Savannah to Charleston

Savannah--Where to begin.  There is so much history and beauty here.  Not to mention great food.  So let's start with the food.  Our first Savannah restaurant was the Shrimp Factory on river road which is inlaid with discarded ballast from the old merchant ships.  Ellie Grix (a native Farmingtonian) and Chris Wold (from Southern Belle) joined us for a fabulous meal.   I have become a lover of shrimp and grits.  Of course I  bought and made a few batches using the secret of substituting cream for 1/3 of the water AFTER the grits boil.  YUM!!

Dinner at the Shrimp Factory

Ballast embedded in street

Tom and Ellie had great fun trading punny jokes.  Ellie had been a tour guide in the area so we learned a lot about Savannah from her.  What a great young lady!


I managed to talk Tom into another trolley tour (no small task) and below are some of the sights.  It was a great way to learn the history of the squares and the homes.

Feather steeple from Forrest Gump

Phone booth used in "Something to Talk About"

Girl Scout Juliette Low's House
100th anniversary this year

pirate's house

door from which young men who were
shanghaied were led to waiting ships

Mercer House -- Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
a must read before and/or after visiting Savannah

Oglethorpe statue

Oglethorpe (founder of Savannah) plaque

Statue of John Wesley
appropriately a man was preaching here

Tom by fountain in Forsythe Park

Other points of interest included the cotton buyers' steps and the walls and buildings made from tabby--a "cement" made of oyster shells, sand, water and lime.

Cotton buyers' steps

Tabby wall

 After the tour, Tom and I visited the railroad museum where Tom had a chance to operate a handcar and watch a steam locomotive working on a turntable at the roundhouse.

maybe retirement option???

My good friend throughout childhood, Donna Councilman, and her sister, Diane Paynter, joined us in Savannah on Monday, April 16th. Diane has a wonderful camera and a fine eye for pictures, so many of the next photos are hers including this interesting view of the barnacles on the dock pilings at low tide.  And speaking of tides, wow does Georgia have tides!! Seven to eight feet.  Thank heavens for floating docks!

barnacles on dock piling

We left Savannah on Wednesday morning and headed to Beaufort, SC.  We passed by Hilton Head but did not stop in.    We certainly came to understand why this is called the low country--marsh after marsh.  The dolphins entertained us every day and we tried to keep them around by singing to them (a hint from another looper).  Tom just kept driving and shook his head.  When Donna decided to attempt yoga onboard he was convinced we all needed therapy.

We found "Hello Dolphin" very effective!

Linda and Donna  at Isle of Hope

Yoga

Sun salutation?

The low country

Everybody takes turns driving.  It takes a bit of getting used to and oversteering is the norm, but both ladies got the hang of it.  Tom enjoyed giving them a hard time!

She's doing fine, Donna.  You can open your eyes!

Smack him, Donna!

We spent Tuesday night at Beaufort and enjoyed walking around town looking at the homes.  A few are shown below.

We think this is the house used in Forrest Gump

After dinner we played games--dominoes, five crowns, rummikub--and somehow Tom always seemed to win.  He, of course, reveled in this!  He also has discovered the bug zapper.  The photo tells it all!

No bug is safe on this boat

Brunswick Stew and wine--quite good

We spent one night at anchor before arriving in Charleston. We were up a creek surrounded by marshland and the night was very peaceful, but cloudy so we did not get to star gaze.  Our entertainment was several          dolphins apparently feeding near the edge of the marsh.  What fun they are to watch.

dolphins feeding along edge of marsh

Friday morning after four hour bacon and omelets we pulled anchor and headed to Charleston.