Treasure Hunting – a Valentine’s Day Tradition

On By Suzanne@PictureRetirementIn photography, retirement

After five and one-half hours of highway driving on I95 north, we turn east, toward the coast. Within minutes the salt marshes begin to appear. I am sure it looks like a swamp to a lot of visitors, but it looks like a river of gold to me. I can’t quite explain the visceral feeling I have as we make our way over to Jekyll Island, but it is undeniable – every single time.

At just 5,500 acres and only ten miles of shoreline along the Atlantic Ocean, it is the most unique and diverse landscape I have ever visited and I can never get enough of its pristine beauty.

Jekyll Island is a state park, but it has a commercial side too. There are a few hotels and residences, but mostly the land is protected and development remains controlled. This is a place steeped in history, with stories to tell. From a slave settlement to Millionaire’s row, it is all here waiting to be discovered.

With over twenty-five miles of bike paths, some paved, and others not, we criss-cross the island day after day discovering beautiful treasures. Just when we think we have ridden all the trails, we stumble upon another one. From sunrise at Driftwood to sunset at Andrew’s, the beaches are stunning.

Spanish moss sways like fine silk in centuries-old oaks throughout the historic district. The Jekyll Island Club (now a hotel) stands as a monument to the island’s glory days. The grand hotel and several restored ‘cottages’ are available for lodging and it is not unusual to witness a wedding or photoshoot happening near one of these historic venues nearly every weekend.

Tree-lined bike path through the historic district

Beach sand rides are a must and happen to be one of my favorite island rides, but timing is everything! High tide can be pretty dramatic here and you’ll need to know where the exits are if you plan to cut it close.

Packed sand makes for an easy ride

You never know exactly what you might stumble upon during a bike ride on Jekyll. But, it always delights. These two have all the attributes of an Instagram sensation, don’t you think?

In addition to its natural treasures, each year Jekyll plays host to a treasure hunt of a different kind. I wrote about it in this post. During the months of January and February, about 250 glass-blown orbs are hidden all over the island. The original idea was developed as a marketing plan to increase tourism to the island in the down season. After twenty years, it has developed somewhat of a cult following that we have become a part of.

Malcolm and I plan our visit to the island in February each year to celebrate Valentine’s Day, but, after the first visit, our ulterior motive has been to find a globe. We have always come up empty-handed, but we leave the island contented, knowing that the true treasures are found in the land and its history.

Until This Happened

We arrived on Jekyll Island the day before Valentine’s Day, settled into our hotel, and headed out to dinner. Sometime during dessert, Malcolm asked me what our strategy would be to find a globe this year and I replied, ‘we don’t need one, it’s just going to happen.’ Truthfully, I just wanted to relax and forget about island treasures of the man-made kind.

The next day we got out around 10:00 and headed south on the bike path. When we got to the Village, I said, ‘left or right?’ Left would take us to a beach ramp where it would be easy to walk the bikes over the dune to the beach and right would take us to the historic district bike trail. Malcolm replied, ‘right,’ so we set off to explore the Historic District. There are some amazing oak trees there and we like to get our annual commemorative ‘cell-phone tripod’ selfie in celebration of Valentine’s Day in a particular spot.

The wind kept blowing the tripod over, smacking my phone on the ground, and I looked haggard in every photo because 10 seconds just isn’t enough to rearrange oneself for a romantic photo, so I said, ‘chuck it,’ and started packing up to move on. Wait, what’s that?

You guessed it. That little clear ball in my hand contained the golden ticket! Actually, it was a notice to redeem it for treasure #467. And, oh, what a treasure it is. My globe, with the colors of sea glass, was blown by Mark A. Ellinger, a glass artist from Prudgett Sound, Washington. It is one of a kind and I will ‘treasure’ it forever. So much better than a commemorative photo for Valentine’s Day!

We returned to the scene of the find the next day, with the real globe, and put it back in its hiding place for a quick photo opp.

The tree where my treasure awaited

And there you have it. A beautiful week in a beautiful place with my best buddy. We hope you did something fun this past week to celebrate the special Valentine in your life.

Sharing with Natalie’s Weekend Coffee Share

43 thoughts on “Treasure Hunting – a Valentine’s Day Tradition”

  1. Hi Suzanne – I remember reading your previous post about the treasure hunt and how amazing that you jagged one this year – it’s absolutely gorgeous and it would have been the icing on the cake of a lovely weekend away. Fantastic memories. x

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Leanne, I met a lady who lives on the island and has hunted every season for twenty years and never found one. I didn’t have much hope that I would, but as luck and timing would have it – there it was. That will always be a happy Valentine’s Day memory.

      Like

      Reply

  5. Congratulations, Suzanne, on your treasure find! The sea glass globe is beautiful and Jekyll Island is stunning. I love all the photos that you’ve included in this post. I’ve put Jekyll island on my list to visit in January-February when it’s winter here and much milder there. Thank you for linking up with #weekendcoffeeshare.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      2. Hi Donna, I remember that you mentioned that on my blog when I wrote about the treasure hunt last year. The Jekyll Island hunt just celebrated twenty years and will likely be around for twenty more. It is a crowd-pleaser that brings visitors to the island during a quiet period – our favorite time to be there.

        Like

  8. Suzanne,
    I’ve always said that I would rather be lucky than good and finding a Jekyll Orb is really, really, good. We camped there about three years ago. The marsh is captivating and the sunsets can be beautiful. Thanks so much for taking us back! Enjoy! Joe

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Tracey, I thought about both you and Terri when I got the paperwork about the artist. He has a website and it looks like a family operation. I don’t know the proximity of where you all live but it would be neat if you stumbled onto more of his work. Please let me know if you do.

      Like

      Reply

      1. It’s a ferry ride and a bit of a trek, but they have work in local galleries. Your post has kismet for me as we continue to unpack. My Mom grew up in this area and was very connected to the arts community. In looking at a couple of glass pieces she gave me, I’m wondering if……

        Liked by 1 person

    1. Kem, I like that photo too – pure joy, even if it is a recreation of the actual moment. Malcolm recorded a complete redo moments after I found it and I screenshot these two photos from the video. It was the best Valentine’s Day we’ve had in a while.

      Like

      Reply

  16. How fabulous that you found a ball! I can imagine the yell of excitement. When I look for seashells (or beach glass or agates, depending on the beach), I know when I find something great, I yell out in delight. A truly memorable Valentine’s Day this year.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  18. Hi Suzanne, You remind me of the power of words…”like a swamp” and “a river of gold”…same place. I recall you writing about Jekyll Island in the past. Your stunning photos and wonderful descriptions make me feel as if I am there with you. Love this phrase “sways like fine silk…”. Oh, wow, the golden ticket/globe! Your beautiful post transported me tonight. You and your husband look radiant and happy.❤️ Thank you for sharing. xo

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  22. Pingback: Quiet Places – Picture Retirement

  23. Pingback: Best of 2022 – Our Year In Pictures – Picture Retirement

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.