Page 1 of 1

Thoughts on Savannah, GA

PostPosted: October 12th, 2009, 6:55 am
by SouthernFriedInfidel
Went on vacation last week. Had a very relaxing time... even the bit where we walked up and discovered a nice 6-ft alligator sunning itself next to a pond on a nature walk. It was relaxed, and so was I, so that worked out pretty well. :lol:

On our last day, my wife and I went for a day trip to Savannah. We had only been once before, and it was a place that bears more investigating. Our mistake this time was that we are fond of aquariums, and we saw a link on the Chamber of Commerce web site for a Marine Science Center... on nearby Tybee Island. So we got the address and headed off there. Sadly, the Marine Science Center there is a tiny mom-n-pop operation that resembles a city aquarium the way a Mason jar resembles a 50-gallon fish tank. Tiny and cheesy pretty well covers it. Though at least they offer nature walks to give visitors a little more thorough view of marine science than a little walk through their 3 rooms of fish tanks...

On the other hand, their beach WAS rather nice and clean, with wooden swings placed at the dunes' edge all down the strand.

So anyway... back to Savannah.

Overall, it is a beautiful place. It was a planned city, and laid out on a rectangular grid with something like 20 town squares, with a nice little park at the center of each. In the historic district, there are virtually no winding streets. Only straight lines and paths between squares. The parks are all different, and they are all pleasant places to visit, with plenty of seating. Some have fountains, some have statues. Nearly all have live oaks covered in Spanish Moss. Very peaceful. We walked to a few of these parks in the afternoon while searching for shopping opportunities. I enjoyed each stop.

Our main reason for going to visit on this Thursday was to try and get in on a nice ghost walk. We both enjoy wandering through old cities and hearing cool ghost stories. We try and get in on those almost as often as we do aquariums, and have experienced many good ones in Colonial Williamsburg, Charleston and London. Savannah bills itself as the most haunted city in America. Which rather puzzles me, as I would think that a lot of other places could give it a run for its money in terms of ghost stories. But they say they've hada couple of plagues, and a couple of massive fires, so I suppose that justifies their claim for them.

There are plenty of tours to choose from. One went by trolley, and ended in a dinner at the Pirate's House restaurant. Another tooled around town in a converted hearse... with the roof removed and passengers seated on a raised platform in the cargo area, giving them plenty of chances to see all around. We chose a simple walking tour that started at 8:00.

I'll give a more thorough review of the tour later, complete with photos. Because this tour was all about taking photos and trying to catch ghosts in the images. Our guide boasted that her tour was 100% for getting ghost images on camera. As soon as I get my images out of my memory card, I'll place them on a new thread and we'll discuss them. Anyway, the ghost walk was a bit of a disappointment for us, because of a few items:

1) The guide walked quickly, and talked away from her group while she walked.
2) She hardly told any good ghost stories
3) She was too keen (in our opinion) on proving ghosts exist and telling us what types of ghost do what
4) We had some idiot lady in the group who not only didn't shut off or silence her cell phone, but actually received 2 calls during the walk -- and proceeded to carry on conversations as if she were in her hotel room and had nothing better to do with her time. I told my wife that we were on the verge of adding to the ghost population of the city. Geez!

So Savannah hasn't been a total success in terms of being a tourist destination for us so far. But it does have some good points. Maybe one day, I'll manage to get there and figure it out a bit more.

Re: Thoughts on Savannah, GA

PostPosted: October 12th, 2009, 11:23 am
by Liv
All I remember of Georgia is the Waffle Houses....

Re: Thoughts on Savannah, GA

PostPosted: October 12th, 2009, 11:30 am
by SouthernFriedInfidel
Liv wrote:All I remember of Georgia is the Waffle Houses....

Well, I guess it's good to have someone like me around to indicate to you that Georgia has a bit more on the ball than Waffles.
:roll:

Re: Thoughts on Savannah, GA

PostPosted: October 12th, 2009, 11:34 am
by Liv
Well I take that back... There's waffle house, Road Atlanta.... and then that yearly party in the streets down in Atlanta where they shut down the highway and run naked down the freeway.... yeah, I happen to get caught in that once....

Re: Thoughts on Savannah, GA

PostPosted: October 12th, 2009, 12:16 pm
by Sanjuro
SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:
Liv wrote:All I remember of Georgia is the Waffle Houses....

Well, I guess it's good to have someone like me around to indicate to you that Georgia has a bit more on the ball than Waffles.
:roll:


True. They also have "The Varsity" and "Krystal Burger".

Re: Thoughts on Savannah, GA

PostPosted: October 12th, 2009, 12:23 pm
by Serendipitous
The only people I've ever known to plan trips to Savannah are women who are 50 years old (or older).

:think:

Yeah, that's all I have to say about that.

:mrgreen:

Re: Thoughts on Savannah, GA

PostPosted: October 12th, 2009, 12:25 pm
by SouthernFriedInfidel
I saw neither of them... but then again, my exposure to the state WAS limited to the NE corner.

BTW, I got gas in central SC for $2.18 a gallon. 8)

Re: Thoughts on Savannah, GA

PostPosted: October 12th, 2009, 12:29 pm
by SouthernFriedInfidel
Serendipitous wrote:The only people I've ever known to plan trips to Savannah are women who are 50 years old (or older).

:think:

Well, I'm 51 and my wife is 52. So I guess we're within your window of experience. :twisted:

Re: Thoughts on Savannah, GA

PostPosted: October 12th, 2009, 1:02 pm
by Sanjuro
SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:
Serendipitous wrote:The only people I've ever known to plan trips to Savannah are women who are 50 years old (or older).

:think:

Well, I'm 51 and my wife is 52. So I guess we're within your window of experience. :twisted:


So truthfully the gator passed you up because you were tough and grizzled. 8)

Re: Thoughts on Savannah, GA

PostPosted: October 12th, 2009, 1:30 pm
by SouthernFriedInfidel
Sanjuro wrote:
SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:Well, I'm 51 and my wife is 52. So I guess we're within your window of experience. :twisted:


So truthfully the gator passed you up because you were tough and grizzled. 8)

That's entirely possible, yes. :character-oldtimer:

Re: Thoughts on Savannah, GA

PostPosted: October 12th, 2009, 3:16 pm
by Liv
Coencidentally... a connection with my other thread: Welsh in GA