Power of Yelp and Yellow Fever

We decided on a novel evening for our last visit to Savannah. Exhaustive research on Yelp and Trip Advisor led us to select a tiny, out-of-the-way Jamaican joint named Sweet Spice, rated #1 by Trip Advisor contributors.  This goes to show what being genuinely friendly will get a business owner.  

DK moved his family to Savannah and opened this little spot on a busy street 2 years ago.  it is nowhere near the historic downtown, and has only 6 tables.  The food is made with love.  His hardworking daughter Shanoy (a student aspiring to a degree in Sports Medicine), and his sweet 2-year-old Nia, along with DK's outgoing personality, make Sweet Spice a reviewer favorite.  They charm you and don't fail to ask you to like them online :)

We were back in Savannah to go to the Davenport House Museum, to attend an  historical reenactment about the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1820. In that year a terrible fire gutted hundreds of homes.  The following spring heavy rainfall left standing water trapped in burned out wooden houses.  This provided breeding ground for an African mosquito species that arrived by cargo ship.  No one suspected insects - they blamed, among other things,the marshes, poor Irish immigrants, and sanitation.  Many people resorted to voo-doo.  Desperate doctors employed draconian and useless treatments, that today we find ludicrous.

A cast of actors in period costume re-enacted scenes in various candlelit rooms, providing a dramatic way to learn about the period.

We walked into the museum with Siti and Robert, Savannahians who have attended these events in the past.  I mentioned getting a yellow fever vaccine for my Ghana trip, and it turns out Siti is dreaming of doing NGO work in Zambia. We had a lot in common and we were  soon evangelizing about home exchanging.  Robert had a few doubts.  We exchanged email addresses, so I can send Siti info about Global Mamas, a great model for her NGO ideas.

This morning was a flurry of house work to leave our borrowed home in good order.  There was one casualty during our stay - at 5 in the morning yesterday an antique mirror crashed to the floor while we were sleeping.  Honest!  We emailed a picture, and luckily our hosts don't seem to blame us.

A 2 hour drive and we met the Kennedys (Charleston exchangers) at Charleston Airport.  They kindly treated us to lunch.  We enjoyed hearing about their stay in SLO and telling them what we liked in Charleston. Handed over their car keys and hugs all around.

Now the slow journey home via Houston and LAX.  We arrive home at midnight.  

We appreciate all of you who took time to read the blog and we loved your occasional comments.  

Just think - in the old days people wrote diaries!

Jackie

Back in the Saddle, Chased by the Feds

We got our mojo back.

Ben wanted to hike around the Savannah Wildlife Refuge, a huge federal preserve just between us and Savannah.  I mentioned that the federal government shut down might make that impossible, but Ben figured miles of trails surely couldn't all be closed.  We arrived midmorning and parked our car (only one in the parking pullout) and approached the gate, which was posted with this polite sign.  But the trail brochures were out, and there was nothing blocking the hiking trail entrance.  We reasoned that the Park Service Rangers are furloughed anyway, so off we went.

I photographed some wildflowers and butterflies and we kept an eye out for alligators.  About 30 minutes into our hike we hear a vehicle bearing down on us.

Busted.

A stern Ranger got out of his vehicle and asked if we had noticed the sign and read it.  All went downhill from there.  Luckily, he let us off with a little lecture and then we had a chat about relatives who work for the Park Service.

Time for Plan B.  

Since we were halfway to Savannah anyway, we decided to head into town and get some lunch.  A foodie guidebook had recommended the Starlight District.  20 minutes later we were parked outside Back in the Day Bakery.  Nothing more energizing that a really cute bakery with decadent goods.  We split something gooey with chocolate. 

The Starlight District reminded us of the slightly seedy (in a good way) area of Sacramento where we lived when we first met.  We walked the streets for a while, admiring the old Victorian houses (some really impressive as above, some boarded up) and then came upon the Starlight Cafe. 

Now we were really glad we revisited Savannah!  I know I earlier said we liked Charleston more, but Savannah is moving up the charts!

