Eating Our Way Through Savannah

Our destination after Florida was Savannah, Georgia. Wandering our way up through Georgia, we saw lots of cotton fields, pecan and pine trees. We spent a night at an un-impressive motel in Valdosta but did enjoy barbeque at Sonny's. By noon the next day we had arrived in Savannah. I kept thinking we would see lines of people waiting to vote at polling places along the way. But we didn't, just some candidates for local offices lining the roads with friends and family holding balloons and banners and waving as the cars drove by. That was the first time I'd ever seen that. Wish I'd gotten some photos! After several warm, sunny days of travel, we arrived in Savannah to find hazy, cloudy, misty skies. So unfortunately my photos of the beautiful architecture and scenery didn't turn out the greatest. We took one of those "hop on hop off" bus tours and were treated to some of the beautiful buildings. Next visit, we'll "hop off" more to explore some of the museums, etc.

One of the beautiful fountains in one of the many parks.

Even through the bus window, this shows a good example of the pretty buildings in Savannah. I'm sure the tour guide told us something interesting about either the church or the house, but I couldn't tell you what it was!

One of several interesting sculptures in the city. This one is of the famous "waving girl". Evidently she waved at all the passing ships for many, many years. Sadly she was probably waiting for some sailor who promised to return, and never did.


Another sculpture that caught our interest was this one of John Wesley. We both grew up in the United Methodist Church but don't remember that we had ever learned that John Wesley had spent time here in Savannah at the request of General Oglethorpe to minister to the Indians. There were rumors of scandal and he eventually left Georgia but his legacy remains. You can read more about him here.

We spent quite a bit of time walking along the cobblestones and steep steps of River St. and checking out the shops and restaurants there. In fact, we ate at three different restaurants on this street. Huey's, Vic's and The Shrimp Factory. All were good, with Vic's winning the top prize.

And here's a restaurant where we didn't eat. The famous Paula Deen's Lady and Son's. I've always heard how difficult it is to get a table here, but we did ask and could have gotten in just about any time. The tourists were pretty sparse in Savannah too. But after looking at the menu and talking to some local folks, we decided to pass on the good ol' country cooking (though I'm sure it was wonderful) and try some of the other local places. But not before we did some browsing in Paula's store.

And guess who made an appearance for a photo op!

Okay, it was just a lovely cardboard cut-out. But she was very friendly, just like I'm sure she is in real life! I don't think she even cared that we wore our Harley gear!

But I now have a new appreciation of cheese grits. Thanks to Uncle Bubba ! If anyone can tell me Uncle Bubba's secret, I'm willing to try to make these on my own. (If you aren't familiar with Bubba, he is Paula's brother)

A short motorcycle ride from downtown Savannah to Uncle Bubba's. No crowds here either. I guess everyone stayed home this week to vote!


More on the food journey. We had ice cream at the famous Leopold's Ice Cream shop. Check out his website for some interesting facts about the shop and it's owner. I can recommend the Chocolate Chewies and Cream!


Finally some blue skies for our visit to Tybee Island Light House. Can you imagine the challenges of being a light keeper at this lighthouse? They must have had some awesome muscles after climbing several times a day!
We made it to the top. All 178 steps! The sun had come out enough to cast a shadow of the lighthouse across the parking lot. Can you find our motorcycle way down there?
Can you tell we like to eat? That's not really all that we did. But we do enjoy finding interesting places to try the local flavors. There's more to be blogged about our journey home, so if you aren't totally bored, come back again and I'll continue with more photos. No more foodie pics though! See you later!