Oh, Savannah!

One of the beautiful city block parks in Savannah

Since I read The Work and The Glory by Gerald Lund, I have wanted to visit Savannah.  There is something so enchanting about the south.  I can still remember the descriptions of the River Walk area down by the water front where Joshua had his mill.

I just have realized that so many of our ideas of where to travel have originated between the covers of best loved books.  I wish we had had more time to spend there.  But at least we were able to take the back roads to get to our hotel.  It took longer but was so much more interesting and pretty.  We have a thing about back roads.  We enjoy them.  We saw way too much freeway on this trip because we wanted to cover a lot of territory, but our favorite way is to just meander along stopping when the fancy strikes us.  The country sides of both South Carolina and Georgia were lovely.  The green was just so noteworthy there.  Everything green like only God can do it.

The rain clouds followed us to Savannah.  There is something cozy and romantic about traveling in a car in the rain.  We love it.  We had two rainy nights in Georgia.  I could hear Brook Benton's song in my head both nights.  Oh wait, I think I'll put it on as I write.  Ah. perfect.  ;-)

 
A real Magnolia!
We were just a week or two to 
early see them all in bloom.
  

We stayed just outside the city limits of Savannah and saved a ton of money on our hotel.  That night we went to a local restaurant recommended by the hotel concierge.  It was a family style type restaurant whose name escapes me but,  it was the epitome of southern fried everything. They had it all decked out in 70s decor...lots of brown and big booths that could hold a large family.  There was a lot of y'allin' going on in there.   It is where the local likes to go.

We had our first hush puppies and still don't know what they were.  The little waitress couldn't quite tell us.  Some kind of fried dough like a donut in the shape of a fish stick...no sugar.  In fact, I thought is was fish, all tucked in with the other fish on the fry plate and was dipping it in tartar sauce.  Jim thought that was hilarious.  (Jim of all people who eats the weirdest concoctions you can imagine on a weekly basis!  Ahem! ) Cole slaw was the only green thing in the room.  We were beginning to rethink the notion of eating something unique each place we visited.  Even delicious can be over done.  I could envision our blood turning pink from all the deep frying.

After writing that last paragraph I had to find out what they are. Here is Paula Deen's recipe for them  http://tinyurl.com/5uerm5.  If you click here you can see how to make hush puppies and how they got their name and some tricks for not getting your hands gooey in the process in the video.

Speaking of Paula Deen, we admired the Lady and Her Sons for begin closed on Sunday!  I am sure she is doing it for the right reasons~honoring the Sabbath Day.  There were plenty of tourists that were hoping she would have been there.  Savannah has lots of beautiful churches and we enjoyed hearing the bells ring most of the day.  We took this photo below when it cleared up in the afternoon.

In the morning as I have mentioned previously, once we got over the fact that it wasn't Saturday and we had missed church, we had our second shower of the day on the open air City Tour trolley.   It was so pretty in spite of the wetness.

Looks a lot like San Francisco right here.  
I love these fancy row houses.

 

So many pretty colors used in good taste

 in both Charleston and Savannah

The architectural features of these beautiful buildings and homes are amazing.  The one thing I think I love about the east and south so much is the noticeable difference between it and the newness  you feel in the west.  I wouldn't exactly call it antiquity, but it definitely has a more established, historical feeling.  There is a sense of pride in the maintenance of the things of the past that we don't feel here.  It has a regard for the permanence of things,  and it is accompanied by a certain special respect for preserving it.

 

One of the fun things about this tour was they picked up passengers in character from the early days  in their history.  This guy was a person that died during the civil war.  He died in his own neighborhood when he and his brother were arguing about the issues of slavery and he was accidentally shot.  This was a real historical character.

 

Loved the brick sidewalks

We passed by some beautiful little inns and hotels 
and of course some spectacular homes.

 

This looked like fun!

One of the most distinctive things about Savannah is that they have many many block sized parks in the downtown area.  You can walk a few blocks and then sit and enjoy a park bench and a little rest.   I am thinking this may be very welcomed when it is very hot and humid in the summer. 

 Many of them have historical monuments and water features and it seems to be a place where people congregate to chat and be together with friend and strangers soon to be friends.  This was very reminiscent of the Italian piazzas.  You see the buskers singing and playing their instruments.
You see people picnicking in the squares like we did.  That was delightful.

