The Great Georgia Getaway

I had hopes of blogging in real time from the beach but we had technical difficulties. Besides, the house had an extremely slow connection and uploading pictures would have been painful. I'm very impatient when it comes to computers... painful might not accurately describe the agony I would have been in. I opted to do it all at one go. It's long but I don't apologize. Without further delay, here is my digital scrapbook of the Great Georgia Getaway 2008.
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The History
D and I first landed on Tybee Island during our Savannah trip in 2004. I had read what locals there affectionately call 'The Book', and wanted to see the area for myself. We decided to hop over to Tybee on our last day. Our original plan was to eat at The Crab Shack for lunch, but for whatever reason, we never made it there. Instead we toured the Lighthouse (my first) and as we were driving back out, we decided that Tybee was a place we wanted to return to.
Tybee's north shore is very different from the over-populated, commercial Myrtle Beach scene we're used to - and that's a good thing. Its classic, unspoiled, beach cottage vibe reminded us of one of our very first vacations together on Pawley's Island with D's extended family. We wanted to recapture that feeling with this trip.


Alex being helpful while we packed.

Saturday, August 9th
D and I are late packers, so we loaded the car right before leaving. We had to set up the bike rack in the dark, something we hadn't considered earlier. I tried dancing in front of our security light to get it to come on, but it wouldn't, so I ended up holding a flashlight while D lashed the bikes onto the back of the Kia. It made for a good laugh at any rate. Experience is a great teacher, I'm sure we will not forget that next time! We were on the road a little before 6AM.
Our road trip was without incident and we arrived at the Savannah airport in plenty of time to pick up Mom. The parking garage was very interesting. It has sensors that tell you exactly how many parking spaces are available on each level and has arrows to direct you to them! Mom and I wore our matching turquoise hats so that we could find each other easily, although I must say, the airport is very small and we probably wouldn't have had trouble in that regard anyway. It was still fun to wear my hat. I don't have much occasion to wear it anywhere else and Easter is a long way off.


We stopped at Arby's for lunch. I called the rental office and the house was available, so we got an early check-in. D considered several selections when he was searching for rental cottages on the web. As nearly all of our family suffers from knee problems, we wanted one that was both close to the beach and one that was ground-level. Many houses on the island are on stilts so it greatly limited our choices. The house we ended up with did have that same beach cottage-chic that the Pawley's house had, but the Tybee house did have some condition issues which bothered me a little. I guess a drawback of choosing a place off the web is that you're never quite sure what you're going to end up with. It wasn't a bad house.







The one thing that surprised me most of all was that our bedroom had glass French doors that looked out into the living room. Or should I say, the living room looked into our bedroom? Anyway, I had no intention of being the main attraction, so D hung sheets up. It wasn't pretty, but it sufficed.



When we first arrived at the house there was a wooden goose in the foyer that startled everyone as they walked into the room. I finally banished the goose to a closet, which would have been the end of it. But our bedroom didn't have a closet, so we had to store our clothes in with the goose. Every time I opened the door - AAHHH- there it was again! I'm sure it will pop up in a nightmare someday.



After settling in our rooms and unpacking (and I have to say that on vacations I usually live out of my suitcase, this was the first time I ever unpacked), our first order of business was to get groceries. I have never shopped with four other people before and it was quite the experience. Like a military sortie, we stormed the little IGA: BBL and I did produce, D and LRL swept the condiment aisle, Mom ferreted out a deal on the cinnamon rolls and then everyone regrouped in dairy... it was great and it's a great memory for me. I was glad we drove two vehicles because we came out with a ton of food!



D rode his bike and did reconnaissance on the beach access points. We got very lucky in this regard. The closest beach access was entirely flat, and did not have any stairs like they usually do. Tybee had even installed what's called a Mobi-Mat over the sand closest to the dunes, which made it much easier to walk on. The only downside to this part of the beach was that we had to pay for parking. Parking was a quarter for every 10 minutes.



Dinner was just a simple Salad with home-grown tomatoes from our garden. Oreos for desert. I thought it was a nice end to such a busy day. Afterwards we played a game Mom devised using advertising slogans. Not surprisingly, I scored horribly on it. To my recollection, LRL won.



Later we watched the Olympics, I believe it was beach volleyball. I didn't sleep well at all, only dozed off for an hour or two. On the plus side, I got a headstart on my beach reading. I finally could not lay there any longer. I rolled out of bed and started making sandwiches for the beach... bologna and also egg salad.

Sunday, August 10th

By breakfast everyone's pills had made it onto the kitchen table.



It was a glorious morning. We spent about three hours at the beach.
To the left of our usual beach spot was a jetty. It had small tidal pools during low tide but at high tide it looked plenty dangerous. I can still hear the sound the waves made as they sloshed between the rocks. To the right of our spot were a series of no swimming signs. They never explained exactly what the 'underwater hazard' was. D and I joked that it was The Bomb.



