Not that we ever need an excuse to travel, but the 4
th of July is always a fun time to explore and celebrate the country. This year, Mom, Jacinda and I headed to Savannah, GA (by way of Jacksonville). It had been years since we were last in Savannah and were eager to explore this Southern town.
We arrived mid-afternoon, a little late to join a city tour or explore any of the old houses. So instead, we headed east to Tybee Island, right on the Atlantic, just 15 minutes from town. First stop was this very tall lighthouse; I believe one of the tallest on the East Coast. It is also one of the few lighthouses in which you can climb to the top, unfortunately it had just closed when we arrived. But a wedding reception on the sight kept the gates open longer than usual, so we got an up-close view of the lighthouse and old keepers cottage.
Where there’s a lighthouse, there must be water, and we found it just a short walk away: the Ocean!
The Atlantic Ocean, of course.
On our walk down, we almost literally ran into the wedding party taking pictures on the beach.
Perfect summer temperatures had lots of people enjoying the sand and water.
We settled for the sand between our toes (well, I did – Mom and Jacinda kept their shoes on, how silly!) and walked the full length of the beach until we reached sight of the town of Tybee and headed back inland to search for dinner.
After a few blocks of more and more beach houses, we began to wonder whether there actually were any eating establishments on the island. I’d read about a few local seafood joints, surely they’d be on this main-looking road? As we searched, we did observe some patriotism in the form of this huge flag flying (correctly, I might add) off the balcony of this beach house. Fun!
Finally, at the other end of the island (it is only 2 miles long, but we were hungry so it seemed much further) we found the perfect place for dinner: Burton's by the Beach, a walk-up restaurant shack with picnic table seating. They served everything from Cuban to Spanish cuisine, but we opted for fish tacos! We've become quite connoisseurs of fish tacos, having them on both coasts and multiple places in between. But these may have topped any I've ever eaten (sorry, San Diego!) It did take a few minutes for our perfect food to be created, so while we waited, Jacinda and I posed under the "palm trees" for a photo op.
After a somehow shorter walk back up the coast, we selected our spot of sand and waited for the Fireworks on the Pier. A 30 minute long firework show with the sound of the ocean in the background, a great way to end our first day.
Day Two started fairly early, as we headed to the heart of historic Savannah and waited in line for one of Savannah's hottest attractions: a table at The Lady and Sons (aka. Paula Deen's restaurant). After over an hour wait in the ever increasing temperatures, we finally reached the hostess stand...only for them to say they were down to 3, 2, 1 table reservations. Luckily, they also have a bar area with smaller, hightop tables. Not ones to be picky, we put our name down for a reservation and several hours later, we could return for the feast.
Getting closer to the front of the line
Lunch/dinner plans made (our reservation was for 4:00 so it was going to be a combo meal), we started our exploration of Savannah, beginning with a trolley tour. The Oglethorpe Tours were the cheapest and highest rated, so we climbed aboard the blue and yellow open window trolley and enjoyed a 90 minute overview of the town. Our tour guide was a local of 60+ years so he had lots of great information to share.
After the tour, we explored on foot, returning to some of our favorite spots for pictures.
Fun old houses
Ironwork fencing is everywhere!
Fancy downspout
Savannah is famous for being the first planned city in America, and part of that is its 20+ squares. Named after our 4th President, naturally Madison Square was my favorite. Just not sure why it is named after him...he was a Virginian?
Look, here's a local Revolutionary War soldier!
Before we knew it, 4:00 arrived so we scurried over to Lady & Sons for our much anticipated dinner! We rode the elevator to the third floor - who know this restaurant was on all floors of the building - and were seated at our table, which was a little small but our waitress was great to keep it as uncrowded as possible. It was buffet only that day, which was okay by us so we could try some of it all. Everything was amazing, of course, but I think my favorite was the yams. Yum! Although the dessert was great, too. Jacinda and I had the peach cobbler and Mom had the famous gooey butter cakes - I think the name says it all. If something Paula Deen makes
says butter in the name, you know it will be rich!
After attending evening worship with a local congregation, we made our way down to the river, where the Fireworks on the River event was happening. The nice people at church invited us to eat dinner with them (of course, we all were thinking we shouldn't eat again for days) and we were wondering why they weren't all heading down for the fireworks. Traffic and parking gave us our first clue - the river area was jam packed full of locals and tourists. Through pure luck, we scored an awesome parking spot (as my cousin would say, "Rock star parking!") and walked towards the sound of the crowds.
The celebration was already in full swing, with local artists displaying their crafts, a band playing on the wharf, and lots of red, white, and blue! Lots of people were already claiming their spot for the fireworks, but we decided to kill the hour or so by taking a free ferry cab to the other side of the river and back.
Not this one, but isn't it neat?
Here it is, appropriately the two former Girl Scouts pose by the Juliette Gordon Low.
No pictures of this nights fireworks, but it was an impressive show. And amazing how large some of those bursts are when you are really close up!
Our last day in Savannah, we chose to tour one of the city's oldest homes: The Davenport House. A sweet lady gave our tour, as we learned some early Savannah history and about the family who first occupied this house. She was especially impressed with the lady of the house, who raised all of their eight children alone after her husband died at an early age. After serving as both boarding and tenement housing, the building was saved from destruction in the 1950's by a local preservation group and was actually the first in the restoration of historical Savannah.
We couldn't take pictures inside, but we did get some in the backyard.
Afterwards, we took a final walk around and found some more interesting houses.
The Pink House - actually it's name.
Mom and some caladiums.
One of the first things I read when researching Savannah was an old-fashioned soda fountain shoppe. You don't have to mention ice cream more than once to us; we made this our last stop of the trip.
Outside the shoppe, in our fabulous hats
Chocolate sodas
Chocolate Malt (of course!)
Wow, lots of pictures and a great 4th! Hope everyone else had as much fun!
One last random pic; here's Mom at the Jacksonville airport, posing with the giant man carrying luggage. It looks really cool in person.
There were three stations that the groups rotated through. At our first station, we learned how to line envelopes. It was really simple with the right tools, but nothing I would have thought about doing. So cute, I told Jess all of my cards will have lined envelopes now!
