Derek and I have had a buddy pass on Delta that we needed to use before the end of January. Last year was so busy with the double moves and building the house that we could never find a time to sneak away. We opted to use it in January, but Derek requested that we go somewhere warm. He was thinking Florida beaches, but I wanted to go somewhere new. So I convinced him Charleston and Savannah would be warmer than home and have so much fun history and such to se. Mom and George came up to stay with the kids while we were gone. We left Wednesday afternoon before they got out of school. Mom and George picked them up from school and allthe kids convinced them to take them to Pop N Dot for after school treats.
I got a call from Liv while on the airplane about to take off. She insisted on talking to me and not Dad and informed me that she thought her period had started (for the very first time). She was about to leave for dance. I told her she needed to go tell Babi and then texted a bunch of instructions to my Mom. I can't believe that of all the times this could decide to start it happened right when I was headed out of town, but Mom seemed kind of excited to get to be part of this as she wasn't around when my period started. She did a great job gathering supplies and educating Liv. Liv seemed to handle it like a champ and it was all over and done with before I got home.
We ended up missing our connection from Atlanta to Savannah so the airline gave us a free hotel stay in Atlanta near the airport. Derek and I used the hotel gym and then were up super early the next morning to fly to Savannah.
Thursday morning we arrived at the Savannah airport. It is a small airport and so lovely to travel in and out of. We got our rental care and started the drive to Charleston. We drove first to the Old Sheldon Church ruins which were incredibly goregous. And this cool little church had the incredible history of being burned down in both the Revolutionary and American Civil War.
Then we stopped for a little walk off the freeway at the Edisto Nature Trail over some boardwalks through a swampy area with trees covered in spanish moss. Then, the first stop in Charleston was Little Jack's Tavern. We had a lot of good food on this trip, especially yummy seafood with both towns being right on the ocean. But I think the best food of the trip for me was Little Jack's Tavern- a shrimp burger that was so juicy and delicious. After checking into our hotel we drove out to Magnolia Gardens, toured the slave quarters and walked the grounds. It really was beautiful.
For dinner we ate at Leon's we had roasted oysters and Derek had his best meal- a spicy fried shrimp Po' Boy that he would have gladly eaten all over again every day of the trip if I had let him.
Then, we drove around the cute streets of Charlestone and settled into our hotel room to watch the BYU vs. Gonzaga game which ended in a disappointing loss.
Friday we rode the ferry to Fort Sumter.
Since we were the first tour group of the day, we got to be there for the flag raising ceremony which was really neat. I thought it interesting that they still to this day raise the flag from the Civil War era with 33 stars.
They have lots of old cannons and a museum on the island fort.
When we got back we had sandwiches waiting in our car because we knew we would be crunched for time. We had a little pinic in our car in the parking garage and then met up with a walking tour group. This was probably my first time doing an organized walking tour, but I really loved getting all the inside stories and feel for the city this way. I loved all the charm, history and age of Charleston. We walked down Rainbow road which was a huge restorative undertaking by a preservation society in Charleston. They turned an old warehouse district into one of the cutest most visited city streets.
I loved all the gas lanterns in front of the Charlestone houses, the cobblestone roads, the zero and 1/2 addresses and I found the new build right in the heart of Charleston particularly interesting .
They had to keep the historical tree and brick wall surrounding their house that they plopped down on an old parking garage.
We found the pineapple fountain and then walked down King stree past all the shops.
That night we tried Carolina BBQ at the orginal Rodney Scott BBQ.
I personally liked all the sides better than the BBQ sauce and meat, but it was a fun experience. Ended the night walking in a drizzle for ice cream sandwiches from Peace Pie.
Saturday we drove back to Savannah, but made a couple fun stops on the way. We stopped at Hilton Head and had lunch. I ate a soft shelled crab sandwich-it was interesting. Then we parked and walked to Coligny Beach.
It was the cutest beach with swinging benches and rocking chairs, a community leave your old beach toys to share box, reusable grocery type bags encouraging people to pick up trash, and the most amazing straw matt walkway all the way out to the goregous soft, white sand beach. D and I walked a mile on the sand, I took my shoes off and even tested the water.
Then we got to drive through the cute town of Bluffton. I could have spent more time there it was darling. Once in Savannah we checked into our hotel and then ventured out to eat at nearby Lady and Sons- Paula Deen's restaurant. That was probably the coolest eating experience of the trip. They serve everything family style. The let you order endless main dishes and sides and put them all in the middle of the table and set the table with plates for you to fill.
Everything was really yummy! We were stuffed by the end of dinner so we took our dessert to go and ate it later in our hotel room.
Savannah was a much younger crowd than Charleston and quite the party town on Friday night. The streets were filled with college kids bar hopping till early in the morning.
Sunday we spent the day touring Savannah by foot and by way of one of their hop on hop off buses.
The tour guides on the buses were so fun to listen to. They would share about movies filmed in the city or little history facts or point out architecture features. We toured the Owen-Thomas slave quarters and really loved the opportunity to have a little look into what slavery was like in these plantation homes. Savannah has 22 square parks- including Chippewa Square which is the famous scene of the Forrest Gump bench- throughout the city and D and I loved walking through and exploring them.
Forsyth Park was super fun to stroll through.
We learned that Savannah's theater is the oldest continuously used theater in the country.
We ate lunch down by the pier at Spanky's who consider themselves the originators of chicken strips and had this yummy honey horseradish house dipping sauce and Spanky's spuds which were fried potato rounds rather than fries.
That evening was walked down the tiny stone stairs of death as our tour bus guide referred to them down to the waterfront.
We found the statue of the waving girl (Florence Martus) who would stand by the water with her dog and her lantern day and night and wave at every ship as they entered Savannah.
When she passed, she had one of the largest attended funerals in all of Savannah attended by several naval captains. That night D and I opted for a ramen place right by our hotel for dinner and blackberry cobbler at the peach cobbler factory (because they were out of peach).
Monday was our last day of the trip. We got up and discovered the Goose Feather Cafe for breakfast.
I thought this little delivery bike out front was darling.
Then, we watched Savannah's MLK parade down Main street. Before heading to the airport we drove out to Wormsloe Historic District.
I loved this place. Just the drive into to park through more than 100 live oak trees all draped in Spanish Moss was breathtaking. We went to the visitors center which had a little information movie about the history surrounding the start of Georgia as a colony. They had a little museum. And then we walked through the surrounding trails that were so peaceful and beautiful. Then, it was off to the airport to fly back to our kids and mom and George (who completed several house projects for us while we were away).
