Savannah, GA

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9-30-10
Wandered over to the marina this morning. The couple in the trailer parked next to us was fishing off an old boat docked there. Turns out the guy who owns the RV Park also owns both that boat and Mr. Garwin’s personal craft...bright turquoise blue!! The couple was born and raised in the area. They spoke of the BP fiasco, and of course, hadn’t received a penny from them!! Sounded like BP was in Carabelle in full force and did make some payouts...didn’t sound like any of the locals actually received any funds, tho’...typical! Headed for the Georgia border just north of Jacksonville, FL today. A lot of driving, and when we arrived, we found out you can’t park overnight in their rest areas. Too far to head for Savannah, so finally found a Flying J truck stop 29 miles up the road to park in. As you can imagine, it was really noisy, but the price was right and I was so worn out by then that I slept just fine.
10-1-10
Off to Savannah first thing today. I-95 runs about 10 miles off the coast, so where there’s a break in the forest, you can see the bays on the Atlantic...really pretty here!! Arrived at the Biltmore RV Park at noon. The park is really quiet and just 5 miles from downtown Savannah. We had a nice visit with the owner...they’ve had it since 1958...got settled in and headed for downtown. Drove around for a bit, but as it’s both First Friday and Octoberfest this weekend, we settled for a garage!! A good choice, as we stayed a bit longer than we originally thought!!
We had lunch at the Moon River Brewery on Bay Street. Lunch was fabulous...I had crab cakes and G had the crab melt sandwich...and we shared some fried green tomatoes!! The beer was really good as well...highly recommend a stop here if you’re in Savannah!! Then we headed “down” to River Street. It’s right on the river, of course, but it’s also a story lower than Bay Street...old, historical and really interesting!! We met a couple of retired ladies who were on a week long trip from New Jersey...they were headed to Lady & Sons for dinner...hope it was everything they expected 😊 There were tents set up all along the river for the Octoberfest celebration, so we had a look at their wares, and there are shops and bars all along River Street, so we window shopped a while. Stopped in the Oyster Bar for, you guessed it!!, oysters and a beer!! The oysters were so fresh and fabulous!! And we met a really nice couple there - Francis and Joe. We had a nice visit and learned just before we left that it was their first date!! They had met online!! We wished them good luck and ventured on our way...down to the beer garden area where we met a huge group from Sweden! Turns out it was a 50th birthday celebration for one of them, and they had just purchased a home outside Orlando, so had driven up to Savannah to celebrate!! We sat there and listened to music and visited with them for a while, then off to recover our car and head for home. Nate & Megan arrived just before 2am, so visited with them for a bit (yes, I’d had a “little nap” before they arrived!!) before we all turned in!!
10-2-10
Off to Fort Jackson today. It’s not far from downtown Savannah, so had a look around there, and then there was a cannon firing!! Nate & Megan had been to Savannah last year for Labor Day Weekend, and had been to the fort, but missed the cannon firing....we have a funny story about the actual firing...just call Nate “Power Monkey” and he’ll tell you all about it!!
We were all starving, so downtown for lunch! We stopped at Cafe Loco for sandwiches and beer. It was really good food, but they didn’t have quite enough staff on hand. Left for the coach so we could change and take the bus back into town for the evening! Bus was 40 minutes late, but we had an adventure riding it into town, nonetheless!! Got off right at City Market, so did a little more window shopping! The guys bought cigars and we got beers at Pour Larry’s to wander the streets with...oh, did I mention you can carry your drink around Savannah?? (Think that was Nate’s favorite part of Savannah!!) We had signed up for the Haunted Pub Crawl that began at the Moon River Brewery, so made it over there by 8pm. Our guide took us upstairs...apparently when they bought the building to house the brewpub, they were going to have their seating upstairs and the kitchen and brewery on the main floor. Well, turns out that after hiring several construction crews that kept quitting, they left the upstairs to the ghosts and have all the equipment and tables on the main floor!! There were a lot of stories about “oddities” for that building, but the rest of the tour included 4 or 5 other bars, but not nearly as many stories, or seeing other floors of the buildings. It was interesting entertainment and a good hike for our $10!!
By the time we were finished with that, we were all starving, so headed down to River Street to get dinner. Stopped at Huey’s...the food was absolutely fabulous!!! I would highly recommend it, but with the reservation that the service leaves something to be desired!! It was definitely worth it as it was some of the best food we’ve had the whole trip...thought Nate was going to “die” for the Shrimp and Scallop Linguini with Thermidor Sauce!! It was fabulous...we all ended up sharing as everything was so good!! Then we were full and tired, so took a taxi home. Our driver was a saucy gal who owned 2 cabs with her Mom, while getting her nursing degree! She was born & raised in Savannah, so was fun to visit with her!!
10-3-10
Drove out (in Nate’s new Civic!!) to Tybee Island today. It’s about 10 miles or so from downtown Savannah, so didn’t take very long and we were at the beach!! The sand on the beach was full of shells, but down along the surf it was really “soft”...nice!!! We sat and watched the surf until time to catch our dolphin-watching boat. It was Captain Derek’s tour and we really enjoyed it! Saw lots of dolphins and they would jump in the wake from the boat! It was about an hour long ride, and as the weather was perfect, it was a great trip! We then headed to the Strand to get lunch. Ate at Spanky’s right on the beach!! Again, we all really enjoyed our food and the guys got a few minutes to watch a little football while Meg & I were watching the surf and beach-goers 😊 The Tybee Island Pier was right across from Spanky’s, so we had a stroll out there. Got to watch a fisherman catch a stingray...think that’s the first fish G & I have seen anybody catch in all the pier walking we’ve done!! But we ARE usually out on them midday!! Over to the lighthouse to take a few pictures, then walked over to the beach...the kids spotted dolphins right off shore, so we stood there and watched them for quite a while...they were “fishing”, so you would see a fish jump out of the water with the dolphin right after it...too cool!! Headed back to the coach as the kids have to get up for work tomorrow. An early evening, as we’d had such an eventful weekend!!
10-4-10
Buttoned up everything and headed for Charlotte today. This is the first truly fall-feeling day we’ve had. About 70 degrees out with a light breeze...absolutely gorgeous!! Arrived at the Concord Moose Lodge late afternoon...it’s a really pretty setting off the beaten path. A nice park-like area...we checked in with Earl the Governor and parked out back. Went in to visit with the other “campers”...2 couples, one from Tennessee and one from Florida, who had come up for Race Week! They will stay at the Moose Lodge until Friday and head over to the track to stay. They’ve been coming to the race and staying at the Moose Lodge for years...too fun!!
Then grocery shopping and off to Nate & Meg’s apartment. Had a nice evening just hanging out...Glenn was totally happy to be inside a stick-built area for a while 😊

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