Today it felt right to take another road trip. I’d actually planned it for last weekend but wasn’t feeling it enough. It was our coldest day of the season and in the low 40s when I got in the car, but despite the temperature I decided to make a day of it and headed to the small coastal town of Darien, GA.

Darien is another town I’ve driven by countless times while traveling on I-95 but I’ve never had a need or interest in stopping. However, this changed when I made my Brunswick trip and the lady at the visitor’s center suggested it. As I pulled off of the highway and into the parking lot of the Darien visitor’s center, I picked up a map and walking tour of the area.

I’m a little disappointed in the map. It really should include addresses. I tried location a couple of items based on the dot that was placed on the map and fell flat. It would be nice if you didn’t have to drive through random neighborhoods looking like a lost tourist.

I used two recipes for this trip. The first is probably going to end up as one of my semi-permanent (I’m sure I’ll change at some point) slots on the X-T30ii. It’s called “Forgotten Negative” and was provided by Timothy (aka timmydubv). It’s been producing some really nice images. These are all straight out of the camera.

Fort King George

After exploring the city of Darien, there was one point of interest remaining. Fort King George Historic Site. This was the first English settlement in Georgia, established in 1721. The buildings were interesting to inspect along with the gun placements. There are also remnants of early Georgia sawmills on the property. Unfortunately, the nature walk was closed.

These images are also straight out of camera and were used with a new favorite black & white recipe called Newspaper, from Kevin Mullins. I used the TTartisan 27/2.8. I’m really trying to like this lens but the heavy vignetting is beyond problematic. It’s really distracting on some of the images. For those shots at f/8, they’re not horrible. However, it’s very evident at f/4. I’ll keep playing with it but I might have to skip the wider apertures.

If you found yourself driving I-95 in south Georgia and have an hour or two to kill, I’d recommend Darien and the fort. The fort is probably better in the warmer months and when they’re having a reenactment. Regardless, this was a good day and got me out of the house and cleared my mind.