Wednesday, July 29, 2009

(obligatory Paula Deen reference)

This weekend the LOML and I went to Savannah, GA to see our good buddies, Fef, Clay & Wyatt, and also to get a little R&R before the school year starts. This was my first trip to Savannah, but after this weekend, I’d put it in my Top Five cities to live in one day.

Saturday morning, we drove over to the beach at Tybee Island. Savannah doesn’t really feel like a “beach town” and I knew it was surrounded by “marsh land,” but I didn’t know it was so close to a “real” beach (excuse my excessive quotations). It was seriously, the warmest ocean water I’ve ever felt, and the LOML did a great job documenting my first experience skin boarding (I’m sure the picture looks a lot more impressive than I actually was). Saturday night we drove around downtown, walked down River Street (Savannah’s version of Bourbon Street) and had dinner at Huey’s. I don’t know if it was the Miley Cyrus movie filming in town, but Savannah was HOPPING Saturday night!!

After church on Sunday, we left Fef & Clay and headed to the 1895 Inn. I found it on Trip Advisor, and after reading 5 Star review after 5 Star review (there were literally nothing but 5 Star reviews), I booked us a night in the “Sovereign Room” (apparently, the Mrs. and I have turned into “B&B people”). Ed, the owner, was hilarious, informative and an all around great host (he and the Mrs. talked about interior design for about 30 minutes if that gives you any idea about "fabulous" Ed). The Inn could double as an art museum, and had an original Picasso, Toulouse-Laurtrec (the LOML knew that one, not me), and Thomas Hart Benton (Jackson Pollack’s mentor) amongst others.

After checking in, we walked around downtown, took touristy pictures, any had dinner at Six Pence Pub. The food was pretty mediocre, but they did have tasty Fat Tire Ale (in 22 oz bottles!). And for all you JULIA fans, this is where they filmed a scene in Something to Talk About (I had no idea, but the LOML told me).
Speaking of touristy pictures, the “Life is like a box of chocolates” scene from Forrest Gump was also filmed in Savannah at the Chippewa Square. The actual bench was a prop, but we acted out the scene on a random bench that looked pretty good. After dinner, we got ice cream at Leopold’s (famous for creating the flavor that inspired the song “Tutti Fruitti” . . . I got a sample, but I didn’t think it warranted a full scoop). One of the founder’s sons, Stratton Leopold, grew up to be a big time Hollywood producer, and the place is covered in REALLY random movie posters (Bless the Child, the General’s Daughter, Paycheck, Tango & Cash).

Savannah is probably the most pedestrian friendly city and has 21 town squares with little parks and monuments, etc. The Mrs. was a good sport Monday morning while we took our own walking tour of the city. We passed by Flannery O’Connor’s childhood home, saw the fountain at Forsyth Park and walked by Mrs. Wilke's Dining Room (and the line that went out the door). We grabbed lunch at SoHo South CafĂ©, then went to the SCAD bookstore and headed back home.

Did anyone else know SCAD is only like 30 years old?? Yeah, me neither, and the school has pretty much taken over downtown. The LOML got a SCAD t-shirt and I got some sweet SCAD sweat pants (I’m sure if they were Sean John, it would be no problem).

6 comments:

Unknown said...

looks like y'all had a great time. We went there a couple years ago, and I agree, easily top 5 favorite cities. I want to go back now!

You didn't wait in line for 4 hours to eat at Lady and Son's?

Jay said...

1)You should have eaten lunch at Mrs. Wilke's; that place is the fire!
2)Where is the pic of the Mrs. at Lady & Sons posing with a cardboard cutout of Paula Deen?
3)I hope you ventured into all the candy stores on River Street for the free pralines.

MIMI said...

That sounded like a lot of fun! BTW, I love Flannery O'Connor and have a book of her short stories that I've read more than once. I love reading about and seeing photos of your adventures... that B&B looked charming! Amazing that it had original art of that calibre. Were those paintings nailed down? Savannah was the setting for the non-fiction best-seller "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" - ever read it? Your summer sounds full of travel and fun!

Anonymous said...

Such a great post!! I am posting my pictures soon!! Thanks again for taking them. So glad ya'll were able to come and cant wait for the next visit!! PS: now Clay and I want to stay in the Inn......It looks sooo fun!

A said...

Zach – we walked by Lady & Sons, but they close pretty early on Sundays. We did check out the bookstore!

Jay – I definitely want to eat @ Mrs. Wilke’s one day . . . probably more than the L&S . . . I did almost pick up a L&S koozie.

Mimi – after Paula Deen, Savannah probably has more Midnight in the Garden . . . memrobilia than anything else. We heard the movie was slow, but it looks like the book was a big hit!

Fef – We had some much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yall are the best!!!

starbucksgirl said...

Oh man. What a great post. I have been on the curious side of wanting to know more about Savannah. I had heard of the Hollywood producer turned ice cream shop owner. Looks like a great place.