A few Sundays ago my sister Lois mentioned going down to St. Simons Island for the afternoon/evening. We’ve had quite a few Sunday afternoons recently that involved going/being/doing. My initial thought was that I would enjoy a quiet afternoon at home.

After a second or third thought, an afternoon on the islands sounded much more appealing. After a quick nap, we headed down to SSI. Sometime I need to do a blog post on each island and some of the highlights that we enjoy there. Same with Savannah. I’ve had a few messages in the last few years wanting info for Savannah that I have put together an email with some of my favs.

The beaches on SSI are not very big for as many people as live/vacation on the island. Summer vacations exacerbate that. There is a little parking lot beyond East Beach by Gould’s Inlet that is our favorite spot to park (if a spot can be found). The tide was going out which was good because there is no beach at that spot at all on high tide. A 5:00 arrival gave us nice beach space to sit and read for a bit.

Eventually the hot sun disappeared behind the clouds, thus reducing our chances of becoming rednecks. 🙂

We had driven through some heavy rains on our way down the coast. The predictions were that the rain would reach our area. The storms did provide some amazing clouds! I think we have some of the prettiest clouds in the summer that you can find. If you don’t believe me, keep scrolling.

The pier area is a perfect spot for sunset views so we decided to leave the beach and head to the pier and lighthouse area.

I had forgotten my big camera when we left the house. I thought of it about 2 miles down the road. We decided to head back and get it and boy, am I glad we did!! I would have kicked myself for the rest of the evening and probably the next few days.

Click on the photos for a larger view. The storms were no doubt heading our way. I hoped (!!) that the sun would break through the clouds near the horizon, when the colors are the most brilliant.

In the meantime there were pretty blue clouds to enjoy. I headed down the lighthouse to put in time until the sun set.

St. Simon’s Lighthouse.

I started back to the pier and saw some peach color starting to show through the clouds! Maybe some sunset color!! I’ve been down there many times over sunset. I have seen some spectacular ones but most frequently when there are this many clouds, the sun stays behind the clouds and the colors are drab and gray.

I have a wide lens (17-40) which helps pull a lot more of the sky in.

And then the sun broke through the clouds! There was still enough rain coming down in the distance to diffuse the color/light into a brilliant peachy/orange.

I’d say it’s easily one of the prettiest sunsets I’ve ever seen! There people “oohing” and “ahhing” all over the pier!

God paints some mighty pretty skies! If we can enjoy such beauty in midst of a broken and dark world, imagine what beauties remain to be seen in a redeemed new earth!

1. Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21:1-4 NIV