Tuesday: Said our goodbye’s to the Shelton’s and headed on
our way to Savannah. The drive it about 3-4ish hours but we decided to take it
slow and take the back roads through the southern towns to get more of the
southern experience. I am glad we did! We saw lots of cool farms and sleepy
little southern towns. If we would have had time I would have stopped in every
town along the way. When we got to Savannah we didn’t really have a “game plan”
so we just went with the flow and we ended up down at the river perusing the
shops and watching the boats sail in and out. We ate at Tavern Exchange and
then enjoyed the beautiful weather with a stroll through the streets of
Savannah. We enjoyed some quality picture-taking time, although most didn’t
turn out fabulous we still enjoyed our time.
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| Savannah Riverboat |
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| The Church that is in Forest Gump |
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| Fountain in the Middle of Downtown Savannah |
Wednesday: We took a bus tour of Savannah and learned all
sorts of stuff about people who have lived in Savannah and why the city is so
beautiful. I can’t recall anything special that we learned but it was fun to
learn at the time. We had Ice Cream at the famous Leopold’s and it was good. We grabbed ourselves a few slices
of pizza from Mr Pizza and headed on our way to Charleston. We found our way to
the Riverwalk in Charleston and ate at Griffon Pub. After dinner we walked the river
and enjoyed the sea breeze for awhile. We walked down Market St and did some
shop-hopping at the various shops. Charleston is a quaint southern town – the
charm in the streets and the houses made it easy to understand why people of
all walks of life are drawn to the charm. We did stay in a hostel this night –
it was Brett’s first experience with a hostel and he was not impressed. I would
have to say that it was definitely the best hostel that I have ever stayed in.
I don’t think Brett will be returning to a hostel any time soon.
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| One of the 26 squares that are in Savannah |
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| A church |
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| This is a monument in the main park where most things happen in Savannah |
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| Charming homes |
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| Charleston Riverwalk |
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| Pineapple Fountain in Charleston |
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| Park along the river |
Thursday: I really wanted to go to the beach at least one day and it just happened to be this day that we were supposed to go. We woke up to it pouring rain!
L It was starting and stopping and it looked like we might be in luck so as we waited out the storm we walked through the charming downtown streets of Charleston and enjoyed all of the charm and beautiful houses. Then we made our way to the Isle of Palms Beach and were able to spend about an hour swimming in the water, laying on the beach and enjoying ourselves. While we were swimming we saw some dolphins about 50 yards away from us. It was pretty cool to see them so close. We dried off and headed to Middleton Place Plantation. We spent several hours touring the plantation, the gardens, the house, learning about life on a plantation. We learned that the Middleton’s had a lot to do with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and are signers of one or both of the documents. The son or daughter (I forget which one) then married someone whose father was also a signer, making them the only couple in history with both a father and father-in-law who signed the Constitution. What a legacy! That night we retired to the hotel early and Brett watch the Seahawks vs Chargers football game.
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| um.... |
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| Pottery Worker at Middleton |
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| Beautiful gardens at Middleton |
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| Brett's favorite part of the Middleton Plantation - the water buffaloes |
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| Charming Charleston Homes |
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| Playing in the park |
Friday: We spent the day making our way towards Virginia,
with our final destination being Williamsburg. We drove the most of South
Carolina, all of North Carolina, making a final stop for Zaxby’s in North
Carolina before entering into Virginia, who doesn’t have Zaxby’s in convenient
locations. We made it to Williamsburg about 430ish that afternoon and spent the
afternoon walking around Williamsburg. We didn’t pay to go in any of the shops
or anything but it was cool to be able to see the town and for Brett be able to
experience a little bit of Williamsburg. We walked through the College of
William and Mary, which just happens to be the oldest college/university in the
US. We ate at the Cheese shop, as
recommended by Zach and Megan and then headed to our hotel, which was literally
one block away from Williamsburg. We hung out there for the night, watching
shark week and football.
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| Govern's Mansion |
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| Court House |
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| I finally caught him! |
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| The Wren Building - the oldest educational building in the US. |
Saturday: We slept in again and took our time getting ready
before we headed out to Jamestown. We saw the Jamestown settlement and where
able to see several artifacts that have been preserved through archaeological
digs. We spent some time at the glass blowing shop and enjoyed watching the
artisans make various things out of glass. It started to downpour a true southern rainstorm. We headed to Richmond and drove
down monument ave, seeing several statues of famous people from Virginia. We
were also able to see the confederate capitol building but there was not
convenient parking so we opted to forgo going inside. One of Brett’s favorite
bands and mine was playing Richmond that night so we were able to catch a
concert of Jimmy Eat World to finish out our trip. The concert was in an old
historic theater that had been restored and it was really cool to be able to
see them – Brett was able to fulfill a life-long dream. They were very good in
concert and we enjoyed it.
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| The Glassblower |
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| A house at Jamestown Settlement |
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| Robert E Lee's statue in Richmond on Monument Ave |
Sunday: We traveled the 7ish hours home and were able to
make it home by about 230 pm. We didn’t hit a lot of traffic, which we were
very worried about and it was smooth sailing. We were able to get home in just
enough time to do a few loads of laundry and make it to a youth fireside at
Bishop’s house.
We enjoyed our trip and we are very glad that we were able
to get down to the Atlanta area and enjoyed some really awesome time together
before we won’t get to travel like that for quite a few years. It was a good
last hoo-rah before starting the next chapter of parenting and “family trips”
take on a whole new meaning!