A nice lunch in their back garden upped our enthusiasm even more.

We headed down Bull Street and passed through Forsythe Park, which has a beautiful fountain often featured in Savannah tour books.

This whole neighborhood has been taken over by SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design).  They seem to own every other historic building and their students roam the streets.  SCAD is responsible for many of the quirky, cool cafes and shops in the hood.  We stopped in at the SCAD gift store, where all their products are made by students, alumni or staff.

We continued on and stopped to once again admire St. John's Episcopal Church and the Green Meldrim House next door (circa 1953).  This incredible mansion was requisitioned by General Sherman at the end of the Civil War for himself and his officers. In 1864 it was from this house he telegraphed President Lincoln offering "as a Christmas present, the City of Savannah..."

That history lured us in.

 We then met one of the nicest docents ever, Ann.  Ann lives across the street (so in a historic home of her own) and she got married (second time) at age 69 at St. Johns.  Her wedding reception was in the this very Green Meldrim House (which is absolutely beautiful).  We had a lot of fun chatting with Ann - turns out one of her oldest friends lives in Morro Bay. 

 She urged us to join the upstairs tour and so we caught half of the history of the house.  Ben noticed that the guest book had been signed by Colin and Mrs. Powell and Margaret Thatcher.

By now it was late afternoon and time for us to skedaddle out of Savannah and get to Bluffton, where we had reserved a kayak for an evening cruise in the bay.  We arrived in Bluffton in time for their charming Farmer's Market.  We bought some pecans and peaches, and then got pulled BBQ pork sandwiches piled with cole slaw.  A picnic bench in the shade, live music, and some nice folks from Ohio to visit with - we were totally on top of our game!

Our kayak was waiting for us, so we pushed away from the picnic table and headed to the small wharf. The tide was going out and the sun was still beating down, so it was more work than we imagined, but we still got to glide in the marsh grasses and be jolted by fish leaping out the the water.  Egrets flew in and out.

 The sun slowly set giving us some great photo opportunities.

All is all, a great day in Savannah and environs.  The Parkers still have travel mojo!

Green Bombers, Evil Cousins, and Gators, Oh My!

Full disclosure about where we are staying this week:  Sun City at Hilton Head is a mega (population 12,000) over-55 community.  Appears to be all-white other than the guards at the gates and the guys driving huge lawn mowers.  We were joking this morning that the gates and barriers were actually designed by the local Southerners, to contain the risk of culture contamination by all these retiree transplants.

Popular mode of transportation inside Sun City is by electric golf cart.  Our hosts offered us the use of theirs but we were dubious and declined.  They did not offer us the use of the old twin green Schwinns parked in the garage, but this morning I convinced Ben we should take them out for a spin.  This involved Ben having to dig up a bike pump for the flattened tires, and then a search for socket wrenches to tighten the atrophied brake pads (after that, you could at least slow without dragging your feet).  The pie pan sized seats then had to be raised.

And we were off!

Our destination was the .8 mile nature board walk which developer Del Webb built through the small remains of a dense lowlands hardwood forest, which otherwise has been bullied into vast hillocks of lawn and tamed shrubs.  We were on the hunt for wildlife and were quickly rewarded by glimpses of a shy spotted fawn.

Ben gave me a little horticultural lesson on one of my lifetime nemesis - poison oak.  It's evil cousin, poison ivy, was lurking below the board walk.

As we got deeper in the woods and near some swamp, we spied twin baby gators, about 2 feet long.

Other critters were about, including this tiny green lizard.  A giant black spider was spinning his web and this led Ben to admit that at our last house, he had chased an even larger spider under a chair.  He had decided not to mention this to me back then.

Full disclosure about the rest of our activities today - Nada.

This afternoon I watched 3 episodes of Scandal on Netflix and Ben scrolled through Facebook, catching up.  Excuses?  It was hot.  We are becoming burned out travelers.  Sun City has turned us flacid.