We met a wonderful old black man there that was so talkative and sweet.  Jim and I thought he was just delightful.  He was preaching the gospel and singing and selling his flowers he had woven from the reeds he had cut from along the river banks and then dried.   Jim bought me one for Mother's Day in hopes that our donation would be helpful to him!

 I tried to take their picture together but the camera was on video so I got a little piece of a spontaneous song he was singing us about God. Too bad I only caught the part about the devil 'cuz he was singing a lot about Jesus most of the time.  Nice guy, he was a kick.  Jim is holding the flower he bought me in his hand.

We wanted to go to the Ole Pink House for dinner but they were full so we landed up at the Pirate Restaurant recommended by our tour guide.  Umm, it was not really that great....too Disneyland-ish. It might have been more fun with some grandkids.  The food was good though.

 

Well,  the funny thing is the place that made me want to come to Savannah actually turned out to be a bust.  It was tacky and seedy and full of unsavory characters.  It features lots of booze and nasty t-shirts and the like.  The river right in front of this was cool but not this part.  Too Bourbon Street for us.  We drove by a few times to see it and that was it.

 

 River Walk~Not Our Cup of Tea

The rest of Savannah was charming and we enjoyed our short stay here.  The next day we were heading out early for Virginia and spent most of the day driving.  Our next destination, Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Charlottesville, VA. 

Southern Comfort~Where The Livin' Is Easy

We just got home from our trip last night.  We were gone from May 1 to June 3.  That was a long time.  I have lots to share but I just hope I can remember all of it and preserve our memories of so many varied and fun activities.  Fortunately the pictures bring back so much and we managed to jot down things here and there.  But I much prefer doing the writing as we go along, but I just never had the time.  Someone, who shall remain nameless, kept me pretty busy doing other fun things!!!

Flying into Charleston at night was a great idea.  We arrived at nearly midnight and got our rental car with no problems. Midnight for them was only 9:00 PM for us so we still had some energy after the long flight. We were delighted they wanted to upgrade us to a van.  It was most convenient to have it for the month.  It was a 2013 Dodge Caravan so everything was in great running order, making it a carefree pleasure to drive.

We were ravenous after an 8 hour flight with only peanuts and pretzels to munch on, so we looked around for a place to eat before checking into our hotel.  We landed up at a Denny's and it was not bad at all.  We met our first friendly and helpful person there.  The waitress had lots of ideas of what was fun to do in area.  We hadn't been to a Denny's in probably 30 years.  They had this fun picture on the wall.

Welcome to Charleston!

This man of mine never, never runs out of  steam.  I swear unless you see it for yourself you would not believe it.  Go, Go, Go is his mantra.  When he gets a little tired he plops down on a bench someplace and refuels.  He has me sitting right there by him lest anyone think he's homeless or whatever.  After about 15 minutes he is as good as new.  What the heck?

It's a Miracle!  Me? 

 I need a two hour nap and not on a park bench!

The weather throughout the trip was precarious.  We have had lots of rain and some sunny days and an occasional hot day, but for the most part it felt like a mild California winter/spring.  Frankly, Jim and I were fine with that because we love traveling in the off season and much prefer rain to sweltering heat.  And the best part, there are no crowds and no snow. It was simply better for our dispositions.  So it was all good except, as you know, photography is all about light.  Not the best photo opportunities with the iPhone camera but, thankfully we got a new camera recently and it really helped.

The South...ah, it was all we imagined it to be.  Friendly, beautiful, coastal, lush, historic and great food.  The food however, was not good as everyday fair.  Delicious on occasion...you  know those plates that are huge portions...all golden brown, fried to a T, and pretty unhealthy.  We are just not use to eating like that and finally on the third day were seriously looking for a salad bar.  Incidentally, we had a hard time finding one.

Virginia's is the restaurant where we had this local specialty below.

 She Crab Soup

If you ever order this, think RICH and get a small cup..not a bowl!  Delicious in small doses. We also shared a honey mustard pulled pork sandwich.  Now that was yummy.  I would imagine you could make it with a crockpot, the pork and a bottle of honey mustard salad dressing.  A nice alternate to the BBQ sauce we usually do. 

One of the most noticeable things about both Charleston and Savannah was that they are truly laid back.  It was visible, tangible and relaxing.  They savor.  It just calms the spirit to not always be rushing.  I love that.

