Savannah

cool downspout

house for sale

We left our hotel this morning on foot and walked the streets of Historic Savannah.  We walked through many of the city squares and toured one old house.  The Davenport house was built by a middle class master builder. It was the first house to be saved as part of Savannah's historic preservation. We also checked out the house where the founder of the Girl Scouts lived.  We chose not to tour it, but checked out the gift shop.  Sadly, they had no cookies.  We had lunch at a very modern place called Fire.  It was like walking from the 19th Century into the 21st.  We also stopped at the Savannah College of Art and Design Museum (SCAD MOA) and saw a very mod exhibit on clothing design.  

Patio view of Davenport House

"Life is like a box of chocolates"

which one is not a mannequin?

Then we drove on to our next city and state.  Before getting to Charleston, SC, we took a brief detour to see the Angel Oak.  It's believed to be 1,500 years old and is 25 1/2 feet around.  We followed a dirt road about a mile down and when we got there, a woman was closing the gate.  It's entirely gated in and the park closes at 5:00 sharp.  It was just after 5 when we got there, she said we could take pictures through the fence.  So that's what we did.  Our B&B was just a few miles beyond.  On the way, we crossed the longest cable-stayed bridge in North America.  The B&B is located on a tidal marsh that goes from being about 6 feet deep to having no water through the course of the day.

Angel Oak

Arthur Ravenel Bridge

Beaches and Peaches

Early today, we got a call telling us that our morning tour of a plantation had been cancelled due to the weather.  Apparently many trees had come down and they needed to do some clean up.  However, there was space in a different afternoon tour, so we agreed to the new plan.  Having the morning free allowed us time to check out Atlantic Beach.  It was overcast and windy, but there was group of sunbathers near us.  We chose to remain fully clothed, at least from the knees up.  

minnesotan on the beach

my feet are in the Atlantic!

always practicing

The sign says swimming is dangerous

After our beach romp, we drove to Chowder Ted's for lunch.  It's located right on the water and the parking lot was full of big pick up trucks, so we knew it had to be good.  We each got the 1/2 pot & 1/2 hoagie.  The 1/2 hoagie was tasty and the 1/2 pot was actually a half full pot of seafood chowder.  You could hold it by the handle and chug it down if you wanted to, although the chunks of seafood were pretty big, so chewing would be advised.  The only problem was the large number of  McCain stickers on the walls.  There weren't any Romney signs, though.

Next, we drove to Fort George Island for our Segway tour of the island!  We had a training/safety session to begin with and then we headed off on the rugged trail.  We did not see any wild animals except for a 5 hour old hatchling turtle.  Since we did not get to see the plantation, we decided to drive over to check it out, but the area was still closed off because of the storm.  We did get a nice driving tour of the island, though.

baby turtle

taking a break

what pros!

along the plantation road

and Georgia peaches

That was the end of our 20 hour stay in Florida.  On our way to Savannah, we stopped off at a peach stand and got us some pecans, peach cider and fresh Georgia peaches.  When we arrived at our lovely hotel, they had a wine and cheese welcome for us, which was very welcoming indeed.  We walked along the river and checked out some tourist shops and then had dinner at One Eyed Lizzies.  We weren't very hungry, so we just had some crab cakes and calamari (Mara's first).  We are enjoying the food and doing pretty well finding local dining establishments.

Okefenokee Swamp and Hurricane Debby

This morning, we left Macon and drove to Waycross, Ga.  Just south of there is the northern entrance to the Okefenokee Swamp Park.  As we were driving in, the car in front of us stopped and we noticed a large alligator on the side of the road.  He was just hanging out and seemed to enjoy looking at us.  

"My name is Crazy"

"Hi there!"

We arrived at the entrance just in time for the next boat tour.  The swamp was completely dry in 2007 and today it was very wet.  We saw lots of bugs and interesting plants, but few gators on this tour.  Next, we had a railroad tour around the swamp.  We stopped for a while at an old camp area.  From there, we saw quite a few gators (the guides have named most of them).  One that chased another right past us.  The big one (Crazy) apparently tries to eat the smaller ones rather regularly.  We even got to hold some babies.  A very fun destination!  

"What big teeth you have"

Alligator Alley

Big Spider

zoom lens?

one year old baby

yes, that's just the head

Yeah! We made it!

Sunshine State?

We got in the car and headed on to Florida.  It's the first time either of us have been there.  It's our first trip to Georgia, too, but somehow Florida seems more significant.  About an hour north of Jacksonville, the rain got heavier.  The final hour actually took about two.  We drove through many deep puddles/shallow ponds where I just drove as quickly as possible to avoid stalling.  I am pretty sure we passed a sink hole, too.  The rain continues to pour down and we have plans tomorrow on an island.  We'll see how that goes.

