Sweet Savannah

Sometimes reality is difficult to come back to.

Brian and I just spent 5 glorious nights in Savannah, GA. It was the perfect break from our jobs and our graduate school. We spent our time eating, walking around the city, touring old things, sleeping, watching Grey's Anatomy, and, did I mention, eating? 

I haven't weighed yet, but I am thinking those -4 lbs. from my pregnancy may have changed a little bit.

We left Birmingham last Friday after work to head to Atlanta. Our hope was that a break in the driving would make the drive a little easier. We were SO right. We stayed at the Renaissance at the airport, which is practically on the runway. The view from our balcony was so cool. As the daughter of a retired Delta employee, I love Delta and therefore love the Atlanta airport.





Saturday morning we grabbed a quick breakfast at the Dwarf House, which was the first Chick-Fil-A, then made our way to Savannah!

Saturday night was pretty chill. We checked into our hotel then walked around the city. Our hotel room was so classy and nice. And it had a gigantic tub, which did my heart good :)

For dinner Saturday night, we had a delicious pizza dinner at Vinnie Van Go-Go's. The slices of pizza were HUGE! Brian had a slice with pepperoni, sausage, and onion. I had a slice with cheese and spinach. We both thoroughly enjoyed them!

Savannah makes a really big deal out of St. Patrick's Day. As part of their celebration, the Friday before the holiday, they dye every fountain in the city green. Our hotel was at Forsyth Park, so we enjoyed the green fountain by our hotel on the way home.

Sunday morning, we hopped on a trolley to get an official tour of the city. The lady that gave the tour was basically the highlight of our trip. For example, before the bus left, we were talking and told her we were from the Birmingham area. She proceeded to inform us that Coach Propst, the former football coach for Hoover High School, was now coaching in Georgia. I told her that I knew that and that I had actually graduated from Hoover High School. Her response? "Oh my dying Judas, honey, did you really? Were you on that show? Two something?" (Imagine the whole phrase with an extremely southern accent- Savannah southern, like molasses for you Office fans.) With that as her response to my alma mater, you can imagine how animated our tour was. Ha!
Overall it was a great tour. We learned a lot about the city and made notes on places we wanted to go back to. Would it be embarrassing to tell you that at least half of the places were eating places? Maybe, but Savannah has some great food!

After the tour, we took a stroll down the River Walk where we explored the shops and had a quick lunch at The Cotton Exchange. It was such a fun area of town! That afternoon, we spent more time just walking around town. We stopped at an adorable cupcake shop in one of the squares. Brian has a basic chocolate with white icing while I had a M&M cup-cookie. Yum!!

Monday morning, we got up early to put our name on the waiting list for the Lady and Sons- Paula Dean's restaurant! Those people have it down to an art... we got there at 8:00 to put our name on the list for 5:00. Someone in the line near us said that she came at 10:00 once and was told she couldn't eat until 8:00 PM. Obviously a very popular place and definitely one of the things we were most excited about.

After putting our name on the list, we headed over the Tybee Island to enjoy the morning on the beach. It was such a pretty morning, but the water was cold! It was still nice to look out over the Atlantic Ocean and just enjoy being outside.

After the beach, we went to the Crab Shack, a cool restaurant on the bayou with live alligators outside the dining area. We ate overlooking the water, which was so nice. Brian had boiled shrimp and I had BBQ chicken and two very VERY good pieces of corn on the cob.

When we got back to Savannah, we enjoyed one of the oldest cemeteries in the state of Georgia. There were so many cool stones dating all the way back to the 1700's. In addition to the fact it was just an interesting place, there was also important historical significance including it being the burial sight of the Georgia signer of the Declaration of Independence. He happened to also be one of the only signers who died by force rather than naturally.

That night we LOVED Lady and Sons. It was the restaurant I posted on earlier this week. Simply DELICIOUS! There was nothing we ate that we didn't like. Check out this post to see our meal! After dinner, we took a horse and carriage ride around town. This guide gave us a bit more of the history of the city and offered a completely different perspective, including a few ghost stories and lots of sarcastic humor.

Tuesday, Brian and I toured several museums in the area then just relaxed in our room. It was originally supposed to rain that day, so we had made little or no plans... but it ended up being absolutely gorgeous! For lunch, we ate at the Six Pence Pub. This little restaurant/ bar was the sight for filming a scene in the Julie Roberts movie Something to Talk About. It was a really good place for a light meal- we both had sandwiches and their pickles were just delicious! We also tried a local ice cream shop and coffee shop that afternoon. As we were walking around town, we passed a trolley with our tour guide from Sunday- she rang the bell and shouted over the loud system of the open air trolley "Look, there are the kids from Birmingham!" You have to love that women's spunk- and memory!!

Wednesday was our last full day in the city, so we wanted to make it count! We finished touring the museums from the previous day and once again just enjoyed the city. We hit some of the boutiques but didn't find much to buy. Our two purchases of the trip were a Paula Dean cookbook (which was autographed! Hot dog!) and a sock cow for our baby. It's name is Clover, which is highly appropriate considering the whole St. Patrick's Day thing.

Wednesday night, we had our finale meal. We ate at The Olde Pink House, which is a very old converted bank and mansion. Each of the rooms seated guests but was still set up as it's original purpose. The meal was amazing... expensive.... but so very worth it. We shared a BLT salad, which was lettuce topped with applewood bacon and fried green tomatoes. I had filet mignon with a twice baked potato and asparagus. Brian had flounder (which I tried not to recognize as Ariel's best friend, but simply an ocean fish) with collared greens and fancy grits. For dessert, we had a piece of Bailey's cheesecake with shamrock sugar cookies. Um, wow.

Thursday morning, which was St. Patrick's Day, we woke up very early and headed home. By the time we left at 7:00 am, traffic was already heavy and a lot of roads were closed for the parade. I hate we missed the festivities, but it was nice to get home at a decent hour.

Such a wonderful and relaxing trip. If you get a chance to head to Savannah, you shouldn't miss it. It's a beautiful town with so much history and great food!

Have a blessed weekend my friends!