Here a few pictures from that great
 Doin' The Charleston tour of the city.

 St. Micheal's Catholic Church

 The oldest and tallest building in Charleston

You see lots of brick in Charleston, it  adds a

 touch of antiquity and charm. 

 Most of these buildings have been 

retrofitted for earthquakes in recent years.

An old Lutheran Church in Downtown Charleston!

We went inside it was so much like 

the Lutheran Church I grew up in.

Same cookie cutter.

Like the church of my youth...Deja vu!

This hymn board and hymnals 
are exactly like the ones we had!

The Parks are a GREEN like we have rarely seen. 

 All that humidity seems to be a blessing for

 the foliage, grasses, flowers and trees.

Everything is so lush!

The south just seems to love providing a 

carriage ride through their beautiful streets.

This home in the background is one of the oldest in town.

The Streets are just full of beautiful scrubs, 
flowers and trees.

There is eye candy everywhere you look.
The city is immaculate. 

"Spring Evenings" -Garden Gate, Two Meeting Street Inn, 
Charleston, SC © Doug Hickok

This is one of the pictures I had seen on Pinterest that sealed my desire to see Charleston.  I just found out yesterday where it was located so missed seeing it in person.  Drop dead gorgeous place!

As I was trying as best I could to at least get one week planned before we left I noticed that there is an ongoing battle between those that love Charleston more than Savanna while the other camp is touting Savannah as supreme.   Just for the record, we loved Charleston more, but still enjoyed Savannah very much.   But our vote is clearly Charleston, if forced to choose one or the other.  Fortunately we got to enjoy both of them.    However, we spent over three days in Charleston and only two night and one full day in Savannah. 

One thing that made that difference clear was the City Tour we took in each City.  I have already written more about the great one we took in Charleston here. http://bonsblogbydesign.blogspot.com/2013/05/doin-charleston.html

Savannah did not have a great tour guide to begin with but...you've heard the song..."Rainy Night in Georgia" haven't you? We had two of them.  Which meant the morning we toured was chilly, wet and rainy.  That in itself would have been OK but the bus was an open air bus...so how could that be good?  You are smarter than we were.  It wasn't.

In our own defense they didn't really mention the open air part to us when we signed up for the tour.  We were quite surprised when we got to the bus.  But at that little moment the weather had taken a rest so we hopped on feeling optimistic.  Well, let's just say the weather in the south is unpredictable.

The drawback with a closed in bus would have had been fogged up windows  that would have been  wet on the outside, preventing getting any good photos.  The drawback to the intermittent wetness was well....being wet!  But we did get some good photos.  So even though the tour was not great, it did give us a little history of the city and showed us the lay out for points of interest and that was perhaps most important.  We were fortunate that it did clear up later in the day and we got some pretty outstanding pictures then. 

Another funny thing that happened was we thought it was Saturday and it turned out to be Sunday.  Yikes!  We are old, aren't we?  We'll blame it on vacation brain though.  We were all ready to go to church the next morning and then head on to Virginia but...hmmm.  It was already Sunday and we were on our way to the City Tour @ 10:00 and had already missed church.  Bummer.  We love visiting other wards too but we just simply blew it.  I like casual, but that was a little too laid back even for me. Course correction..discuss what day it actually is every morning before getting dressed.

So tomorrow....some highlights from  the Magnolia Plantation, then on to Boone Hall and then finally The Lovely Savannah!

A Simple Woman's Daybook~May 22, 2013

Our lives pass swiftly by! I want to do something to remember

the everyday moments and my thoughts about them.  

That is what this Daybook is all about.

Focusing on the little things that become my life.

One entry at a time.

Just for today~Wednesday, May 22-24, 2013

 

Outside my window...I can see the bay near Laura and Robert's house.  They have a triple sliding glass door out to their deck and just beyond...the beautiful sea.  They have the most inspiring place to write and I have been dying to get on this computer.  We have been so busy but today is a stay at home day.  Yay!  It is early afternoon here and the sky is gray with some fog in the distance.  It has been very welcomed after yesterday which was sweltering.  The heat here is rough.  So much humidity and it makes me feel a little sick, not being use to it at all.  One thing about the island is it is always windy and that accounts for some of the very unpredictable weather.  I should have brought more warm clothes but I have been getting by with a hooded, cardie sweatshirt on colder days and my coat when it got really cold as we were traveling.

