Savannah, GA

Wed., Dec. 11th – 17th, 2019

We had an easy ride down to Savannah and Skidaway Island State Park. A beautiful state park with spacious sites, privacy, hiking and biking trails and close proximity to Savannah. In other words… it’s perfect! Johnny and Stacie were camped next to us. We enjoyed hanging out in their screen house with a campfire (it’s a faux fire i.e. propane not wood and safe in the screen house with a few sides open for ventilation). One hiccup…. they have a short fenced enclosure set up for Niky around their site. I was looking at Stacie and opened the gate to walk in but didn’t realize there was a 4” lip on the fence at the bottom. Ooops. I took a sprawling tumble, but no harm done. I started laughing, which allowed everybody else to laugh. Apparently one other friend did something similar, although not with my style. Johnny said he was going to have to paint the fence with a fluorescent color. I said “that, or get smarter friends.” We sat around the campfire eating dinner and talking about weighty topics like favorite old TV shows and movies, and eventually called it a night. 

Thursday we headed into Savannah for the day. I just love the charm of these low country southern cities… coming from New England where charm abounds, it fills my heart with warm fuzzies to see all the cobblestone sidewalks, historic homes, and narrow streets. Savannah has the added charm of about 22 “squares.” The first six were laid out by General Oglethorpe in 1742 for the purpose of militia training exercises. But today’s squares are quintessential Savannah and striking in their design as an oasis of green in the city with statuary, plants, trees and park benches. As an added bonus, they are frequently surrounded by historic homes and churches. The four of us and Niky enjoyed touring several of the squares. We also visited Forsyth Park with its amazingly picturesque fountain, the city market, and the waterfront with its shops and restaurants.  A fun day wandering around this great city. We had packed sandwiches for lunch (thanks to Stacie) and found a quiet spot (out of the wind) to eat them.

At the end of the day we headed back to the campground where we once again landed in Johnny & Stacie’s screen house and enjoyed a campfire, followed by burgers on the grill, thanks to hubby. 

Friday was a rainy day and a chance for us all to run our individual errands. Gary wanted to pick up supplies for the Christmas Tree he wanted to make. He, unbeknownst to me, had noodled this in his head for days. He does this frequently. That night we cooked Italian at our place… compliments of some of the frozen leftovers from Mom’s 100th birthday celebration… meatballs for the boys, eggplant parm for the girls, pasta and salad.

Saturday dawned inauspiciously with me dumping 2/3 of a box of steel cut oats (not cooked) on Gary’s head and the surrounding sofa. Let me explain… he was sitting on the sofa and the cabinet located above the sofa where we keep the oatmeal is high for me to reach. My hand slipped and 2/3 of the box came tumbling out as I was trying to put it back. I would have cleaned up my mess… eventually… but my oatmeal was ready. It was going to have to wait until after breakfast. Gary opted not to wait. He started vacuuming up the mess. It had gone EVERYWHERE. He kept giving me sidelong looks and saying things like “did you think you were being helpful by putting it away?” To make matters worse the steel cut oats are about the size of the head of a needle. Of course they are. 

Today started out overcast but cleared up as the day went along. We visited Bluffton, SC. A charming town by the May River about 50 minutes from Skidaway. The historic part of town has art galleries, great restaurants and a beautiful church. The town is in the process of building a new park by the river. So great to see this small historic town so vibrant! There is a thriving art culture. On this day there was a “Coffee & Chocolate Fair” going on. Really, is there anything better??? We decided to pick up desserts for the evening… although passed on the chocolate covered bacon. We ate lunch at a charming outdoor restaurant Gary and I had enjoyed on the one previous time we visited this wonderful city. It’s called the Dispensary. We all enjoyed our sizable lunches. Niky was a perfect gentleman and much better behaved than many of the other dogs eating at the outdoor tables. 

Once again we ended the night by the campfire, but skipped dinner this time. 

Sunday morning we had J&S over for breakfast before they headed off to their next destination. We are hooking back up with them in about a week, but it was goodbye for now.  Stacie chose this moment to give us a lovely gift she made. She makes wonderful “faux” stained glass art pieces. Beautiful. This one was a celebration of our new lifestyle with two bears roasting marshmallows over a campfire with the inscription “Living out our best adventures 2019.” So incredibly special. I was in tears, Gary not far behind me. So, so, thoughtful! A photo of it is below. 

Gary used this day to complete his Christmas Tree… he is a creative individual and a very smart guy! It’s amazing what a little PVC pipe, 50 white lights and 400 green lights and ingenuity can create! A picture is included below!  Since he has made it, we’ve had several people go out of their way to come over and say how much they love it. One couple came over to see how it was made and one couple were bummed when they came home late one night and the lights were already off for the evening. Cute!

Since it was a beautiful day today we also took a hike on some of the trails around here. We had recorded the Patriots game so watched them win in the evening. 

Monday we headed back into Savannah to join other friends, Larry & Meredith, for lunch. They live in Bluffton, SC but also just recently bought a home in the mountains of North Carolina. We were fortunate to catch them when they had just arrived back in the area. We ate at a charming restaurant called the Public Kitchen and enjoyed catching up with each other. The restaurant happened to be near Madison Square. St. John’s Church is located next to the square and its bells were tolling as we were walking by so we had to go inside. A docent was kind enough to give us the last tour of the day. It’s one of three churches still standing in Savannah today occupying the same building that it occupied prior to the Civil War. Remarkable. It has beautiful stained glass windows and an unbelievable pipe organ. A beautiful structure inside and out. 

After lunch with Larry and Meredith, Gary and I headed over to a SCAD (Savannah College of Art & Design) exhibit called SCADstory. It’s an immersive 4D experience that tells the tale of how SCAD was started. It’s sort of an elaborate infomercial, but really, really well done! Enjoyable and worth seeing and free!  

Tuesday was our last day in Savannah. The weather was so-so and we had errands to run. We did laundry, picked up groceries, got fuel, and did a quick Lowes run. I also caught up on some emailing, blogging etc. 

Tomorrow we head into Florida.