Tybee Island Road Trip -- Day 4

We woke up to the sound of rain falling on the tin roof. If you've never heard that comforting sound before, it is the silver lining to a rainy day at the beach. The storm also made it easier to leave that morning, which would have been hard to do if it had been a brilliantly sunny day.

Before we hit the road, we had to check out a Tybee icon, the Breakfast Club, which only serves breakfast. It is the place where glitterati and locals rub elbows, deals are made, and gossip is exchanged. The Breakfast Club has an eclectic assortment of great food, some that you may not expect for breakfast, like the shrimp with eggs and grits or the home-made chorizio burrito with eggs.

What is so charming about Tybee is that everything about this island is eccentric. If you are looking for a 5-star resort experience --keep looking. If you like fun, off-beat destinations that are laid back and unpretentious, then Tybee is the place for you. Tybee is an island where residents keep their Christmas decorations up year-round, and you can walk your dog in your pajamas, which I did just this morning. I'm sure there are covenants against these things at some of the tonier islands south of Tybee.


Before heading back to Atlanta, we took one more drive around the island to check out the other Mermaid Cottages. There are close to 30 to choose from, several which are on the historical register, and others that have been featured in Coastal Living and Cottage Living. All are decorated in a colorful signature style that is comfortable and laid back -- a perfect complement to the Tybee experience. And most of the cottages are pet-friendly.




Tybee Island is easy to get to by car or by air. The island is 40 minutes from the Savannah airport. If you need a city fix, like a Starbuck's latte, downtown Savannah is just 20 minutes away via the Islands Expressway. Savannah is a charming city with lots of great boutiques, restaurants, and fine art galleries.

Tybee is truly a diamond in the rough, and a destination you must check out. A coalition is working to make the island more pet-friendly, which will be a bonus to people like me who can't wait to return.

For more information about Tybee Island, check out these links:

Pet-friendly Mermaid Cottages

Charlotte Observor story on Tybee Island

Purchasing or investing in real estate on Tybee

Tybee Island Road Trip -- Day 3

It was another beautiful, sunny day on Tybee, and we set out for the Dog Park. Lily and Buster were excited about seeing Pogie, Louie, and other friends they made the day before. Though it was 10 a.m., not a soul was at the park yet, so we decided to come back later. We're just going to have to adjust to Tybee Island time.

Just down the street from the park is Seaside Sisters, a fabulous shop for vintage collectibles and beach-themed gifts for your shabby chic cottage or home. The store is run by a collective of 10 women with a passion for all things quirky and fun -- just my kind of place! I started chatting with Susan, one of the owners of the store and mentioned by blog about Tybee. She shared a lot of insight on the island's lifestyle and graciously gave me a book on the history of the island from one of the shop's shelves. "Tybee Island", by Robert Ciucevich, is a fascinating read and is full of wonderful vintage photographs.

As I mentioned in my earlier blogs, finding pet-friendly restaurants on Tybee is a challenge. Susan suggested that we try Fanny's on the Beach, which is near the 14th Street Pier, and had outside seating. We received a warm welcome at Fanny's and had a great table overlooking the dunes and pier. Besides being pet-friendly, Fanny's also has great food. I mentioned being stalked by the beach police to one of the locals, just as a Tybee patrol car rolled to a stop in front of us. He told the police to send out an APB to the beach patrol to quit following the lady with two dogs from Atlanta. It must have worked. We never saw the beach patrol again.

Just around the corner from Fanny's is the Atlantic Beacon, run by Debbie, who grew up on the island. The shop has a great assortment of artwork. I was intrigued by the large collection of vintage photographs of the island and its famous icons. Rich in history, the island has lost most of its landmarks, such as the Tybee Inlet Club, the Hotel Tybee, the DeSoto Beach Hotel, and the Central of Georgia Railway station, to fire or development.

Though it is not as pet-friendly as other beach destinations, Tybee residents love their pets and take them everywhere. On the drive to the Dog Park, we passed owners cycling by with their dogs in their bicycle baskets, and dogs headed out for a day of boating.
By mid-afternoon, the Dog Park was hopping, and Buster and Lily enjoyed socializing with their canine buddies.

After the park, it was time to go home for a siesta, while mom headed out for a walk on the beach.






For a small island, Tybee offers a great selection of seafood restaurants. We were going to try Sundae Cafe, which is supposedly the best on the island, but unfortunately it was closed on Sunday. So it was back to A.J.'s on the back river, which has a great dock that overlooks the marsh and is a fabulous place to enjoy the Tybee sunsets.



The area is very proud of its seafood, which is fresh from the local docks. There's even a billboard in Savannah that scoffs at farm-raised shrimp from China. I have eaten so much shrimp from China, that I had forgotten the wonderful taste of shrimp raised in this coastal area. The fresh, salty water off the coast of Georgia produces a much sweeter type of shrimp than the China variety. We are heading home tomorrow and will miss the laid-back pace of this little isle.