Tybee Island

On April 12th we drove over to Tybee Island to see what it was all about (on our way out of Savannah). And let me tell you, there really isn't much to the island. We had borrowed Bill and Emily's GPS (which was totally awesome and was very handy) so we had it direct us to the Tybee Island Lighthouse because that seemed to be a big deal. The GPS took us on some strange roads to get there, but it didn't seem like there were any main roads in anyway. Once we got to the lighthouse we quickly realized there wasn't much too it, and the price to go up was a little steep, so instead we walked out to the beach. We had to walk through this totally bizarre run down fort thing. It was windy and cold, and the beach was not a beautiful beach, but it was nice to see the ocean.

We knew that the lighthouse couldn't be the only thing on the island, so we drove around and finally found the pier. It turned out to not be thrilling, but we still experienced it.

Our friend had recommended eating at The Crab Shack on the island, so we stopped by there on our way out. It was in a very strange location, through some neighborhoods and in the back woods, but the restaurant was on a lake so it was a nice location. We didn't know what to expect from the restaurant, but we were pleased to find a huge pile of alligators! They just have them hanging out in the front.

The food was fine. Joe was able to get some crazy crab and shrimp and I just got a bbq chicken sandwich. After eating we went over to the gift shop to see the cats. Apparently the cats have their own checking accounts that people can donate to, and they have a sweet house to live in. There were these birds that were very strange. They were definitely not interested in us when we stopped by.

All in all Tybee didn't offer much for me. We'll have to try for some other Georgia islands/beaches to see if they are worth it.
Check out the Picasa album for more pictures

Shared Savannah

Savannah, GA (Savanniversary)

To celebrate our anniversary of being married for 5 years (!) we decided to go on a fun trip to Savannah, GA. We drove down Friday afternoon and got to Savannah just in time for our anniversary dinner at The Olde Pink House restaurant. The restaurant is in an awesome historic home.



We were sat in this small dark room with just a few other tables, but it made for a very romantic setting.



When we left we peeked into some of the other rooms and there was one room that must have been the old ballroom or something, it was really pretty, but tons of tables in there and it was super noisy. I was then especially glad where we were sat. The food was fine. We should have tried something a little more exciting, but we both just got steaks.

The setting was so fun, with the little candle and sitting next to the window, I had some fun taking pictures of Joe, and because he's so handsome :)



After eating, we didn't know what else to do, so we just walked around the city a bit. We walked down to River Street and saw all of the craziness down there. There is definitely a difference in the city, from being up among the squares and being down on River Street. There are all of these bizzarre down spouts on the buildings, we had to take some pictures of them.
Also, tons of street performers and artists around trying to make a buck. It makes for a lively scene.


Watching huge cargo ships go through was actually really interesting.

We happened to walk by this huge Yacht called the Apoise. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it before. Apparently in 2008 it was #79 in the World's 100 Largest Yachts, and really, it was huge!


Saturday (April 11) we woke up early-ish and went to Clary's for breakfast. It's the diner that John Cusak goes to in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. The joint was just ok, I'm guessing that the diner gets most of it's traffic from people interested in the movie and not their food.

After breakfast we went over to Forsyth Park. I'm glad we went early because when we went back in the afternoon to get our car, the park was packed with SCAD students and was not nearly as enjoyable. Being there early we enjoyed a quiet stroll through the park, and some decent photo ops of the cast-iron fountain.




It's a beautiful park with wonderful trees draped in spanish moss, just like you would imagine. One great thing about Savannah is that it's a very walkable city AND they have free street parking on the weekends. So we left our car at Forsyth Park, which is the Southern most part of the historic district, and walked in toward River Street, through most of the squares.


We decided to take a private walking tour of the city and came across Gail, who runs Discover Savannah Tours. She was recommended by Bobby, the most recommended tour guide on Trip Advisor, who was booked the day we were there. We met Gail at Chatham Square and started our personalized tour. I highly recommend going on a walking tour, and if you are willing to spend just a little bit more for a private tour, it's well worth it. The next time we go, I'm going to try to get on a tour with Bobby.
Gail walked us through a lot of the squares and told us fun facts about the areas. We walked by Colonial Park Cemetary, passed the Savannah Police station and ended up on Bay Street just in front of the River Street area. I think we were with Gail just over 2 hours, which made it well worth the money. It was also good to go around with her because we saw more than I think we would have had we just been roaming on our own. We were able to retrace some of our steps and spend some more time in the spots we wanted to explore more. Here are some photos of what we saw. You can also go here for my Picasa album of Savannah.

Shared Savannah

We also took a Trolley Tour which took us by a few more places we hadn't yet seen, but if you were going to choose between a walking tour and a Trolley Tour, I would choose the walking tour. That way you can get better pictures and you'll probably hear fewer lame jokes :)
We thought about doing a Haunted Tour, but it was so hard to tell which would be worth the money, the reviews are all very mixed.




For a tasty lunch and an ice cream treat we went to Leopold's Ice Cream. It's a cute shop and they have some good food. Joe really enjoyed their shrimp salad sandwich (gross!)


Through it all I really loved Savannah. It was what I wanted, a beautiful city, with awesome trees and fantastic houses with amazing architecture, the whole city had character. I will definitely go back and I recommend it to everyone. If anyone wants to come out for a visit, we can take a couple days and drive down there!



Here's a great map to play with if you are interested in planning a trip.
Here is a fun guide of Savannah.


Sunday (April 12th) on our way out of Savannah we drove to Bonaventure Cemetery. It's where the Bird Girl statue in The Book (Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil) came from. The city finally took the statue out because of all the tourists trying to find it. The cemetery is huge and really awesome.

From the cemetery we drove to Tybee Island, which I'll write about in another post!