georgia on my mind - part 4

i just realized i never finished our georgia trip recap!  oopsie!

so i left off when we had finished our shuttle and walking tour of the city.  we wanted to eat dinner at this rooftop restaurant called rocks on the roof.  it was right on the river walk and had a great view of the river.  unfortunately, when we arrived, we found that it was closed until 9pm for a private event.  booo.  so we ate downstairs in their regular restaurant, rocks on the river.  the food was ok but nothing great.  we definitely should have tried somewhere else.

after dinner, we headed up to sit in ellis square for a bit before walking over to johnson square to meet up with our haunted tour guide.  i was definitely smitten with ellis square.  it wasn't all shaded and green like the other squares, but it had this great fountain that kids played in all day long.  it was so fun to sit and watch them.  plus it was adjacent to city market and they always had live music at night, so you could sit in ellis square and listen to the music without having to sit in the noisy bar seating. 

at 7:30 we walked over to johnson square to meet our tour guide for the evening.  if you are ever in savannah and want to do a good, authentic haunted tour, definitely book with this guy.  the company is savannah ghost walks, and i'm pretty sure it is only this one guy who does the tours, chase anderson.  he was kind of creepy, but in a good way.  he obviously loves what he does, and takes it very seriously.  he has clearly spent a lot of time researching the history of savannah and delving into various ghost stories and urban legends.  the tour was fantastic.  we walked all over the city and by the end, i was definitely creeped out by a few locations.  chase encouraged us to take pictures in each location, with our flash, because sometimes that's how you catch ghosts or spirits.  unfortunately, my camera battery started to die about halfway through our tour, so i didn't get many pictures.  and most of my pictures were duds, but there are a few that definitely have matt and i thinking we caught something watching us!

after the tour was over and we were sufficiently freaked out, we walked back to rocks on the roof and had a drink up at the rooftop bar.  by the time we got there, all the tables around the perimeter of the roof were taken, so we just sat inside by the bar.  halfway through our drinks, i felt like i was crashing, so we finished up, went back to the hotel, and went to bed.

the next morning we got up and had breakfast at the hotel again.  same thing as the day before.  last night, i actually had dreams about those biscuits.  they were that good.  i may have to bake some this weekend - that may be my first "craving!"  after breakfast, we packed up the car and checked out.  we drove out to bonaventure cemetery, which is about 15 minutes outside of "downtown" savannah.  it is a beautiful spot.  i know it's kind of weird or creepy to walk around a cemetery, but i'd heard so much about how picturesque it is, i had to see it for myself.  and all the hype was true.  it really is pretty.  tons of big live oaks with spanish moss.  lots of big tombstones and monuments.  it was neat to walk around and see how old some of them were - we saw a few dating back to the early 1800s!  i took tons of pictures and definitely plan to blow one of them up for our "vacation wall" at home.

after walking around for about an hour, we got back in the car and drove back into downtown savannah.  we wanted to try to find this bbq joint we'd seen on man vs food nation called angel's bbq.  the challenge was to eat a huge bbq sandwich with their super-hot voodoo juice on it.  we did not attempt the challenge because, well, we like our taste buds.  the bbq was good, but it wasn't the best i've ever had. 

finally, it was time to hit the road and head back to atlanta.  we spent tuesday night with our friends mish and ryan.  it was great to be able to visit with them for a bit, since we hadn't seen them since our wedding.  wednesday morning we flew home, picked up padfoot, and got ready to return to the real world!

georgia on my mind - part 3

monday was our only full day in savannah, so we tried to pack a lot into it.  first we went down to breakfast, which was the only disappointing thing in our entire stay.  we stay at a lot of holiday inn expresses and places that offer a pretty extensive continental breakfast in the mornings.  this consisted of the usual stuff: cereals, yogurt, danishes, juice, coffee, tea, etc.  oh, and instead of oatmeal they had instant grits packets.  the only hot food they had were biscuits (which were freaking amazing, especially with butter and drizzled honey on top, omg) and then sausage patties and bacon.  none of the usual breakfast stars were there, like eggs, waffles, etc.  both mornings i had a couple biscuits, yogurt, and a piece or two of bacon or sausage.  it was good, just not what we expected.  afterwards, we headed back to the room to shower and get dressed.  while there, i decided to take a few pictures of the room, cuz it was really neat.  it was 2 levels, with just the bedroom upstairs.  there were skylights in the bedroom that let a lot of pretty light in.

from the entrance

up the stairs to the bedroom

the living room

looking up to the bedroom from the living room

while matt was showering, i heard more commotion outside and went out on the balcony to see what all the noise was.  the singapore tall ship crew was out in full dress getting ready to set sail.  it was kind of a disorganized mess, unlike what you would expect to see with drills and straight lines and stuff like that.

when we were ready to go, we decided to ask about the trolley tours in the city.  there are about a million different companies that offer trolley tours, so we asked the front desk if they recommend a company.  she told us to take the oglethorpe tour, and offered to call a shuttle to come pick us up right at the hotel.  that worked for us, so we got picked up and taken over to the actual trolley.  the tour was a 1 1/2 hour long ride around the city that you don't get off of.  after the tour is over, you can utilize the shuttles and/or trolleys as you please.  there were certain stops where you could stand and if the driver saw you with your oglethorpe sticker on, they would stop and take you to wherever you wanted to go next - either one of their stops or your hotel.  it was pretty convenient!