We did take a long bike ride (if you can call miles of coasting on Schwinns a bike ride) this evening.  We stopped in our tracks after spying a 3 foot gator on the edge of one of the "ponds".  Ben decided to sneak up on him to take a picture.  Just as he got within a few yards, the gator suddenly splashed and disappeared.  Scared the be-jesus out of Ben.

We rode on and had to keep an eye out for golf carts careening around corners.  Ben wanted me to snap this picture of him to send to his Idaho Bike Ride pals.

We may be losing our travel edge!  Just a few days left.  We will see what tomorrow brings...

Southern Belle in Work Boots

Getting into Savannah from our home exchange stay in Sun City (we are surrounded by "active" retirees and they make us nervous!), was a piece of cake.  Our hosts advised us to park across the river at the Convention Center and take the free ferry across the river.  Not only was it easy, it was fun.

Susie the Ferry just chugged up, loaded us in about 2 minutes and whisked us across to historic River Street.  We then hoofed it up the cobblestone streets and, with a coffee in hand, walked through one of the 22 garden squares that make downtown Savannah so cool and inviting.

Savannah was designed with much forethought back in the day, and the grid of streets surrounding the squares are lined with churches, homes and businesses.  The difference between Savannah and Charleston is apparent immediately - Savannah seems like a real working city occupied by a true mix of people, not just home-renovating millionaires (which you must be to live in downtown Charleston).

The Lutheran Church has an open door policy, so we visited the second floor sanctuary (we have learned that the second floor is the most important floor in these southern buildings.  Cooler and quieter up there).  This church was established by Germans and the services were conducted in German well into the the 20th century.

They had to add an elevator at some point and we thought it noteworthy that they did not go all utilitarian.

While I poked into a yarn shop, Ben discovered this basement level book store, which had every nook and cranny filled with used and new books.  The leather chairs here were all cracked and comfy.  We found books on every subject, with emphasis on southern writers.

We're glad we took the time to visit the Savannah Museum.  They had a special exhibit about Juliette (Daisy) Low, the founder of the Girl Scouts.  

You talk about a Southern Belle in Work Boots! Daisy was born into a wealthy and loving Savannah family and she was a pistol!  Not only was she a beauty, she had the energy of 10 girls.  Probably not surprising since her own mother had the habit of sliding down banisters to save time.  Called Daisy from a young age, she was irrepressible as an artist and athlete.  She became a painter, sculptor, woodworker and iron forger.  Her big mis-step was that she married a very rich, young philanderer, who moved her to England high society, but also made her life miserable with his affairs.

Daisy fit in this tiny gown, which looked to me to be sized for a 10 year old.  She had life long health problems and lost hearing in one ear when a grain of wedding rice got caught in her ear canal.  It was a frustrating disability, but she used it to advantage, turning a "deaf ear" when people would not go along with her plans.

Daisy got tired of the life of a childless socialite in England, and longed to find a purpose.  After the  death of her bad husband (and fighting off his mistress in the courts over his estate), she took the advice of Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts, and created the Girl Scouts (girls kept trying to sneak in the Boy Scouts).  

She headed back to Savannah and enlisted her cousin to start a troop of 18 girls.  By the time of her death there were 168,000 Girl Scouts.  We can't underestimate this achievement - empowering girls to learn skills of self-sufficiency in an era where they still had few rights and opportunities.  She enlisted her maid to start the first troop of black girls, and though the Girl Scouts did not integrate in her lifetime, they are now a world-wide organization open to all.

Ben and I agreed that taking the tour of Daisy's ancestral home was the highlight of our day (unexpected, since he gave up as a Cub Scout and I was a 4-Her!).  Daisy seems to represent our impression of Savannah - a city on the move, keeping up the historic elements, but busy with real life.  

We walked through a dozen of the historic garden squares (enjoying the blessed shade - the sun in Georgia is HOT, even on a cool day) and enjoyed the historic plaques and people watching.

Our advice?  Don't ever come here in the summer!  Charleston or Savannah?  We enjoyed Charleston more.  But maybe we were less tired...