In May my oldest daughter had a field trip in coastal Georgia. For years I have been trying to convince my beloved husband to take us to Cumberland Island and it was just not anything he was interested in. The field trip included a day trip to Cumberland Island. I was not expecting a great deal from this experience because Wild Horses are myth in my small little world. There was no way we would actually see one and every person I have ever talked about this with said sometimes you see them and sometimes you don't.
The start of our day trip was just amazing. We went to St. Mary's and got on the ferry. A boat trip was what I was expecting. It included so much more. It was one of the most beautiful rides I have every taken. Just gorgeous views of wild life and scenery. The Marshes may be full of mosquitoes, but they are beautiful. Just amazingly beautiful. My oldest and I just looked at this beauty in awe. Just amazing. Before the trip ended we were being followed by dolphins. A little bonus. We left the boat and traveled up a small dock to a museum and some beautiful live oak trees. It was just like something in a book. I was in awe of it all. As we started our 7 mile trek, we were engulfed in these beautiful and majestic trees. Then we traveled through a small forest area. All along we kept seeing signs of those illustrious wild horses but none presented themselves to us. We continued to on our journey to the Carnegie's "Dungeness". The grounds themselves are quite breathtaking. As we entered the gardens we realized we were not alone, we saw a huge wild turkey. He did not seem to be bothered by us and just kept on doing his thing as we walked by. We walked past the beautiful "Dungeness" to a trail and we once again saw signs of the ever illusive wild horses. We came to a clearing with dampness and under our feet were thousands maybe more teeny, tiny crabs. They were every where and upon silence you could here them crawling across the sand. It was just amazing. As we crossed they would just separate and make room for us. We also learned that the ones with the large white claw were the boys. So you could look at the thousands of them and tell which ones were boys and which were the girls. Just amazing. A sea of crabs that went on forever. They were about 3 inches wide. Just little bitty guys, but still amazing. We continued on our path and once again signs of the wild horses, but no horses. Then our guide just stopped us. She said, "listen." We could here horses. They were right there in the woods near us. She made us stop and back up to give them an opportunity to cross. There they were in all of their beauty. They came from the woods beside us and traveled across the path and just ate grass in front of us as we stood in awe. They were large, majestic, beautiful, and in the mix were two amazing miracles. One was a little foal born in the spring and one was a solid white yearling. They were absolutely amazing. The story of these horses is mythical and takes many twists and turns. Some believe they were left by the Spanish, others believe other Europeans brought them to the island, and others believe they were brought later to the island. They are mixed with many breeds due to the Carnegie's and others mixing domestic breeds in with the herds. They are beautiful and look like no other horses I have ever seen.
The entire trip was a memory I will never forget. The nightly exhaustion and painful sunburn were just a small price to pay for memories with my daughter we will never forget. It was just awesome. And the fact that God created it all makes me just continue to be in awe of what He can do in all things.
No comments:
Post a Comment