Savannah

 For our Thanksgiving trip 2022 we drove to Savannah to begin our adventures. We left Oshkosh in the snow and ice heading to Chicago. We generally go through Janesville and Bloomington to get to Florida, but because of Savannah's eastern location, we took the Chicago route, not our favorite due to the traffic and tolls but we actually sailed right through. We drove as far as Frankfort, Kentucky and stayed at a very nice Best Western. We had to go extra exits since we had to make sure there was a place near the hotel where we could order our pizza. Remember I said we always have pizza and beer in our room on that first night of travel. Well, we found it all in Frankfort.

The next day we travelled to Clinton, SC with a stop in Asheville NC to do some exploring. We only had a few hours and Asheville seemed like a city we would have really enjoyed so we may have to return for a longer stay. We stayed in a very nice Quality Inn in Clinton and we enjoyed a fish fry (not Wisconsin style but still good) at a neighboring seafood restaurant. The drive so far has been beautiful travelling through the Smokey Mountains. 

We arrived in Savannah and checked into another very nice AirBnB. We did have a bit of trouble actually locating the little cottage but with some help we were in. It was called the Jingle Bell Cottage because the man who wrote Jingle Bells actually lived there. His portrait hung proudly above the fireplace. The Air BnB was again within walking distance of everything. 

We took a trolley tour and learned many interesting facts about the city.  Again, we highly recommend.a trolley tour. We explored the city market with all its shops, bars and restaurants. We enjoyed a boat cruise down the Savannah River on a large river boat and then we walked around the riverfront area which also has many fun shops and eateries.

One of the things that I really wanted to do in Savannah was visit each of the 22 squares and take a photo of each one. We were able to that! All were within walking distance of our rental. Each square is unique in its own way, most have small gardens, statues, monuments, fountains, historical markers, benches, and greenery. All in the middle of Savannah. It's amazing. We also visited Forsythe Park which has a gorgious fountain in the middle.

We visited Bonaventure Cemetery (we did have to drive there) The people in the information area are so helpful and give you map and directions to locate the famous people buried there. We do love a cemetery so we really enjoyed this one.

We booked a nighttime murder/bar crawl walking tour. We were the only people on this tour. We had a very informative, nice young lady as our tour guide.She took us to three bars on our tour where we enjoyed drinks while she told tales of famous murders in Savannah. While it was an interesting tour, I wouldn't book it again.

We enjoyed food, drinks, and sight-seeing while in Savannah. It's a wonderful city to visit and we feel like it's a very welcoming city for Seniors to visit. It's easy to navigate by foot if you so choose. There is so much histrory all over the city so if that's your thing you will not be disappointed. Remember to take a trolley tour and a boat cruise.

The book, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" by John Berendt takes place in Savannah and many of the places mentioned in the book can be found on a walking tour. The book is about a murder in a house owned by Johnny Mercer right across the street from Monterey Square. Of course, we heard about it on our Murder Tour. The Mercer house is open for tours, too. So, you might want to read the book before you travel. Here are some of the places mentioned in the book:

On our way to our next destination, we visited Tybee Island. I was curious to see it since I had heard a lot about it.We were not impressed with it. The North end has a lighthouse and fort you can visit, the beach is flat and wide which is nice. It just didn't have the appeal of St. George Island or Sanibel Island, but then we are pretty prejudiced in our Island preference.The real deal breaker for me was the sign we saw in the dunes between the houses and the beach. It said, "Stay on paths. Venomous snake area." Enough said, we will not be back.

Then it was on to St. Augustine!