February like naaah...

Today I went to explore Fort Pulaskie.  For $5 you can get in once, for $10 you get an annual pass.  As a history lover I went ahead and opted for the annual pass as I expect to go there often.

Fort Pulaskie (named for a Polish Count) is one of those historic landmarks that is interesting not because of the fight in the soldiers, or that it broke some record.  Only one confederate soldier lost his life there, which in Civil War terms is equivalent of zero casualties.
It's interesting because its fall to the Union was a shock for both sides, and proved that new technology (rifled cannons) necessitated an entirely new design for coastal fortifications forevermore.
In simple terms, the ability to "spin" cannon balls as they fly to the target was new (during the Civil War).  So the guardian of the Savannah River fell to Union cannons that were previously out of range.

Here:

Ok, so if you're bored- I'm sorry.  That was 1862, this is 2013...
My main motivation for going was this:

That's right!  You guessed it!  Walking paths!  Oh, what have I become... an old walking man, with my old walking dog...
Above is my path in red, about two miles including sights like these:

A boat for good measure.

One of the muddy beaches on the island

Old brick, judging from the mortar- pretty stinkin' old.

Morgan the dog in the tall grasses.

The original dock used by the Confederates to bring supplies to the fort.

One of the paths near the fort, the vegetation is insanely thick and varied.  Bird life is dense, as well as unidentified animals rustling invisibly very nearby.

And then this out of nowhere

Apparently this guy founded Methodism.  And I wanna know who Mr. Oglethorpe is...


It was getting too hot in jeans and a t-shirt IN FEBRUARY.  So Morgan the dog and I got back in the car, leaving the fort and the rest of the trails for another day soon.
Tybee Island, with the only accessible sandy beach around was right there, so I decided to head out for a driving tour of the beach, and get a feel for the atmosphere and attitude.

And,
It,
Is,
Crazy

Tybee has a wacky side to it, like the rest of Savannah I guess, with public benches reading advertisements for local businesses, such as "Coldest Beer in America!"

and this kind of stuff-

Not hard to join the club here.

The boat on the billboard is named "God"

What's a Wild Georgia Shrimp Wing?

It was tons of fun rolling through Tybee at 10mph seeing so much crazy (only a small sample here).  Even Morgan the Dog was like "Yeah!"





UPDATE: Fort Pulaskie Day 2

Went back today and walked the path in yellow below out to an old lighthouse.

I know the path leads into the water in the above image, but I went at a lower tide and got quite muddy:

But I got to see this scene, I got as close to the lighthouse as I could:

You might not see it in the video but the dolphin were fishing like crazy- right near the human fishermen.  Also the weather was so warm IN FEBRUARY that I stripped down to mesh shorts and got some sun for most of the walk.
I proceeded to get even muddier as I followed Morgan the Dog out onto the tidal flats and got these views:

Most of the path looked like this:

...which was awesome.

My reason keeps telling me that it's February, but everything else just won't let me really believe that.  So I'm just trying to get out enjoy what seems like May weather, and hope this isn't some part of the apocalypse.