Spring Break 2013 (Part 2): Savannah, GA

For the second half of spring break, Mom, Dad, Joe and I traveled to Savannah. Mom and Dad had stopped here on their way to Florida earlier this year, but it was a first time experience for Joe and me. We arrived in the late afternoon on Friday, and to our luck it was raining. We stopped at our hotel, settled in, and planned out the rest of our day. The rain eventually stopped, and we headed out to Mom's favorite place in Savannah--or any city really--Starbucks! After our coffee/hot chocolate fix, we started on our self-guided tour of downtown (aka the sites Mom and Dad could remember from the carriage tour). 

I'm not sure that his particular picture was anything more than a beautiful house we passed while walking. Luckily for our iphones, we were able to quickly find a couple of destinations such as Chippewa Square (where the bench scene from Forrest Gump was filmed), the Mercer House, and The Juliette Gordon Low House. Below, is the fountain in one of the parks. That night we decided to go to Uncle Bubba's Oyster House. I was glad to see they had some chicken on the menu!

That evening we wandered down to the river front. There was some type of art fair taking place. We visited many of the various tents before finding the funnel cake tent. We partook in some lovely funnel cake before calling it a night.

On Saturday, we started by driving to the Wormsloe Historic Site. I had wanted to visit this site because of the beautiful scenery. I remembered that Nicholas Sparks' The Last Song had been filmed in Savannah, and my favorite scene was filmed here. The following picture was the entrance gate.

You had to pay the ticket price to even take pictures of the long oak tree drive. This had been what I wanted to see. We definitely took enough pictures to cover our ticket price! Unfortunately, most of them are on Dad's camera. These are just the ones I had on my phone. We went to the museum on the plantation, did the walking nature tour, and got back in the car for our next destination. 

Joe's Savannah attraction of choice was the lighthouse on Tybee Island. It was a beautiful day to be out near the water! We decided to start by climbing to the top of the lighthouse--and let me tell you--I paid for that decision for days. Those 178 steps to the top were no joke! The following Monday I about cried as I started the climb up the three flights of stairs to my classroom. 

However, the view from the top of the lighthouse was definitely worth it. You can't see it really well in this picture, but if you look closely, you can see one of the cargo ships that we frequently saw while we were there. 

Once we were back downtown, we decided to take the Juliette Gordon Low House tour. It was the house that she lived in once she was married. The tour was very informative, but had several rules! They cautioned against large bags, touching anything, or even getting too close to some items. Dad, who struggles with listening sometimes, wandered back into a previous room while the rest of the tour group was moving on. Our guide stopped midway up the stairs and gave Dad an icy stare until he turned around and joined the group! 

We then walked over to our highly anticipated lunch at Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House, only to discover that they were closed on the weekends! We had missed our chance. We settled for an English Pub--hoping I would be able to get some experience at ordering before my trip this summer :) Later that evening, we walked down to the shops on the river. It was a lovely way to end a great trip!