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):


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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!!