Welcome to Savannah

Day 23: What’s up with boiled peanuts?  We are both scared to try them but they are available in all the gas stations just like they are offering up the soup of the day.  Weird!  The city for the day was Savannah, Georgia and we finally were able to see the old live oak trees with Spanish moss OFFICIALLY.  (Whenever we think of big trees with things hanging from them, we have come to believe they’re from Savannah).

The night was spent in a Flying J and we had a lot full of campers to sleep with. The night was hot, but it cooled off in the morning (perfect blanket weather) and I slept pretty good. Chad’s morning routine consists of sitting half-way up, staring blankly at his surroundings for about 10 minutes without moving and then snaps awake like a little busy squirrel (cleans his teeth, talks fast, cleans sleeping gear, cleans clothes and applies deodorant).

Just on the outskirts of Savannah, there is a plantation-turned-state-park named Wormsloe Historic Site which hosts the oldest ruins of a home from the first Georgia settlers (in the 1700s).  The plantation was handed down to family members and parts of the plantation are still owned by the original family (the new big house and private library).

But, the unique part about the place is the long 2 mile stretch of live oak trees lining the driveway. These trees were planted in the 1800s to commend a birth and over 400 trees were planted. I asked the ticket booth guy if these were the Forest Gump trees….they aren’t. lol

If you were to go in the future to see the trees, you can park the car (without paying) and take some shots. There is a sign that you’re not supposed to take photos before you pay, but you totally can. We paid to drive down the tree row, see the house ruins (you aren’t missing much…I would recommend just seeing the trees) and learn a little about the plantation/area history.

Here’s a shot detailing the history of the plantation so you don’t have to go if you don’t want to.

Next, I mapped out the famous cemetery Bonaventure Cemetery and we walked it. The headstones stones just kept going! There were small and large family plots, and even some graves saying they were confederate soldiers. I think the earliest we were able to see was in the 1820s (year they were born).

The noon hour sun was starting to leak through the big trees and we started overheating. But, we walked so far into the maze of rows that we had no idea where the exit was?! We found a fence and followed it out, which happened to walk us by a very old part of the plot. They were dying to get in here and we were dying to get out of the cemetery!

The remaining afternoon was spent walking the little town squares (literally, all the blocks were perfect little squares), exploring the green parks (over 22 little “town squares”), and taking a few tours.

Parking: Use the Liberty Street parking Garage.  It was only $1 an hour.

We walked through the Sorrel Weed Mansion and learned about the history of the home (as in, what terrible architecture decisions were made with the different ownerships of the home since it was built in the early 1820s).

There was a department store in the basement, upstairs rooms were converted to apartment spaces and the carriage house/slaves’ quarters were also renovated to be apartments. The new non-profit is working to restore the home to its original design (as much as possible) and the tour fees help with the renovations.

At night, there are ghost tours to go on. I guess there were a few kids died in there from child birth, yellow fever and an infected broken leg; the mistress of the house committed suicide by jumping into the garden from the third floor. Also, there were plenty of slaves on the property at one point in time and it is said they hang around too.

I had read online that there was Pirate’s House Restaurant that was said to have had a tunnel underneath that would transport stolen people onto the boats during the pirating time. Chad and I walked almost out town near the bay/river and came across an old looking house.

The house wasn’t much (old and wooden) but there were buildings attached to it which seemed to be the restaurant. Just as we were going to go in, a massive tour bus started unloading ALL of the older people from what might have been the casino or retirement community. With the flood of people, we ducked upstairs (into the new gift shop..ew) and went back downstairs.

At that time, there happened to be a lady pirate coming in from the bar. “Aye, a fellow ginger. Do you abide by the Ginger Code?! Stay out of the sun, live in sunscreen and embrace the pale skin!”

We took a private tour of the restaurant and walked around the different sections of the site. The original house was the pirate’s bar and sleeping area/hotel (1 room with cots on the floor). Underneath was the root cellar to store booze and food. But, there was also a secret underground tunnel that lead to the harbor. During the pirating days, crews sometimes were low on volunteers, so they got creative.

They bribed the bartender to turn a blind eye, they and would put opium and laudanum into the drinks of the bar patrons. After they hit the floor, dead out, they would wake up on the boat “three sheets to the wind”, would have “hang over” the side of the ship for a while with sickness and would have to serve as the slave crew.

A cop at the time wanted to bust the bar, so he sat down, took a drink and woke up on a boat. Drat! He spent two years trying to make his way back to the states and when he did (he made it!), he brought fellow police and shut them down.

Fast forward…empty house…a rich guy bought the whole row of homes…made a restaurant and merged all of the buildings into a dinning experienced (his wife couldn’t let the city tear down the history) and tada! They added an extra toilet within the last 20 years to the ladies room and it went right on through the floor into a large hole. They found a cannon ball! Maybe a hideaway place for the underground railway!?

We walked the rivers edge (cute little market space and real old stone roads) and there happened to be a candy store I was interested in. While day dreaming about what caramels to get, remembering the taste and thinking about sugar, I went head-over-heels onto the sidewalk. I don’t know how, but my foot caught the gutter going downhill and I lost my footing. I guess I was literally supposed to drop the idea of candy and “roll” onto the next adventure.

Enough with the tourist food prices and greasy meals, where’s the greens?  Chad and I headed out of downtown Savannah to a local Publix and purchased ingredients to make massive salad.   While Chad cut out an empty water jug, I prepped the salad ingredients.  MMMM.  We each had three massive servings and finished everything!

We crossed the border around 10 p.m. and settled in for sleep at a Pilot truck stop. Chad spotted our first armadillo! He was scooting around the fence and finally popped out onto outside. The southern possum!