Where we stayed in Savannah

Bottom pic is of our room in Savannah. In the exterior shot, the balcony above and just to the left of the canopy is to our room. Way cool. 

Savannah - Day 2

Since I married the God of Dawn, we are of course up early. Showered and ready to go by 6:30 am, we cast about for something to do until breakfast is served at 8.

"Want to walk around Forsyth Park again?" asks my husband.

"Oh, I was looking forward to some quiet reading time this morning," I demur, neglecting to mention the back of my legs behind my knees are throbbing and my lower spine is a tangled ball of string and overworked muscles from yesterday's four-hour walking excursion.

"Okay," he says, for which I am profoundly grateful. And ticked. I do yoga, I do pilates, I jog on the treadmill, I sweat it out to Tae-bo. How is it possible he is fine and I am in pain? I think about calling Tonya Harding to see if she can offer me any advice on having someone pop out and whack my husband across the shins.

We eat breakfast, and I must pause for an aside. Not wanting to gorge myself and feel sick as we start our day, I had the continental option which is cereal (special K), coffee, juice, and fresh fruit. But even Special K tastes AWESOME when the milk is brought to you in your own special silver pouring pot and the fruit is served in a crystal dish. Beats my method of shoving half a banana in my mouth as I slop milk in my bowl and slurp around the edges. I could get used to having someone serve me breakfast every morning on a silver tray. Tried to talk Blair into it but so far it's a no go.

We finish breakfast and head out. Most of the leg kinks work themselves out as we walk, and we enjoy feelings of smug superiority as we watch the many trolleys drive around town with tourists hanging out the window. "Saps," we say to ourselves. "Get out and walk a little!"

We spend the day touring restored homes that are now museums and staring at antique furniture and wallpaper. We love doing things like that. We have lunch at the Griffon Tea Room and while the service was slow they had the best sour cream apple pie I've ever tasted in my life. We talked about it for days afterward.

We also took a long walk on the Riverfront, pausing to duck in every store along the way (and there are a heck of a lot of stores). We didn't buy anything, but it's fun to look. Also amazing how quickly everything starts to look the same. Too much stuff.

Made it back to the room in time to shower and catch a 30 minute nap before heading out to a 8:15 dinner--very late for us. My feet were not happy about sliding into heels for the 5 block walk to the restaurant, but pride won out. I must look cute.

Came back and collapsed into bed. We had one day left.

Savannah - Day 1

Vacation was incredible. I've never felt so relaxed. At one point we were on the beach and I asked Blair what time is was. "Don't know," he said, without opening his eyes. "Does it matter?" It didn't, and that's exactly how vacation should be.

I took reams of paper with me in case the urge to write the great American Novel should strike while I roamed streets dripping in Spanish moss. It didn't, but I did end up taking some notes on our time spent in Savannah and then on Jekyll Island. I'll spend the next several days filling in some of the high (and low) lights.

DAY 1
Neither of us like to spend time in the car. Me because I get bored and cranky and my husband because he has to sit next to me while I'm bored and cranky. So we do all we can to make sure I'm unconscious for as much of the drive as possible.

It's 6 hours to Savannah from where we live. On Sunday we arose at 4:30 am and were on the road by 5:32 (Blair pointing out that we were 2 minutes behind schedule). I slept on and off until we stopped for breakfast around 9. This is a great strategy. Breakfast makes you think you're still just starting out but we already had more than half the drive behind us at this point. Little road tip for you.

We arrived in Savannah just after noon, parked the car, and then walked. And walked. And walked some more. Savannah, with its many squares, is made for walking. We easily walked 4-5 miles that afternoon. Oh, and we ate. And that sums up our first day. We ate and we walked.

And we had a great room. We stayed at the Foley House Inn, rated one of ten most romantic inns in the country by Vacation magazine. It was built in 1896 and doesn't allow kids--my kind of place. I spent a lot of time out on our balcony watching people walk their dogs and again, loving that Spanish moss.

I will say Savannah is perhaps the dog-friendliest city I've ever been to. EVERYONE had their dogs out, all breeds, all shapes and sizes. Didn't matter if we were at Forsyth Park, City Market, the Riverfront, or anywhere else. Everywhere there were dogs. Loved it.

We collapsed into bed (after enjoying a joint soak in the jetted tub) and awoke to a dawning sun outside our canopy windows. Life was ours to enjoy. Until we tried to get out of bed and realized every muscle in our legs was cramped from the stupendous amount of walking we had been congratulating ourselves on only the day before. Age will get you.

Continued tomorrow...

Body functions returning to normal

The back is much better after a good night's sleep. Still the occasional twinge of pain when I sit up or even think about doing any sort of form of manual labor, but other than that I think I'm okay.

My new obsession is skin cancer. I have an oval circle about halfway down my chest that looks like someone just pressed their thumb into my skin and it left a red mark. Only it's been there now for about a month. And within the last three days I've seen 2 different ads reminding people to get checked for skin cancer. There's a free screening at Wake Forest University on June 2nd that I'll go to. I really don't think it's anything, but the fact that I've seen those ads and have been thinking about getting checked anyway sort of freaks me out...

The blog will be on hiatus for a week as we head for Savannah and the beach (to soak up more sun and further the cancer along). I just finished reading Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil and those Savannah people seem like a freaky bunch. I'm looking forward to it.

Preparing to overpack. For a five day trip I'll pack no less than twelve outfits and end up wearing maybe six of them. That whole minimalist thing just doesn't sit well with me.

The cats know we're leaving. How do I know this? Because they've been unusually affectionate the last three days. They swarm around us and hop into our laps, on the bed, on top of the kitchen table, anything to get our attention. It's working on me. My babies! How can I leave them? I think they just do it to ensure I won't have a good time because I'm too busy wondering if by leaving them I'm scarring them for life.

Time to go lay on the couch. Even though my back feels fine today, why take chances? Best if I just lay around and call out for the occasional hot tea or bon-bon. After all, what's the point of being sick if you can't milk it?