As Christmas was approaching, we realized we would have quite a number of days with both the kids off school and Nate off work. At the last minute, we decided to go to Savannah, Georgia. It had been on our list of cities that would be fun to see, and was much warmer than Maryland. Of course the whole East Coast was under a cold spell, but at least it was 20 degrees warmer in Savannah. We headed down for 5 days/4 nights.
There will be lots of pictures of us in our jackets, as we seemed to spend most of our time doing outdoor activities.
Forsythe Park is famous for it large oak trees with Spanish Moss. The kids liked the playground there.
A street peddler gave Karina and Lydia flowers. He was done selling for the day and gave his extras to them before heading home. This is in downtown Savannah along the water.
One day we got all-day tickets for a trolley tour, where we could hop on and off as many times as we wanted at the different stops. This was a highlight for the girls. At one of the stops, we got off to tour the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist:
Petting carriage ride horses at the City Market (another trolley stop):
Along River Street:
The girls and I also toured Tybee Lighthouse 20 minutes from Savannah, while Derek took a nap in the car and Nate stayed with him.
Karina counted all 178 steps.
View of the ocean from the top:
In the Tybee Lighthouse museum, looking at some old carnival rides:
We ate Southern food for basically every meal - yum. We had a Southern buffet nearly every day and I loved the fried chicken and sweet potatoes the most, but also liked things like succotash, corn bread, fried green tomatoes, okra, biscuits, creamed cauliflower, mashed potatoes and gravy, banana pudding, peach cobbler, etc. The most famous restaurant in Savannah is called Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room and for some reason I decided we needed to go. Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room is located in the bottom level of a historic home on Jones Street. According to the magazine Southern Living, Jones Street is the most beautiful street in the United States. According to our trolley tour driver, the phrase "Keeping up with the Joneses" comes from this street and the nice homes and rich people who live there. And yes, it was a very pretty street that we walked some of and drove the whole length of. I knew the lines at Mrs. Wilkes would be long as online reviews warned of the lines, but I figured it wouldn't be too bad on a cold day in December. The place is only open for lunch from 11-2 and has about 80 seats. Food is served family style at large shared tables. We arrived at 10:45am to get in line and began the long wait. If we had known we wouldn't get to sit down and eat until 1:15pm, I don't know that we would have bothered, but wait we did! The food was in fact delicious and we ate plenty, though I don't know if any place is worth a 2.5 hour wait. Derek actually seemed to enjoy the wait, as he just played in the dirt and garden beds of the houses along where the line wrapped around. The little guy doesn't need more than a few sticks, some rocks, and a little dirt to be entertained for hours. Karina and Lydia kept entertained by going on mini walks and stalking some friendly residential cats.
My favorite restaurant and buffet in Savannah was the Pirates' House (built in 1734 and surrounding the oldest home in Georgia). It apparently was really used by pirates with underground tunnels, a dungeon, etc. The food there was delicious and there was no wait, and the building was cool. We also had a buffet dinner at Paula Deen's restaurant - she is a famous chef and tv host. The food there was pretty good.
At the Georgia State Railroad Museum, the kids got a couple chances to drive a handcar. They enjoyed using the seesaw to move the car back and forth on the train tracks.
We took a train ride on an antique diesel locomotive:
One afternoon, while Derek napped in the car with me, Nate took the girls to Old Fort Jackson, a fort used during the War of 1812 and the Civil War. Karina and Lydia liked the camp fire the rangers had going:
Karina told me Old Fort Jackson and the trolley rides were her favorite activities in Savannah. They seemed to really enjoy exploring the fort.
Soldier bunks:
Nate threw the girls into the jail and made them hang signs over their necks for their crimes of being a thief and a shirker:
Lookouts:
Cannons:
Ammunition storage:
We also toured the birthplace/historic home of Girls Scout Founder Juliette Gordon Lowe since Karina is a girl scout, and Lydia probably will be one next year. Derek was tired and cranky and got kicked off the tour, so he and I left early. Unfortunately, he wasn't just tired because he ended up throwing up 11 times that day:-(
Later we went to Fort Pulaski National Monument, which was used during the Civil War.
And that was our trip. I am still missing the yummy food and the pretty houses!
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