Savannah, GA
Mar. 23, 2019 - Mar. 31, 2019
YAY! I have received my supply kit from Gypsy Wood Leathers! I found them at the International Quilt Festival in Houston last November, Cathy Wiggins uses quilting to "tool" leather. It was sooo cool, I had to sign up for one of her classes. It will be a Texas Longhorn and if I am successful it will be an auction item for the International Student Foundation's fundraiser in October. Of course if I am not successful, I will have to make a traditional quilt. The ISF is a great organization to help kids who age out of foster care with college. Not just the money side of things but with mentoring for success in all areas of life. My friend John Kelly has started a Northeast Louisiana chapter, it has just gotten started and will have a huge impact for the young people in Northeast Louisiana. If you want to learn more email John and or check out the Facebook page.
A week or so ago we bought "The Savannah Walking Tour & Guidebook". Today's tour was tour number 4. We started Saturday at the Central of Georgia Railroad museum. Just outside was the Spring Hill Redoubt, the site of a horrible defeat for the revolutionary forces during the siege of Savannah. A beautiful monument was just outside as well. The Rail Museum was awesome for a couple of nerds like us! We got to ride the train thru 3 turns on the turntable. There were several different engines and cars on exhibit and there were preparations for a wedding in the afternoon. The actual ceremony was going to take place in the metal working shop. Those wedding photos are going to be AWESOME! They had several different model train exhibits too. I particularly liked the N scale.
We walked past the fence of the visitor center, is it just me or do the fence ornaments look like skulls? And check out the windows at the visitor center, they are shaped like the liberty bell.
We chose "The Grey" for lunch, it is in an old Greyhound bus station. We lucked into soft-shell crabs, they were not on the menu yet but we saw them come thru the service window. They were very yummy. Next was a stroll thru the gardens at the Ships of the Sea Museum. A few blocks away is the First African Baptist Church, a key spot on the underground railroad. And a bit further down was City Market. We enjoyed people watching as we strolled thru the market area. We went in the "The Lady and Sons" gift shop, we didn't buy anything but it was fun to shop. Then we strolled back to the car via the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist and the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences where we chatted with a professor of archaeology. They were doing a "dig" on the side of the building. And finally, I have a thing for pretty utility covers. I love the New Orleans water meter covers.
Sunday was reserved for tour number 3 of the guide book, which is essentially Forsyth Park. I am not sure if this is the same Forsyth as the park in Monroe because this one does not have an "E" on the end and I haven't taken the time to do the research ~grin~. On the way to the historical districts we got a couple of more "end of the road" signs. We spotted a gargoyle on the Independent Presbyterian Church that we missed the first time we passed by here. Then we spotted a very, very, rare version of the Mini Cooper... the Scottie Mini.
We got a better picture of the house that served as the home of the lead character in "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil". We made it to the Forsyth fountain and I am so happy the water is not still green! (They die all the fountains green for St. Patrick's Day here) It is a beautiful fountain and a beautiful park and as you can see the locals are out in full force enjoying the beautiful day. We stopped at Clary's Cafe for lunch. Turns out it was in the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil too and they had pictures of Clint Eastwood....I love Clint Eastwood!
We ended with the first house saved by the Savannah Historic Society, the Davenport House.
Monday we dropped the Jeep at Scott's Auto Body and Refinishing Inc. and picked up a rental car. (Remember that we hit a "road gator" on our trip to Baton Rouge a couple weeks ago?) We drove out to Hunting Island 'cause...Light House! And look a beach! I love the beach; there were signs saying "stay off the rocks" but the only rocks I saw were these stacked rocks. I don't think these are the rocks they meant. I am so happy that Elard's knees let him climb all these lighthouses without me! We had lunch at Fat Pattie's...great burgers and beer. I'll bet the ice cream was good too but alas, we were too full to try it. We ended the day at the US Marine Corp Museum on Parris Island. So much information! It is a well done museum. It felt a little disrespectful to me to take pictures, so I didn't. Elard's dad, Elard, served in the Marines.
Tuesday was again laundry day, and I was able to get the outline of the Texas longhorn on to the leather in preparation for the quilting. Wednesday we drove back out to Hilton Head Island. We ate at a great seafood place, "The Sea Shack". We split their "little bit of everything" platter, so good. I did not know that the south end of the island required essentially a toll to get into. The island is very pretty, we visited the Stoney-Baynard Ruins. Old plantation site with a few tabby remains on display. Thursday we were able to pick up the Jeep from Scott's Auto Body. They really did a fabulous job. Penny Fort went above and beyond to get things done and done well, knowing that we plan to leave the area on Monday. Thank you so much Penny.
The 84th Annual Savannah Tour of Homes began on Thursday too. We did the Friday tour which included 5 houses. It is so generous of the home owners to open their beautiful homes to us. The Christ Church members did a great job on the floral arrangements for the homes and the tour guides did a great job of sharing the home details with us. Thank you to all for allowing us to tour.
Saturday we did the Bonaventure Cemetery tour run by The Bonaventure Historical Society. They did a great job of giving us a tour and the Old Town Trolley Tours provided the transportation out to the cemetery and back. It has been named the 5th most beautiful cemetery in the world and let me tell you this place is beautiful. The craftsmanship of the headstones and monuments is impeccable. Little Gracie is the most photographed monument in the cemetery, especially since the "Bird Girl" was removed to the museum in town. Little Gracie was the daughter of the Hotel Pulaski's manager and she died of pneumonia in 1889 at the age of 6. She had apparently captured the hearts of everyone who visited the hotel. The historical society had a guide dressed in period costume as Gracie's mother, she told the story of Gracie in such a touching way. The society also had a lady in period mourning costume to tell us about the requirements for mourning placed on ladies who lost their husbands back in the early 1900's....poor thing. The cemetery was intended to be a soothing place. People would visit regularly and have a picnic at the grave sites. Some of the sites even had Table monuments so that you had a place to eat for your picnic. And my goodness look at all the beautiful dogwoods. We visited Lady and Son's restaurant for lunch. It was okay, I thought the breading on my catfish was too thick, but Elard said his shrimp poboy was good. My mashed potatoes were excellent, as was the peach mint julep!
We finished our second day ticket with Old Town Trolley Tours with our tour guide Christopher J. He was hilarious, we enjoyed him very much. We even got to meet his wife who does a "Sip and Shop" tour! We were stopped at a light and she was on her way to start the sipping.
We will be leaving Savannah on Monday, we have had a wonderful time here.
Make Life an Adventure Y'all.