The Flight Path of the Snobird

On our way to visit new grandbaby #8, we followed the path of the Snobird to Florida. The Snobird is a particular species of Northerner who migrates south when the weather turns at the beginning of winter or just after Christmas. The South welcomes their arrival for their economy.

We followed I-77 to I-26 to I-95 to get to the Miami area. We divided the almost 20 hour drive into three segments of 6-7 hours each. Along the way we stopped at several interesting places. Our first was Hillsville, VA, which is kind of in the middle of nowhere but was a very busy intersection of I-77.

With a burst of southern hospitality, the lady at the reception desk invited us to visit the BBQ festivities in her hometown just a few miles down the road at Galax. Unfortunately when we arrived, most of the BBQ stands were closing down and the awards for the best had already been handed out. The smell of BBQ hung in the air as we strolled through the small town so as soon as we were back at the car, we headed out for some dinner—no BBQ but some delicious southern fried chicken.

Our next day’s trip took us through the beautiful mountainy states of NC, SC, and into the flatter area of GA leading to the FL border. Just over the border and north of Jacksonville, we stopped at Yulee. It was not far from the beaches of Amelia Island so we checked in and then checked out the island.

We ended up in the historic district of Fernandina Beach and walked around reading some of the historical markers and ducking in and out of a few antique and gift shops to cool off a bit. Dinner was at a waterside restaurant overlooking the Amelia River and was BBQ shrimp over cheesy grits with onion straws on top—something I’d had a hankering for since watching the Travel Channel the week before. It was as good as it looked on TV.

After dinner, we stopped at the ocean side beach and sat on a bench enjoying the cooler breeze and watched families as they packed their day’s equipment for fun on the beach and left for home. In danger of falling asleep where we sat, we decided we’d better leave for our hotel and get another good night’s sleep for the day to follow. After all, we wanted to be in good shape to meet our newest granddaughter.