Aced Atlanta Missed in Macon

"My fellow Americans...  "

The Oval Room again 

Painting by Jimmy Carter 

State flags at the Carter Center

Our tour of Atlanta began at the Jimmy Carter Center.  It includes a very nice museum dedicated to the life and work of Jimmy Carter.  Another replica of the oval room, but with a different arrangement of furniture and trinkets.  In Jimmy's retirement, he's taken up painting!  From there, we went to the MLK historical site.  It includes his tomb near an eternal flame and the home he was born in.  We watched a short movie about his childhood home and his youth.

MLK Historical Site

ML's childhood home

final resting place

Next, we went to the Federal Reserve Bank.  We tried to visit the D.C, site when we were there, but you couldn't take cameras into the building.  The Atlanta Monetary Museum thought ahead and had lockers you could use for all your electronics.  It was very interesting to see the counterfeit examples and the 100,000 bill examples.  You could also look in as they loaded bags full of money into carts to be sent off to wherever they send the money off to.  They were not interested in taking down our address.  As we left, they gave out post cards and bags of shredded money!

Right around the corner from the bank was Margaret Mitchell's apartment where she penned Gone With the Wind.  Also very interesting.  

short story by young Margaret

Rhett, Mara and Scarlett

After a quick lunch, we drove to Macon.  The plan was to visit the Harriet Tubman museum and then the Allman Brothers Museum at the Big House.  What a great plan, however both places are closed on Mondays.  I thought I checked on that, but there must have been a glitch in my research.  The only other place I had written down was the Sidney Lanier Cottage.  He is a notable native of Macon, but his home closed at 4:30 and we got there at 4:37. 

We found some big M's and cute bears, our hotel had a nice pool and we had a lovely restful evening.  Tomorrow the plan is to head into the hurricane - stay tuned.

Birmingham 2012

hangin' on the porch

Cobb Lane B&B

Our day began with a lovely breakfast that started out with a delicious peach cobbler.  After a leisurely morning, since nothing opened until 1:00, we drove to the Civil Rights Institute.  The 16th Street Baptist church is across the street.  It's the church where 4 girls died when it was bombed. The park across the street has many signs directing visitors on a walk along the same routes the protesters marched along back in 1963.   It was about 96 degrees out, so we did not follow the full walk.  At 1:00, we were part of the first group to be let into the Institute for the day.  It began with a movie about the history of Birmingham (founded in 1900) and the civil rights movement.  Then we were allowed to walk through the exhibits.  Very informative.

Birmingham March Walk

16th Street Baptist Church

Next, we went to the Birmingham Museum of Art.  They had a show of Andy Warhol's car paintings.  It's a nice museum covering many periods of art, and it's free with free parking!  After a fairly quick tour of the museum, we headed off to Atlanta.  The goal was to get to the World of Coca Cola by 6:00.  We found the place, and then searched for parking.  We found a lot and rushed to the building.  Not easy from where we parked.  We got to the ticket window at 5:59, but everything seemed shut down.  I pulled out my phone to check the time again and it suddenly changed to 7:00.  Oops!  I forgot to calculate in the time change.  I think we're going to have to live without sampling 100's of coke flavors.

Wayne Thiebaud - Fish Circle

cute and creepy rat sculpture at the BMA

Tupelo and Birmingham

Mara at the pulpit

 We had an uneventful drive to Tupelo and when we got there, we headed straight to Johnny's Drive In for lunch.  It's full of Elvis artifacts and the owners enjoy talking with the tourists.  Next, we visited the birthplace and childhood church of Elvis.  Tupelo is very proud of their native son.  His second cousin gave us a tour of the tiny church he began his singing career in.

Elvis at 13 and Mara at 14

downtown Tupelo

After our fill of Elvis, we headed south to Birmingham.  Just as I was settling into my cruise control drive, I had a problem with depth perception and context.  I saw ahead of me what appeared to be a semi truck.   It was beige and rectangular and looked like a semi some distance away.  Only when I was a few car lengths back from it, did I realize it was actually a dishwasher plopped down right in front of us.  I was able to change lanes and avert disaster just in time.  A mile or two down the road, there were two pickup trucks, one with an empty trailer, pulled over to the side of the road.  I think they were the owners of the runaway dishwasher.  I hope they were able to rescue it before someone ran into it.  

Once in birmingham, we found our 1898 B&B and were greeted by the friendly host.  After settling in, we headed out for dinner and then to the Vulcan park where there is a huge Vulcan statue at the top of a hill.  We climbed 159 steps to the top and enjoyed some lovely views of the sun setting over Birmingham.

Mara practicing her wire routine