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Thursday 3rd July 2014 The final pack before we left was a little hectic, where did all the extra stuff come from when we haven't done any shopping? We also now have an Esky (cooler box) thanks to Ili and Allan, but carrying it to the train and car hire place caused Rags a few headaches. Thanks to a bunch of occy straps we bought we managed to attach it to the top of one of the cases and we had no problems with it.
After arriving at the airport by train we had to catch one of their inter-terminal trains to get to the car hire section. It is then that you realise how large the airport is as we traveled several kilometres by train to the rental car stop. Here we were given the papers for a vehicle and sent to another section. Very casually, we were directed to a row of cars, told to pick one and drive out. We had a choice of Chevs, Toyota or VW Jetta in white, blue or red. Rags chose VW, Judy chose red. We were off (in the right direction thanks to our gps)
We had
a few wrong turns but the gps soon had us back on course, both of us concentrating on the traffic and being on the right hand side of the road. Once on Highway 75 everything became calmer although it was a little disconcerting to have semi-trailers passing you when you were sitting on the 65mph (104kph) speed limit. Once the speed limit went to 70mph we settled on 75mph (120kph) and had car after car passing us.
By lunchtime we had reached the city of Macon, the scenery most of the way just trees, just after this we stopped at DQ Grill & Chill, one of the very many eateries along the way. We had a lunch special of a large Coke, bacon & cheese burger with chips, followed by a banana sundae, for $5! The place was quite full and looking around we could see that many of the customers were obviously regular partakers of this type of food. Neither of us finished our chips...
The Super 8 hotel we booked online from Atlanta lived up to its promise – spacious, clean, quiet and non-smoking. We were pleasantly surprised by the size and condition of our room
having been caught out before.. As we were some distance outside of Savannah (because everything was booked out for July 4 celebrations) there were only a few choices of where to eat, so we drove to Walmart some distance away for supplies. Here we were able to get some almost healthy food such as chicken caesar salad to which we added egg (you can buy shelled, boiled eggs here) and some drinks.
Friday 4th July 2014 It was Independence Day for USA today so we went into Savannah to see what was going on in town. We are about 15 miles (24 kms) out from the centre but even so, there was not as much traffic on the road as there was yesterday.
We parked at the Civic Centre and walked up the street to the Visitors Centre. This is located in the red brick passenger terminal of the old Georgia Railroad complex. The building, built in the 1850s and 1860s, is also home to the Chamber of Commerce and the Savannah History Museum. It was at the latter that we came across a couple of guys dressed in period costume as soldiers
of the Georgia army in 1779. After paying our admittance fee we joined, or were conscripted by them to re-enact the Seige of Savannah. In the real battle this was during the War of Independence where the local army teamed with the French to attack at Spring Hill. The battle was one of the bloodiest of the war with Franco-American losses of 244 killed, nearly 600 wounded and 120 taken prisoner, and British casualties were comparatively light: 40 killed, 63 wounded, and 52 missing.
We had a bit of fun, Rags ending up carrying the American flag as all around him were shot and we had to we retreat in the end. After, we became the defenders in the fortifications, the redoubt, and it was explained how the well-trained British soldiers, outnumbered 10 to 1, defended their position.
A tour of the museum followed, most a repeat of our play acting, except for one interesting section on Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of the Girl Guides. Rags found this interesting as he was involved in Scouting as a youth, and the fact that his granddaughter has joined Guides and has the same surname Gordon. Judy was also a
Girl Guide and remembered collecting the badges. She also found another interesting exhibit, Forest Gump and his chair which were on display, celebrating the fact that the film by the same name was made in Savannah.
From here we walked along Bull St with its old buildings and square parks regularly along it, this being how all of the early Savannah was planned and set out. This eventually came to River St, the river, not surprisingly, running alongside. This street is lined with restaurants and souvenir shops, although there also seemed to be many locals out enjoying themselves.
We had a late lunch at The Shrimp Factory, also mentioned in Forest Gump. Here the meals were huge, Judy struggling through her prawn salad and Rags through his Pine Bark Stew. The latter came in a large saucepan with a ladle, the waitress firs ladled out a bowlful of the potatoes with prawn, fish, oysters, scallops and sauce into the plate. There was still more for Rags to top up with later! Tasty, but too much and not really spicy enough. The waitress told us the story of how this stew originated. Apparently a couple of priests were being
entertained by locals. The woman fished by tying a net to the end of a pine sapling and bending it into the river to catch the fish. When it flicked back the the priests saw that the pine tip had accidentally fallen into the pot, they loved it so much they called it pine bark stew and this is what it is still known as, even though the waitress says that there is no pine in their stew.
