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Thursday, February 26, 2009

The Journey: Day FOUR and a Half!!

We headed southeast from Hillsdale, Virginia to Savannah, Georgia to visit my cousin Sharon, her husband Mel and their granddaughter Amber. Here is a map of our route: (Again, click on the minus sign a few times to shrink the map to get an idea of the drive we took):


View Larger Map

We had a little trouble finding Sharon's house because the GPS didn't have her exact address. Plus, she lives off of Whitfield Ave. and Savannah has both a Whitfield and a Whitefield (with an E) Avenue...just to confuse us northerner's (ha!). Of course,the GPS brought us to the WRONG one. But I got on my cell and Amber directed us by landmarks and we got there after all!

They were such gracious hosts! They took us all over the city on a whirlwind tour (thanks for your patience, driver Amber!!).
I had promised Sharon I would give her "at least a 24 hour notice" before we arrived and told her we would either be getting in on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.
Well, we got a lot of miles under our belt,so we called her about 8 hours before we got there.
She teased me the whole time that she would have arranged more for us if we had "given her 24 hour notice".
Believe me, she couldn't have been more prepared than a Bed and Breakfast owner. They took great care of us. In addition, her friend Glenda even also shuttled us around so that I could get some great photographs and see a lot of the attractions of Savannah. Although we could only stay a day and 1/2, we went everywhere and had a great time.
We ate lunch in a Tea Room downtown. A historic building with stained glass windows and tin ceilings and beautiful wood carved walls. Had the best quiche (EVER!) there.
By the way, if you ever need to know how to flirt with waiters in Savannah: Sharon and Amber have it down to an art form. Everywhere we went,they were greeted with a wink, HUGS and the waiters knew them on a first-name basis. We got excellent service with fine southern hospitality.
Sharon and fam: if you are reading this, again: we thank you so much for allowing us to stay at your darling home and for all that you did for us.

Savannah is a charming city. Full of historic Victorian homes with rod iron, columns, widow's watches, huge verandahs, gorgeous oak trees hanging with spanish moss, cable cars and horses and buggies, flowers everywhere.
Here are some photos of Savannah's charms:

First, here are those beautiful oak trees hanging with spanish moss. I didn't know this, but in Savannah, you are not allowed to cut down an oak tree without special permission. I think that is wonderful. Because as you can see,the streets are lined with these huge overhanging wonders,and it makes the city all the more beautiful.





John the Baptist Cathedral sits downtown in the historic center. It is huge and ornate and so beautiful! Here are some photos of the cathedral, which they let tourists take photos of (when there are no services being held). Wouldn't it be a beautiful church to be married in?:
















Here are some photos of the historic downtown area:














This is a house where an actual murder took place and a book and movie were written about it. John Cougar Mellankamp owns the house now:



Savannah's many trolley cars giving tours:



Beautiful flowers blooming everywhere on the trees in Savannah:



Did you know that the whole city of Savannah is built over burial grounds? They say the city has many hauntings because of this. They give "ghost tours".
We visited their cemetery where many of the Civil War soldiers graves are, and many graves are from the 1790's and early 1800's.
Because some of the gravestones were so old, they have fallen and they couldn't tell where the gravestones were originally placed. Thus, they placed them along the back wall of the cemetery to honor the dead. It was very touching and eerie to go along the wall and read the dead's names and dates of birth and death. Most died very young.:




Although I took many more pictures there, I won't post them all (or it will take too long to load for many of you on your computers).
Suffice it to say that Savannah is one of the most beautiful cities we have seen. Full of history, beautiful architecture, flowers, and southern hospitality.
Thanks again to Sharon, Mel, Amber and Glenda for their time and effort to show us such a good time. Love to you all!
My next posts will be all about Florida..as we drove there next.....Stay tuned!!

12 comments:

Insanitykim said...

Wow thanks for sharing the photos and snippets of your trip! Sure you can't come back thru Lexington KY and pay us a visit?? We have wireless! ;)

The Retired One said...

