Jekyll Island is a must stop! From the numerous beaches, to the crabbing and fishing, and finally the awesome Shark Tooth Beach this is a really fun stop with kids.

Camping
We stayed at Jekyll Island Campground, which was in biking distance to a beach and fishing pier. The campground had grand oaks covered with Spanish moss. Definitely not something we see in Wisconsin. It was humid, but the trees gave us really nice shade at our campsite.

Crabbing
This was a first for all of us. On our first day we noticed people actually catching crab and fish from the pier. It looked like something fun to try, so we researched what equipment was needed. Turns out the small bait shop near the pier sold starter kids and licenses. The next day, Jess took Travis crabbing in the morning and they had a blast. They were able to keep enough crab for us to have a fresh crab lunch. They met some friendly locals who gave them great tips for catching blue crab.

Beaches
While the boys fished, Mia and I enjoy walking the beaches and finding seashells. As a family, we enjoyed a beach day swimming in the nice warm Atlantic, searching for sand dollars and shells, and just relaxing in our hammock on the beach. Driftwood beach, which isn't too far from the campground, is a popular destination. It has ancient driftwood all along the shore, it is a great place for photos! 

• Sharks Tooth Beach

To get to Sharks Tooth Beach, you have to hike about a mile to the beach. The day we chose to do this, it was raining on and off so we just brought rain jackets. We scoured the beach for about 45 minutes with absolutely no luck. We were about to call it quits, when a local woman walked up and asked if we found any shark teeth yet. We said "no," and at that point she bends down and picks one up right in front of us! They were everywhere!!! Once we got the eye for them, we ended up finding close to 40 sharks teeth in about 15 minutes. We are so thankful this kind woman was willing to help us get started because this ended up being our kids favorite adventure at this destination! 

Sea Turtles
We really enjoyed The Georgia Sea Turtle Center. You get to see the turtles up close and learn about sea turtle from the exhibits. Definitely worth a stop if you are in the area!

​Camping
We just love the Smoky Mountains!! We stayed at an awesome KOA in Cherokee. There was a jump pad right next to our site, 2 pools (one indoor, and one outdoor). The outdoor pool had a slide. The Raven Fork River runs along side the campground. There was tubing available down the river at our campground. We were unable to take advantage of that because of Mia’s age and size. There were also fishing ponds on the property and it looked like a popular activity. We did not have time to take advantage of the fishing on this trip. 

Hiking

• Alum Cave

Our first hike was to Alum Cave. This was the first long distance hike that Mia was able to do on her own. We didn’t bring the carrier and she really didn’t give her a choice to get carried. She did awesome on our five mile hike to Alum Cave. There were lots of conversations about paw patrol on the way, but we were able to keep her entertained and she hiked like a champ! Alum Cave was well worth the hike. As we were resting at Alum Cave, we had this butterfly following us. It would land on one of us, then move on to another and it stuck with us the whole time we were resting.

We also stopped at a few waterfalls on this trip. 

• Mingo Falls-this is a short out and back trip. There is quite the elevation gain and the .3 mile hike is rated as moderate because of the steps. The falls is a spectacular 120 foot tall! There is a nice bridge in front of the falls for viewing.
• Soco Falls-this is a short trail .2 miles. There is not a lot of parking. You can view the falls from the observation deck or you can continue to make your way down the steep slope using a rope path. This can be a little tricky depending on the weather conditions. If you can make your way down, I prefer the view of the cascading falls from the bottom.