they drove us all over the historical district of savannah.  savannah was where the state of georgia started.  for several months (years?) the state of georgia existed as a single square in savannah.  that's it.  just one square.  like, 200 square feet, or something crazy like that.  now, there are 22 squares within the historical district.  it's really a beautiful city with all those squares.  you literally can't walk more than 3 blocks in one direction without having to walk through or around a square.

right outside our hotel, waiting for the shuttle

the whistle stop cafe, at the old savannah train station

first georgia bank - pure georgian marble

right in front of the sign is where forrest gump sat waiting for the bus to jenny's house

one of the squares

homes on the square

jonny mercer's house

georgia's first hospital

old police cars.  for $1500, you can be arrested in one

as you can see, it started to rain during our trolley tour.  by the time we got to the hospital and the police station, we had the flaps down and it was absolutely pouring.  luckily, we were just about done with the tour.  the tour ended at city market, which is a strip of shops, bars, and restaurants, so we ducked into the wild wing cafe and had lunch.  it stopped raining while we were in there, but i was getting tired so we headed back to the hotel to rest.  it started pouring again while we were there, so we sat down and put on a movie and both ended up napping for about an hour.  when we woke up, the rain had stopped, so we decided to go check out one of the house-museums we'd seen on the trolley tour.  on our walk, we wandered through several parks and took our time getting there.  it was really lovely.

a backyard courtyard garden

ain't he handsome?

first synagogue

clary's diner, from midnight in the garden of good and evil

city market

we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house-museum, so that's why i don't have any.  after wards, we walked over to rocks on the river for a yummy dinner on the riverfront, then headed over to johnson square to meet our haunted tour guide.  in part 4, i'll tell you about our creepy haunted tour and our trip out to the beautiful bonaventure cemetery.  i know, it sounds totally weird to take a drive out to a cemetery, but it is such a beautiful place.  you'll see...

georgia on my mind - part 2

ok, i know i didn't take many pictures in peachtree city.  i took more in savannah, though.

so matt and i headed out sunday morning.  the drive took us about 4 1/2 hours, which was actually longer than i'd anticipated.  i though it would only take about 3 1/2.  i underestimated it and it was kind of disappointing.  oh well.  we made it.  oh, and our rental car, a nissan sentra, got absolutely amazing gas mileage.  for the trip to savannah, it averaged about 41 mpg.  we made that whole round-trip, plus driving to/from the airport, and only had to fill up 2x.  i was pretty impressed.  maybe i'm a nerd.

anyway, we arrived in savannah around 4:15 and checked in to our hotel.  the street by the hotel was packed and we didn't know what to do or where to park, so i called.  the woman at the front desk said to come down the street above the hotel and she'd have the bellman meet us there to get our luggage.  then we had to go and ask a police officer to move his car so we could get down to factors walk, where the hotel parking lot was.  there was a big festival going on at the riverfront, so the street was closed off to car traffic.  but i thought it was really great that they sent the bellman up to get our luggage and put it in our room while we parked and checked in.  major "plus" for the hotel, right there.

the hotel was great.  after much research, i chose the olde harbour inn, right on the river.  i booked us in a queen suite with a balcony on the river.  it was great.  i also chose it because they have breakfast in the morning, a wine and cheese reception in the evening, and they bring you a free klondike bar every night.  i mean, what's not to love about that?!  matt and i didn't end up taking part in the wine and cheese reception, but we sure enjoyed those klondike bars!

our first night, we decided to just walk around the river walk for a bit.  we checked at the front desk about haunted tours to see if they could recommend one.  they gave us a brochure for one and the lady told us that the tour guide is kind of creepy, but really good, cuz he's really into this whole ghost-hunting business.  we were sold.  we also asked about getting reservations at the olde pink house for dinner and she said that for sunday night, it would probably be impossible.  she offered to make us reservations for monday night, but then she told us that they have some first-come-first-served seating, too, and if we get there by 6:30 or after 9, we shouldn't have to wait too long.  it was about 5:45, so we decided to head on over and take our chances.  we got the last free table!  the olde pink house is kind of a savannah institution, and it specializes in low-country cooking, which i absolutely love.  i was so glad we got to eat there!  after dinner we walked around a bit more, checking out ellis square and city market, then made our way back to the hotel along the river walk and checked out the tall ships, which were in town for the tall ships festival.  we got back to the hotel, turned out the phillies game, enjoyed our klondike bars, and had an early, quiet night in.

that night around 10:30 or so, we heard singing or chanting coming from outside.  i walked out onto the balcony and found the singapore tall ship crew engaging in what i can only guess was their physical training for the day.  they ran laps around the parking lot, then did some situps.  and sang the entire time.  it was nuts.

i'll be back in a few days to tell you about our trolley tour and haunted tour, which was great!