desk about who Pretty was and why wasn’t I the one rushing in to handle the check-in process since the reservation was in my name, Pretty took off for the beach to scope out her walking destinations while I made sure the tv was operating properly. She walked a mile the first afternoon we were there and came in raving about the Tybee beach.

We determined to jump out of our box for tv viewing on our trip, and I became hooked on the house channel when Pretty went out for a walk. Yes, believe it or not, I had never watched the house channel before and I became emotionally invested in the couples who had to make the tortuous choice between “loving” their newly renovated home or “listing” it to move to the most fabulous new home in the universe. I mostly wanted to love it because I definitely preferred Hillary the hot renovator over David the blah realtor. Sigh. Who’s surprised.

the weather was perfect, the island lovely

I spent a small amount of time poolside

the views were spectacular, the colors simply amazing

Fannie’s offered a wide variety on their menu

I’m not sure we would recommend the combination of

 nachos and fried shrimp for dinner –

just because you love them both doesn’t mean they go great together

Alas, while I pondered the love it or list it issues, Pretty spent most of the next day walking on the beach and ended up walking 4 miles from our northern end of the island all the way to the southern tip and back. Now why would she do something so excessive.  I have no clue.

She came limping home with a huge blister on the bottom of her foot. Uh, oh. Pretty was confined to quarters, and we watched our very first episode ever of Dancing with the Stars that night. We found the competition among the athletes as gut wrenching as my roller coaster of emotions in the  love it or list it dilemmas. We were disappointed that the snow boarder was bumped instead of one of the basketball players who we felt should stick to hoops – no disrespect intended.

on the way home Pretty discovered an art gallery…

…and was excited to find a tiny treasure

next stop: Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah

the infamous resting place that became the cover for

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

the bird lady statue had been moved to a museum

but Pretty struck the proper pose

while I soaked in the views

Can you believe this luck? An estate sale!

The end to a truly perfect mini-vacation for Pretty was the adventure of following the Estate Sale Today signs to a secret location hidden in a Savannah suburb.

Utopia. Bliss. The words I would also use to describe the getaway to Tybee Island…I predict we, as General Macarthur famously declared, shall return.

Stay tuned.