Well rested after our St. Augustine road trip, we got a good start for our drive North for our Savannah road trip, but first we needed to stop for breakfast at my wife’s favorite place:
I hate it when a meal at a restaurant is a disappointment. It feels like such a waste of money knowing you could have made something better yourself. My meal wasn’t terrible, I just felt it wasn’t worth what we paid for. Shelly enjoyed hers though, so not a total loss I guess.
Anyway, after a few hours we ended up in Savannah at about 11am. Too early to check in to our hotel we decided to drive to the historic downtown area, but of course we got lost. We had a map from the hotel (we don’t have GPS or a working data plan on our phone), but it didn’t help much because it was one of those cartoon-like maps that sacrifices accuracy for childish stick figure images. Who puts stick figures on things anymore, really? Oh, wait…nevermind. Anyway, we ended up driving on ML King Blvd. passing several numbered streets, which we later learned was “the hood”. Cool?!
We turned around and made our way in the proper direction and found the restaurant that many people recommended to us for lunch; however, with a line-up out the door and around the corner, we simultaneously said “Fudge that”.
To be honest we weren’t that hungry yet anyway, so we hit our first desired stop – Chippewa Square.
Savannah’s historic district has so many squares. They’re actually small parks with trees and benches and are just a neat gathering place to chat, do yoga, or watch your dog move its bowels. So what’s the significance of Chippewa Square, you ask? This is the square where Forrest Gump sat telling his life story to complete strangers while he waited for the #9 bus (even though his mother told him not to talk to strangers). Anyone who knows us knows that Forrest Gump is one of our favorite movies. You can imagine my disappointment when there was no bench. Nor a sign indicating this was where he sat. Nothing. Just. Black. Mulch.
What Chippewa Square Looks Like:
What Chippewa Square SHOULD Look like:
Another disappointment. But that would be the last on our trip, because we had an epic lunch at Vic’s on the River. It was recommended to us by a family member from Canada, and super-glad they did. I ordered a meatloaf lunch that was $12 and it was possibly the best of the following I’ve ever had:
- meatloaf
- mashed potatoes
- green beans
- $12 lunch
I had so much food I had to give Shelly some. Yes, I gave some of my food to my wife. Usually it’s the other way around. Speaking of round, I was so full I had to roll myself out!
With lunch out of the way we walked around some more, taking in the sights and the architecture. At one point we decided to grab a beer (which you can walk around town with) and we sat on a bench to watch a freighter go by. This was pretty funny to us because we had just come from living in Panama for over 18 months, three of which were in the city where we would see ships in the harbour or going through the canal on a regular basis, rarely stopping to watch them.
Our next day in Savannah was a busy one. We drove back to the historic area for an amazing tour – the Savannah Taste Experience’s First Squares Food Tour. Food tours like this are such an awesome way to see a city. You learn some history and you get to dig on local dishes. If I could recommend one thing to do in Savannah this would be it. Three plus hours of good food, town history, stories about people like Robert Redford and John Mellencamp, and did I mention food?
After our food tour ended our Savannah road trip was over, so we hit the road for a four plus drive back to Melbourne, but not without incident…
With less than an hour to go and nightfall upon us, we noticed something odd in the sky. A red blinking light similar to that on a cell or radio tower, only it was way too high in the sky to be a tower. And we could make out another shape too, like a fogged headlight shining straight ahead. It helped illuminate the rest of the large object, but this was no plane, this was a UFO of some sort. We were so perplexed. Then, out of nowhere a plane comes swooping across the horizon ahead of us like it’s going to land, but then the plane stomps on the gas and veers towards the UFO. YEAH! The Air Force is on it! We’re seeing something amazing here, and all through the windshield of our car! As the plane comes close to the UFO it appears to almost hover, then leaves the scene shortly after. Maybe he’s going for backup?
Closer to the scene we can now make out the object. It’s not a bird. It’s not a plane, and it’s not Superman. It was a blimp. We had reached Daytona and figured it had to do with the upcoming Daytona 500. Oh well, it made for an entertaining 15 minutes on our journey home.
Now go sell all your stuff and enjoy a road trip!