A walk along River Road followed, dropping into several shops along the way, including a peanut shop where we sampled all sorts of flavoured and chocolate coated nuts. We also sampled pralines, these being described as being made with sugar, with added sugar, then some more sugar, and then they add some cream and butter. We found it tasty, but very, very sweet, and it reminded Rags of a confectionery his father used to make many years ago.
Returning along the river itself was difficult with many buildings being right on the water's edge, blocking off the path. We did however, manage to follow it for some way back, enjoying different groups of people with their music and art as
well as just the general atmosphere.
Tonight there is to be a fireworks display on the riverfront but we decided not to stay as we were tired, we would have to travel the distance back to our hotel in the dark, and already there were a few people affected by alcohol being a nuisance.
Savannah is one of only a few cities where street drinking is allowed, we previously seeing this in Seattle and New Orleans, and unfortunately there always seem to be a few who have to ruin it for everybody else. We saw one incident occur and within minutes there were 6 or 7 police there sorting out the offenders. Good to see.
The DOT buses go around much of the town and are free, but the one we went on had few seats facing forward and had very dirty windows. Added that we were tired was enough for us to get off near where we had parked and return to the hotel. Here we cooled down, had showers, and as we had eaten a late lunch we stayed in with a few drinks and dip and biccies for our meal.
Saturday 5th July 2014 Today we visited Tybee Island, about 50kms from our hotel. This island is now connected to the mainland and is situated on a headland overlooking the entrance to the Savannah River. We left the hotel at about 1000hrs and by the time we got to the township it was already difficult to find a parking spot. Rags spotted an empty bay just near the main street and we were set!
The main street consists of souvenir shops, eating places, and bars. At the end it opens up to the beach with the Tybee Island Pier and Pavilion in the centre of it. The beach was packed with people and umbrellas for as far as you could see, the end of the pier with people trying their luck with fishing. We did see one fish caught whilst there, not certain what type but it was about 30cms long and the kid that caught it seemed excited!
We gave up on the idea of going for a swim, the water not at all inviting as it was a brown, muddy colour. We were told this is usual all along the coast and
it doesn't get like ours until towards the tip of Florida.
Judy was interested in to see the lighthouse she had heard about and on inquiring at the Info point was told it was on the other side of town (“go left at the 3rd set of lights, do a dogleg and a bit further on you'll find it”)
We found it witht he help of a map he gave us. Interesting place this, set about 200m back from the high water mark and dominated by large concrete battlements, the remains of where cannons were in place at various times since the 18th century.
The Tybee Island Light Station and Museum are managed by the local historical society who have restored much of it to what it was originally. We were given a brief history of the lighthouse by one of the volunteers while waiting in line to climb the 178 steps to the top of the 145 feet tall tower. This lighthouse was apparently the 3rd lighthouse here, the first two were washed away by hurricanes in the 18th century as they were too close to the sea, but this one was placed further from the
ocean and added to over the years. It has a history covering the wars of independence, civil wars and wars with the French and the Spanish.
The view from the top was well worth the wait and effort, with vistas over the river mouth, down the coast to North Carolina, and inland.
A visit to Fort Screven followed, this being the name of the battlements we saw as we came in. Each batter had its own name and the one that housed the museum was called Battery Garland, Several other of these batteries are now privately owned and one was even the base for a private residence. At Fort Screven coastal defence cannon were mounted and a garrison of troops manned it until it closed after WW2.
By now it was well after lunchtime and we set off back to Savannah, rather than head back toward the main part of Tybee Island which we thought would be very busy. We were right - as we headed out of Tybee toward Savannah the traffic coming toward us was now bumper to bumper for at least 8kms and we were very glad we hadn't come later and were leaving
when we did.
The Lady and Sons restaurant in town was our destination, we told by a good friend that this was the place to go. Arriving at 1500, we were advised that they were booked out until 2100 hrs but we could wait in the bar and hope for a cancellation! We declined and ended up at the Outback Restaurant, supposedly an Australian themed place. Margaritas, Wings and Salmon aren't the norm for Australia but that's what we had and a most enjoyable time was had with our engaging waitress.
The heavens opened on the drive back to the hotel, the wipers hardly coping and water at least 15cms deep flooding the road. We made it back very slowly at times, surprised when we reached the hotel that no rain had fallen there. A quick freshen up therefore, and we drove to Walmart for a little bit of finger food, as we did not need anything after our large, late lunch.
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Vera Stanley
non-member comment
Weather looks nice and warm !1
now thats well feed squirrel he's lovely can i have one please !!! love Vera