Insanity Kim: I might be coming thru Kentucky on our way home...I don't know yet. That would be too cool to meet somewhere! If we plan to go back that way, I will e-mail you!

efaqffqaewfm said...

Savannah was one of my favorite places I ever visited. I went there when I was about 13 with my girl scout troop to visit the Juliette Low House (the founder of the girl scouts). I had the best grits of my life in Savannah :o) That was a beautiful town... The church is where they recorded the intro to Forrest Gump, when the feather is falling.

Rick (Ratty) said...

So many wonderful sights. Savanna looks like a beautiful city. The part about not cutting down the oak trees caught my eye. In one of my favorite books there are trees that give off a feeling of peace. No one is allowed to cut those down either. The author is from Georgia, in a town not far from Savanna. Everyone who reads his books is always looking for clues. This is a good one.

pehpot said...

oh wow! thanks for sharing this to us! takes some blues (by Google) away..

They just made an upgrade on Blogger Following, Google Friends Connect are now being integrated to it. I have been using both features. To prevent any public humiliation on the users, Google set the settings of Blogger following to private. If you have noticed that I am not following you, I already fixed the followers issue.

I hope that it will not affect our blogging relationship.
Have a nice day!

Make or Break

June Saville said...

Retired One - No wonder Savannah is a favourite. It would ooze history and spirits of the past ... June in Oz

Loree said...

Savannah looks like a very beautiful city. Heck I may have to add it to my list of places to see. I think one of the best things about blogs is that we can all share pictures of different cities and countries in the world and everyone can get to learn a bit more a bout different cultures in a very interesting way. Gorgeous photos!

lizzie said...

I enjoyed this. A great read!

The Retired One said...

Va Bookworm: Yes, we went to the Girl Scouts founder's house too. We also went to a famous boy's orphanage (that is where the photo of the lane of oak trees in my blog above comes from). I didn't know that Forrest Gump was filmed at that cathedral. That is neat!

Ratty: I thought you would like the trees photos!

Pehpot: I was wondering what was going on with the followers and the comments, as I haven't heard from you in a while. Is there anything I need to do on my end regarding the change over? I missed your comments, welcome back!!

June: Yes, indeed. It is ripe ground for ghost lore and for history!

Loree: For sure, add the city to your list. I didn't include pictures of Water Street which is in downtown along the water! They have the neatest shops and you can catch boats and do cruises, etc. Fantastic! Food is good at all the restaurants too. You will keep busy there for a week if you wanted to take a trip there!

Lizzie: Thanks! I will have many memories of beautiful Savannah!

Aria said...

I don't know about the book, but the movie was Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Love that movie (own it!!!) And the second the check clears from my Mega Million jackpot win (not yet, but my day is coming soon, I just know it!) I am so going to Savannah to buy property... Thanks for all the great pics!

The Retired One said...

Aria: you are correct, my cousin told me the name, but I couldn't remember it! I will get the book first and read it and then get the movie. Did you like the movie? You can always get the Savannah property after you get on Oprah and plug your book and it becomes a huge success...its just a matter of time!

Anonymous said...

Great trip R.O. But I wouldn't want to be heading back to the UP either. BTW - You inspired my own fledgling blog at http://postretirementblog.blogspot.com I'll endeavour to spend the time and efort on it that you have on yours. For my part, I'll be waiting until warmer weather returns to leave home here in Tampa. Summers usually find me somewhere between Asheville, NC and Eureka Springs, AR. Safe trip home!

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REMINDER: All photographs on this blog are COPYRIGHTED.
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I retired in June 2008 and started my blog in November 2008. I worked at several jobs as a Registered Nurse prior to retirement. I LOVE being retired! Blogging has offered me a whole new venue to start writing again and to share new hobbies such as gardening, birdwatching and sharing my nature photography. If you like my blog, PLEASE click on "follow this blog". Having a lot of followers reading my blog gives me incentive to continue to do photography and to continue to write. I also LOVE comments, so I encourage you to leave me a comment after you read my posts. Thanks everyone, for taking the time to read me!!

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