We only had a few days to spend in Savannah, but we were able to get a good feel for the historic district, thanks to spending an entire day on a hop on/hop off bus tour with Kevin’s parents, who met up with us for the weekend. We’re now in Florida visiting with them and the rest of the family for the holidays, and since we don’t get to do that very often, this post will be a bit lighter on words and heavier on photos. Luckily, a post about Savannah doesn’t require a whole lot of explanation. It’s a beautiful city full of interesting architecture, character, and history.
The grand homes are painstakingly maintained:
The 22 parks that dot the historic district were lush and green, even in December….
And the city is home to one of the most impressive churches we’ve ever seen, the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.
While we were in town, Kevin’s family’s friends, Shirley and Scott, came down to Savannah to have lunch so we could all catch up….
and we took a late-afternoon drive out to Tybee Island, which is just about 30 minutes from downtown Savannah. The area suffered a lot of damage during Hurricane Matthew, and crews are hard at work rebuilding the structures along the beach, but the lighthouse was as pristine as ever.
After checking out the lighthouse, we headed down to the beach to enjoy a little quiet time before heading home.
Once we made it to St. Augustine, we spent lots of time with Kevin’s folks and his extended family. Â Dixie was treated to the kind of love and attention only grandparents can provide. They had tons of toys for her to play with, which she promptly got to work destroying.
To say they spoil her with attention would be an understatement… She loves them and they love her!
One afternoon we took a walk down by the St. Augustine downtown waterfront. The Bridge of Lions spans the intercoastal waterway between downtown St. Augustine and Anastasia Island and is guarded by two badass looking stone lions. That got us thinking: Ya know what Barney needs? Â 2 badass looking stone lions to protect him! We’ll get to work on that immediately.
On Christmas night, we headed back downtown with Kevin’s cousin, Mark, who is a professional photographer. St. Augustine has a yearly lights festival during the holiday season so we jumped at the chance to soak up some night photography know-how from a pro. We learned a ton in a very short period of time and were really happy with the shots we got.
We also took a drive down the coastal highway to Washington Oaks Gardens State Park and wandered through the gardens.
The gardens were lovely to walk through and contained numerous places to sit down and relax. Unfortunately, the oceanfront part of the park was closed due to storm damage, so we’ll have to visit that next time we’re here.
Speaking of which, we’ve got just a couple more days in St. Augustine before we pull up stakes and head west across the panhandle. It will be weird to know that for the next four months or so, we won’t be seeing many familiar faces. After all this time visiting friends and family in the various places we’ve traveled, we’re suddenly gonna be on our own. It’s exciting and unnerving at the same time.
Looks like it’s officially time to spread our wings and fly…. Hopefully we won’t break anything in the process.
Where we stayed: Compass RV Park
You (and Kevin) are not allowed to break anything (not even a nail!) until after our wedding! You are required to dance! 🙂
Beautiful pic btw!
Oh don’t worry…. When I had the broken leg, I totally perfected my “nae nae on crutches.” You’re gonna love it. 🙂
Looks gorgeous! So glad you are back on your feet and enjoying your trip – literally……
Safe travels after the New Year, have fun – good riddance to 2016!!
Seriously… it cannot end soon enough…. But I’m thinking many positive thoughts about 2017! I am hopeful it’s gonna be a good one!
Such a beautiful place to spend the holidays! Glad you are having fun- but we miss you!! =)
We miss you guys too! But, I mean, you guys are doing it all wrong. You should come visit the friends who are in FLORIDA in December and the family in NEBRASKA in July…. Just sayin….It IS an option! 🙂
Beautiful pictures! We were in Savannah just after popularity of “Goodnight in the Garden of Good &Evil” was popular. So I had to see cemetery! It was pretty cool too. I really noticed the racial divide there more than in other southern cities so I felt “weird” there. Very interested in seeing St Augustine now! Have a lovely- safe- trip!
We missed a LOT in Savannah, including the beautiful cemeteries. We just didn’t have time to get there. But we will absolutely go back when we have more time. That’s interesting about the racial divide. I did not pick up on that, but again, we weren’t there long enough to get more than a surface feel for the place. We definitely like St. Augustine. There is a lot to see and do here and the history is fascinating. There is a fair amount of cheesy tourist crap (Ripleys Believe It or Not, etc), but if you can avoid that stuff, it’s great. Lots of history, well preserved, nice people, etc….
Great pictures and commentary. It is a lot of fun following your travelogue. Keep your eyes on the road and both hands on the wheel! Safe travels!!
Thank Ron! Glad you like it reading it. We’re having lots of fun and looking forward to doing more and writing more in 2017. Hope you and yours have a very Happy New Year!!
The anonymous comment was from me.
Forgot the name box. Sorry!
Not gonna lie…was kinda hoping it was some editor from the New York Times who would soon be proposing a regular travel column for me in the Sunday paper…. Dammit! So disappointed….
Oh well…I’ll take a compliment anywhere I can get one. 🙂
We were in St. Augustine last winter and loved it….we bypassed the tacky tourist shops and went for the good stuff, just like you did. Next time you’re there, don’t miss the Ice Plant—it’s a fabulous distillery (with a fun tour and tastings) and restaurant. Lucky you getting pro tips on night photography—your photos are terrific! (p.s. I know the Florida Panhandle well—my folks live in Apalachicola. I hope you enjoy your time there. Let me know if you would like any suggestions for places to go/things to do.)
You are not the first person to mention the Ice Plant to us. We heard good things, but sadly, did not make it there…. We’ve definitely been keeping busy since we got to Florida! Luckily, we know we’ll be back since we have so much family here and we’ll certainly put it on the list for next time. Thanks for the offer of information on the panhandle. I will likely take you up on that. At this point, I’ve done no research beyond finding suitable campgrounds along our route. I’ll definitely drop you an email if we’re looking for suggestions! Thanks!
These are such beautiful photos of two beautiful cities. I love the photos of the Cathedral. Wishing you safe travels and happy trails in 2017.
Thanks so much for stopping by and for your kind words! They are very much appreciated. We wish you the best in 2017 as well! Maybe we’ll see you somewhere down the road…. 🙂
Laura,
I love all these pictures. I haven’t had much time to read anything other than text books recently. I have to say my limited memory of Savannah do not include any of these amazing places. In fact the only thing I saw was the inside of the airport after midnight as I waited for a bus to come pick me up and bring me to Parris Island back in 2005. Needless to say we need to now plan a trip to Savannah. I don’t know when we will be able to do something like what you guys are doing but it has moved up to number 1 on my bucket list. I hope you are doing well and the knee has continued to improve.
Hey! Thanks for stopping by and commenting! Savannah was really beautiful and we could have easily spent a month or more there. It’s just a great town. But we’re finding that in so many places as we travel. Great little (and not-so-little) towns we’d never been before. This country is really pretty spectacular, and it’s so much fun to try to really take it all in. I sincerely hope you get to do this at some point too. It sounded like a completely crazy idea right up until the day we drove off. Hell, it still sounds sorda crazy right now. But it can be done. Lots of people are out there with us. And it really is fantastic!