Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Travel: Savannah, Georgia


Savannah was beautiful. We had a very nice family vacation. There were miles walked, many delicious dishes consumed and many ghost stories heard. One of my favorite things to do was peep inside of the courtyards of the homes we passed.


The first full day was spent on Tybee Island. We climbed the light house, visited the battery and swam in the ocean for a little bit (until Adam and my brother-in-law got stung by jellyfish). 





We ended up stopping at the Tybean Coffee and Art shop and it was really cute. Great coffee. Worth a stop.


Next to Tybean Coffee and Art was this cute strip of artsy cottages. It was a Sunday so most were closed but it was nice to browse.


The next stop on the agenda was River Street. We ended up going there twice since we only saw half of it the first time. It is a stretch of very old factories and warehouses turned restaurants and gift shops. Lots of good places to eat though. We ended up eating at Dockside (pictured above) and The Cotton Exchange. 


Adam and the girls enjoyed watching the tug boats and barges roll through the river.


This was our house. It was built in 1872 and was on Calhoun Square, the only square in Savannah to have all original buildings lining it. There may have been an encounter in the house. Between my husband and some ghost children. He couldn't sleep the first night but didn't tell me his ghost story until we returned home to Florida. That is how spooked he was.


The house was near a trolley stop. It was fun to hear the bell ding as it went by. There were also numerous ghost tours and hearses that rolled by at night doing tours. That was interesting too. 


Eating good food was priority number one. Collins Quarter was phenomenal. The lavender mocha latte was to die for and the french toast was even better. We also ate at 17Hundred90, The Pirate's House, The Olde Pink House and to top if off, Leopold's for ice cream. Food was life on this vacation.


Book were too. I ended up buying four books while on vacation this year. The Book Lady and E. Shaver Books were my favorite stores. 





The Paris Market was fun and cute, if highly over priced. I ended up getting a bottle of matches there.


The Olfactory Co. was a neat store. I picked up a book and some spices there. If you ever go, make sure to visit the back room. 


We ended up visiting E. Shaver Books multiple times to pet the kittens. There were three in residence. Great books too by the way. And lots of cool nooks and crannies to read in.





We were only a block or two from Forsyth Park, which made for a nice evening stroll once or twice. The Mercer House was right near by too if you are a fan of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.





We did a guided tour of the Bonaventure Cemetery (speaking of Midnight). Learning about the symbolism and tombstone art was fascinating. It was a touch hot for a 3 hour tour (which was supposed to be two) so be careful when booking if you have other plans or children or husbands who tend to get bored.



The cemetery was huge. We only saw a portion but even that small portion was crammed full of beauty.





And fiddler crabs. The girls managed to keep themselves occupied until they got hungry.



The last day the guys decided to take us to Fort Pulaski. 



Underground passage ways, beautiful views and lots of mosquitoes. It was a nice time though and the girls got to see some history.


It was a nice vacation. Thank you for being patient with me as I adjust to being back home. 

I am taking another course so I am trying to juggle a little right now. I have a ton of posts to come. Lots of photos to edit and things to review. 

Have you been to Savannah? What do you like to do for vacation? How have you been?

12 comments:

  1. Great pics. That Gracie grave is so sad. :( And how fun that you always have someone to go on vacation with you guys. I think one reason hubby and I don't go anywhere is because we feel awkward and isolated in new places and tend to not do much.

    ~Deb

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    1. It is terribly sad. Do you know the story? About the little girl, only child, who passed away while the parents were staying in Savannah? They buried her there and left for Connecticut so she is all alone in Savannah.

      Vacationing with family and friends is definitely more fun. It gives you more people to hang out with and have experiences with if someone doesn't want to do a particular thing. Just go off with someone else. It helps to have things planned too. To book things and research things to do. I am a good traveler. I will go with you.

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    2. I did not know the Gracie story before seeing your pic but I looked it up immediately after.

      Yes, I need a pro-traveler to take me fun places. Good thing you and I are booked for Germany, England, Ireland, all of Scandinavia....

      ~Deb

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    3. Hell yes! We can go to Kattegat!!!