In honor of The Dark Knight we purchased a $1 Batman kite at Wal-Mart. D finally got it flying. He even made a little friend, Jasmine. She was so cute and utterly fascinated with the kite.
It was interesting to watch the boats come in from the ocean and enter the channel to the Savannah river.



The wildlife at the beach was fantastic.

Starfish! Ghost crabs

The dolphins frolicked in the water less than a 100 feet offshore. They seemed to be on a 30-minute rotation. Usually we saw two dorsal fins but our last day out we saw a family/group of four or more. D and I tried to photograph them dozens of times but all we got were photos of the water. D finally managed to catch one dorsal fin and I had to crop the photo for it to even show up. We were going to take a dolphin tour boat ride, but we all agreed that we wouldn't have seen anything better than what we were seeing for free at the beach, so we saved our money.


We spotted one Jellyfish during one of our walks. I was glad they were not out in numbers considering my last encounter with jellyfish back in April in MLB.

The best for last.... a turtle nest!

Later in the afternoon we visited the local shops. I found an angel for our Christmas Tree.



For dinner we made it to The Crab Shack. Yes, a tourist mecca, but darn good food! And reasonably priced too.









We watched more of the Olympics - Women's Gymnastics. D and I stayed up very late to watch Men's Swimming. It was a relay race and the French team had been talking trash about the Americans. It was gratifying to watch the USA win but it would have been better if we had cheered out loud. We didn't want to wake everyone who was actually catching some shut eye.

Monday, August 11th

D and I hit the beach early. I love the beach at sunrise, it's so beautiful.
Back at the house eggs were the breakfast item of choice. D was a sweetheart and made me an egg mcmuffin. Later, we returned to the beach with BBL and Mom. LRL went fishing.

For dinner we had hamburgers, baked beans and potato salad.
Cherry Pie a la mode for dessert. Yum.



D and I played Upwards. D won. I just couldn't do anything with words like Cyanide and Ague.



We couldn't stay away from Olympic swimming. The hype over Phelps was just too great and the boy did not disappoint. I slept better.

Tuesday, August 12th
Our 13th wedding anniversary! I know that some consider the number lucky, but I don't, so I was hoping it would not be a bad omen for the day. Both D and Mom had made specific plans and I wanted everything to go well.
D and I recently acquired new bikes as part of our effort to become more physically fit. I must admit that D has been more faithful in his bike riding than I have. I cannot seem to get the hang of the gears and I have not been much of a partner to D, preferring instead to do the treadmill or yoga. But he has been out and about, cycling all over town and he puts me to shame. When he was researching Tybee, he found a bike trail which he was keen to try out and as an anniversary present to him, I agreed to go along, just the two of us, on our special day. After all, the coast is flat and I couldn't use the gears as an excuse.
We got up early and packed breakfast and then rode out to the beach.
I just loved that the Lighthouse was on the way. It was still dusky and the light was still shining. The beach had several swings up near the dunes. We parked the bikes and sat there enjoying our sandwiches and watched the pelicans diving for their morning meal. The sunrise in real life was much redder than the camera pictured.



The bike trail was well marked and was placed mostly on residential roads. The one portion on the highway concerned me but there was a bike lane and I thought it was generous in width compared to the size of the lanes in G'ville. I had no trouble with the bike at all and for once, my knees did not bother me. I enjoyed it very much. The only negatives were that towards the end my sit bones were hurting and secondly, the black flies continued to bite us even after we hosed ourselves down with Off. All in all, it was a very agreeable morning.



Mom very graciously treated us all to lunch at 17 Hundred 90. Like many places in Savannah, this restaurant/inn houses a few ghosts. Our waitress showed us a picture which she said showed the face of Anna Powers in the mirror. During our meal, LRL said he could see Anna, and that was before his Strawberry Romanoff. Anna did not show herself in any of my pictures. The food was fantastic. Mom had the crab cakes. BBL had the Red Snapper. LRL had the buffet. D had the chef's special, Beef Burgundy in a bread bowl, and I had Chicken Chasseur. I was so excited about my entree that I neglected to photograph it. But I did manage to snap a pic of the Chocolate Bombe with Rasberry sauce, which D and I shared. I asked the waitress to photograph all five of us, but for one reason or another that didn't happen. It's a shame, I don't have a single group photo of us.



I figured I needed to post a picture of myself or everyone else will complain. None of us like pictures of ourselves and I'm no exception, but I can tolerate this one which D took before dinner.


Wednesday, August 13th

We set aside Wednesday as a Savannah day trip. It rained nearly all day. I didn't necessarily count that as a bad thing, at least it wasn't one of those late summer days so humid you can't draw a breath. We took an Old Savannah Tour bus, getting off and on in different locales. The four guides we had were really interesting. I think the rain made us all a little crazy.