I am thankful for..this wonderful month of travel, sightseeing and work.  We have had a phenomenal time.  I think a few things have made it very different than other trips we have taken.  Length of time with many different venues and purposes made a difference.  We have traveled for more than a month on other occasions but they have been focused on a major holiday, or a European/family time or just sightseeing.  I think the thing that made this time unique was a lot of time with just each other and then also getting to see family.  Our time of exploring the east coast was just perfect.  We loved the things we saw and learned about all the places we went.  The things that made it most special were our times with our kids and then our days we spent learning about our ancestors and the time we were able to do research and walk where they walked and lived.  That was inspirational and spiritual as well.  It has been a nice blend of pleasure and purpose.  There has been the perfect amount of time for relaxation and reflection.  I don't think my b/p has been this low in years.
 

From the learning room.  As we have studied and learned about the stories of the individual pilgrims and their courageous and difficult lives, we have realized like never before how subjective history really is.  We will not ever know all of the truth about them until we meet them face to face.  The "facts" vary some between authoritative museums, etc. but the essence of who they were and why they came have enough of a common thread to paint a most interesting  picture.  It just reminds me of how important it is once again...to write our own histories.  I want someone's subjective opinions about my life to come from what I wrote not what someone else wrote about me. 

 
I am reading...William Bradford's Pilmoth Plantation~this is considered to be the first American History book ever written.  Jim and I are reading it aloud together and it is excellent so far.  Tomorrow we are taking a trip to Mystic, Connecticut together so will continue on with Governor Bradford's account of why the Loyalists from England and the English Separatists from Holland came here on the Mayflower  It is about their heroic voyage and about the settlement they created when they arrived.  It is a fascinating story.

 

From the kitchen..Jim has something brewing every minute.  Honestly, he is such a nurturer and a "feeder' as Jen calls him.  We are so lucky!  The kids love to see him coming.  I have thrown in my two cents worth by helping Laura redecorate her master bedroom and sitting room and bath while here.  We did the bulk of putting it together this morning and it looks so fresh and pretty.  Of course it was preceded with a lot of fun shopping to gather the goods and we still have more things that we need. She has selected some really cool colors by using an art piece we found featuring, lavender, darker purple, a grayish blue, some turquoise, tan and gray.  It is a stylish, youthful floral piece and not stuffy at all.  It is very pretty and soothing and a perfect compliment to a coastal environment without being beachy.

I am missing..time to blog along the way about this vacation but it just hasn't been happening.  I will do several posts about our adventures after we get home.  But it is never quite the same as in the here and now.  The biggest problem has been getting photos on the right equipment to have access to them from Laura's desktop computer.  I still do not find the tablet adequate for blogging so it looks like I am going to have to get a Mac laptop sooner than later. But we do have lots of fab photos of this trip so that will be my incentive once we get home.

Some spiritual thoughts I have been having...the thing that has been going through my mind as we have traveled is just how beautiful the majority of America really is.  As we have passed through city after city, town after town I have felt a sense of peace that the Lord is still over all and that His presence rests upon the goodness in all of these places.  I am thinking once again how the media has truly skewed our thinking about how this country is going to the dogs and it has robbed us of our peace.   Yes, there are some really bad people and situations but there is so much goodness and righteousness too.

It has reminded me of when our Church leaders have expressed that we should be of good cheer, look for the good and stay close to the Lord.  The Lord will not forsake the righteous.  My faith in that has been reaffirmed on this trip.  Travel affords us a tremendous opportunity to step out of our tiny world and see beyond our borders of the little triangle we live in of home, school, work and the grocery store.  We truly feel blessed to have had this opportunity this month of broadening our conceptions and changing our paradigms.   The consequence is we feel more peace.

I am hearing..birds chirping randomly to one another outside and classical music from the kitchen.  And I am imagining that if we were just a little closer to the water I could hear the waves.  Soon the house will contain the boys...home from school and the endless happy chatter of kids and all that entails.  Cannot wait to see them and hear about their day.

One of my guilty pleasures...our children.  Honestly, it is hard to get enough of being with them.  I love that we have this opportunity to realize how precious this time is because we don't have it whenever we want.  Absence does, indeed, make the heart grow fonder.  That is the silver lining of living apart.  Every time is a special occasion.