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  2. Julie, your photos are just phenomenal. If I didn't know you weren't rocking about nine million other things in your life already, I'd say you should add semi-professional photographer to the list. Really, this travelogue is so beautiful, I want to go Savannah immediately. :)

    Encounter? Please do tell more; I ain't afraid of no ghosts. ;) That house is utterly gorgeous, though - what a beautiful area. And I think I might want to just move into that bookstore, it's so wonderful! Kitties and shabby chic furniture and books and coziness - how lovely. And I'd also like a lavender mocha now, please and thank you, it sounds incredible. More herbal infusions and what have you in all beverages, also please and thank you.

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    1. Thank you! That is very very sweet to hear. Savannah was a really cool town. Everyone was nice and the sights and foods were pretty great. It makes me want to visit New Orleans next.

      Basically, Adam heard children laughing who were not there. Our very first night he was climbing up the stairs to come to bed and he heard kids laughing. It was late at night. Our girls go to bed around 8:30pm. Once he got about halfway up the stairs he said the children stopped laughing... he thought it was the girls who heard him climbing the creaking stairs. So he goes and checks on them but they are fast asleep. Like mouth open, drooling, snoring asleep... not the kind you pull when you are faking it. So he comes to bed freaked out and cannot sleep at all the first night. But he didn't even tell me about his encounter until we got back home to Lakeland. We aren't really ghosties. We are both skeptical about them so for him to tell me that was pretty crazy.

      I am all about cats and books and herbs in my drinks too. The good things.

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  3. These are my favorite photos you've ever posted, beautiful and interesting each in it's own right regardless of ppl or location. But you do make the city look wonderfully spooky. Yes we've been to Nola, it was even more laid-back than Savannah if you can imagine.

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    1. Thank you, Jay! The spookiness is there for sure. But that made it fun. When I start planning my NOLA trip I will hit you up for some suggestions.

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  4. I vacationed in Savannah approximately ten years ago with a friend. The trip was much like your camping trip in the hinterlands last year with no end of drama. The flight that proceeded us at the airport was hit by lightning and our flight in was akin to being in a rock tumbler for 45 minutes. We were there for St. Patrick's Day, the biggest celebration of its kind in the nation. Had dinner at the Mansion on Forsyth Park which is where we stayed, absolutely beautiful.15 minutes after we sat down, there was a massive power outage. So we had dinner in the dark, much like those crazy gourmand restaurants you may have heard about. The power remained off all night and the entire St. Patrick's Day event downtown was cancelled, HUGE financial loss for the city. Later in the trip we dined at the Pink House and the waiter kept sitting at our table, discussing his personal problems. Hmmm. The temperature took a dive on our last day and I ended up getting the flu from waking around the river walk in a little pair of shorts and a t shirt. I was slightly disappointed in Savannah; a little too clean and Disneyfied for my tastes. I prefer the trashier Southern venues like Memphis! I went to a swap meet there that will forever haunt my dreams...

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    1. LOL! Lordee, Kevin, with the adventures you have YOU should be a blogger!

      ~Deb

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    2. Oh my gosh Kevin!!!! What an insanely chaotic experience!!! That does sound like my hellish camping trip. But hellish Savannah trip is even worse because good money was spent on that!!!! At least camping was a cheap traumatic experience. Oh man. Lightening? Power outages? Flu? Awful. We walked by the Mansion. Ooooo boy. Seriously haute. My sister-in-law visited Savannah and didn't care for it either, but she didn't like NOLA or the Wizarding World of Harry Potter so I try not to listen. I never thought of Savannah as being Disneyfied. Too many road apples and reeking dumpsters and pervasive urine odors but it was very gentrified and I get that. Too old money or something. It made for a fun experience. We probably won't be vacationing there again though like we do in the Smoky Mountains. Memphis! That sounds terribly cool. I am intrigued by so many places but not enough time or money. I think we decided that next year will be the Blue Ridge Mountains. I need to see mountains again. And hopefully you won't have any more disastrous vacations again. My poor Kevin!

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    3. And I agree, Deb. Kevin should blog! I would love to read his adventures.

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