We were fortunate enough to get into Paula Dean's restaurant, the Lady and Sons. They couldn't seat us together so they split into groups of two and three. Everyone but me had the buffet. I'm not really into Southern food so I had the Poet's Lunch (half a Chicken Salad sandwich, a cup of Chicken noodle soup and a side salad). I wasn't feeling well at the beginning of lunch so I didn't take a picture of my plate. However, the piece of Key Lime Pie they placed in front of me for dessert made me feel a whole lot better! It was huge, about a quarter of a pie plate. I shared with everyone and still had too much left over. Finally I just ate the custard and left the crust and whipped cream.



After lunch we explored City Market. D helped BBL find the restrooms and when he returned he was very animated about an art studio he wanted to show me. Whenever D gets excited about art, I don't hesitate, so off we went. The artist was named Albert Seidl and his shop was called Jazz Art. Albert came out of the back to speak with us. He was really interesting. Painter, Sculptor, Sailer, Musican and German to boot. He showed us several pieces and told us the inspiration behind them. We talked about the coorelation between music and color. He said to him, blue was a very high note and red was a very deep, low note. He showed us his mermaid prints and told us the stories he made up for his granddaughter. He talked about making a children's book from those prints and I hope he does. Unfortunately we had to cut our conversation short, because it was time for the last bus. D and I would like to go back there.

Portrait from his website.

The sun finally came out. Took a walk on the beach.

Thursday, August 14th

Mom flew out of Savannah mid-morning. D and I stayed in Savannah for awhile - we went to an antique store down by River Street and I photographed The Waving Girl. I'm such a sucker for statuary.



D took me book shopping! I bought a leather bound complete works of Robert Louis Stevenson. I thought it was appropriate. While we drove, I read a little of Treasure Island aloud, just until I reached the part about Savannah. Then I switched to The Bottle Imp.



Then D up'd the ante and took me for lunch at Clary's. He was definitely racking up bonus points. I had wanted to eat there since reading Midnight in 2004. We ordered grilled chicken sandwiches, although looking at their menu, I wished we had come for breakfast.



Dinner was salad with fillet mignon and twice baked potatoes from Omaha Steaks. It was part of a gift package that Grandma B had sent to BBL and LRL. Those steaks were so tender and the salad that BBL fixed was so pretty. It was a beautiful meal.



Afterwards BBL, D and I played Crazy Eights. I had never played before so there was a learning curve. I enjoyed it. It reminded me of our Pawley's trip when Grandma B taught us how to play Canasta.

After BBL and LRL retired, D and I watched the Olympics for a little while. Then we remembered it was Thursday - date night. D flipped over to the CW and Supernatural was on. The perfect ending to the day, watching my favorite show.

Friday, August 15th

Spent the morning at the beach. I was desperately trying to finish my beach reading. I brought three books and hadn't finished even one. D and BBL stayed out in the water with the dolphins. The strangest thing was that there was a guy playing his Tuba on the beach. The wind would carry his tunes to us. It was driving D crazy trying to place what he was playing.



That afternoon D and I chose to hike out to the Cockspur Lighthouse. It is only accessible by boat but you can get fairly close by land. We were definitely out in the swamp, D was covered in mosquito bites. I forgot my hat so I used our umbrella as a parasol. Part of me felt like an idiot carrying it around and the other part was glad I wasn't getting a sunburn. D cheered me up by practicing the most horrible Southern accent. I tried lines from Gone With the Wind but I've never mastered a proper drawl. It was hilarious.



So now I've photographed two of Georgia's five remaining lighthouses.


We returned to find LRL and BBL watching movies. At some point we discovered that there was both ice cream and Oreos in the house. The afternoon suddently got a lot better. I don't know if it was the tryptophan in the ice cream or the hike, but D and I zonked out on the couch in the sun room. I wasn't even aware that I had lost conciousness. Later was able to finally finish one of my beach books, The Flamingo Rising. It was a little disappointing.

Dinner was hotdogs, potato salad and baked beans. A perfect beach meal if I know of one.



Afterwards we played Yahtzee. Everyone rolled a yahtzee but me and both BBL and LRL did it with fours! We were all tired. When LRL threw his dice into his drink instead of the dice cup, we knew it was time to head to bed.



Saturday, August 16th

Our final morning at the beach had come. We packed, ate breakfast, divided up the remaining food and then headed out.



D and I thought we would we play mini-golf on our way off the island, but the place wasn't open that early. Oh well, there's always next time. We have plans to return to Tybee.


I guess D thought I was depressed when we left Tybee because he took me book shopping again! We stopped in our favorite Columbia book store, Ed's Editions. Sadly, we missed Ed. On the bright side, I found a hardback of Anne of Green Gables which is the same edition as my Anne of the Island. Now I have a matched set. We also ate lunch in Columbia. I thought we had eaten at every Japanese place in four counties, but D found a new one to try. I had the veggie plate. D had chicken and scallops. Both were excellent.



What a great trip. I was surrounded by people I love and D spoiled me rotten - I can't ask for more. I miss everyone - and I definitely miss the beach! I used to wonder if I was a beach girl or a mountain girl, because I do love the Smokies in the fall. But now I know that the Floridian in me will always pine for the shore.