Pet Peeves..rushing.  I hate rushing.  I enjoy savoring, reflecting and being in the moment more and more as I grow older and learn how to do it.  It makes me appreciate this time in our lives so much!

I am quoting...Elizabeth Gilbert author of Eat Pray Love:  I love a quote that requires me to look up a word.  "Oh, I just want what we all want: a comfortable couch, a nice beverage, a weekend of no distractions and a book that will stop time, lift me out of my quotidian existence and alter my thinking forever."  Love that.  This quote just reminds me of the perfect definition of the romantic, modern woman.  Do we all not seek this from time to time...or pretty much all of the time?

If I could change one thing it would be...that my legs did not give me so much trouble.  I want to do so many things but sometimes the spirit is willing but the body is weak.  I wish I could disassociate myself from the pain that inevitably comes after too much walking and standing,  One thing that helps though is every morning when I wake up I am fine.  So at least the problem is not accumulative.  Sometimes it feels like if you could just get some WD-40 in the right places all would be well. Still I am not complaining, it could be tons worse.

An enjoyable movie/ TV show we have watched lately...Safe Haven.  Laura and I got to go on a overnight get away at the beginning of the week,  Maybe that is why I liked this movie.  It was just to two of us in our hotel room enjoying the movie.  No distractions...just us!

I am curious about..how distorted time can be when you are traveling.  It seems like we have been gone from home for months.  Once we get home and back into our routine it flies by in a flash.  I think this is a good insight for us on how to slow our lives down.  Getting out of Dodge seems to do the trick.  ;-)

  

Plans for the rest of the week...tonight my friend, Caroline, is coming here while visiting her own daughter in Connecticut.  She sells doTerra essential oils and will be here for a lesson on their use for Laura and some friends.  How fun to be able to see her here!  Tomorrow a day trip to Mystic, CT with James.  It is like stepping into a postcard.  The most charming little place you'd ever want to visit, Thursday night attending Spencer's Sport Banquet at his school, Friday more work on the master bedroom, Saturday through Monday enjoying family activities and maybe some boat races in Newport.  Robert will be returning to the house after a ten day course in VA, so we will have some quality time as a family, celebrate his birthday and Memorial Day with a picnic here on the deck and Sunday we'll go to church.  Believe it or not...we are flying home on Wednesday but only for a day and then taking off for Utah for our granddaughter, Chloe's baptism.  We'll stay a few days and then home for awhile.  Whew!

One of my favorite things...that we have been able to go to three events at the boys' school and we still have one left.  Ross is in a play and we get to go and see the dress rehearsal on Tuesday before we leave on Wednesday.  Last night at the Sports Banquet Spencer received The Ultimate Spirit Award.  This is a new award and Spencer is the first recipient.  He helped his coach with la crosse, soccer and basketball and managed the teams all of this school year.  The coach was very positive in his words about Spence and we were glowing grandparents!  He was so cute racing to the front of the auditorium to receive his award at breakneck speed, grinning from ear to ear! Oh, and he is still in his full leg cast so that racing was on crutches.

One thing that made me so happy this week..being here for Grandparents' Day at the school! Getting Laura and Robert's master bedroom, bath and sitting room all redecorated.  We just hung the last piece of art a little while ago.  Grampa has been very helpful hanging curtain rods, mirror, paintings and other things and keeping everyone fed.  I love working with the two of them on any decorating project.  The rooms look so pretty and peaceful and fresh.  Robert will be so surprised when he stumbles in from Virginia tonight after finishing his ten day class for work.

The most surprising thing this week...we got two beautiful chairs for the decorating project at half price and they are perfect.

A photo I am sharing this week...our dream house in Connecticut.  This is the most beautiful privately owned home we have seen in 13 states.  We have seen hundreds of homes and this is the grand prize winner.  Laura and I loved every aspects of this home...we are guilty of coveting it, we admit it! 

As we drove by we saw a couple near the driveway so we passed by slowly and then returned after we thought they had gone so as not to get people in the photo.  We came back and didn't see them so turned around and took some photos.  As we drove on we saw them again on the other side of the property and we realized immediately it was their house.  They waved and yelled out "thank you" to us.  They knew we loved it and they were pleased.  Fun!

          Until we all return...happy day to you!

❤♡♥♡❤♡♥♡❤♡♥s, Bon