In May, Josh and I set aside a free weekend over the summer. Free, as in I resisted booking any parties so that we could go on a trip - something neither of us had done in far too long! We juggled for weeks where to go on the designated one-weekend break for the Summer. Being a party entertainer means sacrificing a lot of weekends, and thus I wanted this weekend to be special.
Destin, FL? Helen, GA? Orlando? Atlanta?
Josh and I finally selected Savannah, Georgia as our destination. On Friday morning, the trusty Ford truck (if you're not a Ford fan, hush) was cleaned, loaded with snacks and small bags of luggage, and smelled strongly of cherry from the new air freshener we had placed in it. I gave Forsyth, GA a glance back as we pulled out of the driveway and, as we got onto I-75, we finally began our long-awaited weekend adventure.
I-16 is a really boring drive. Like... really boring. Stretching from Macon to Savannah, I-16 is a flat, desolate, two-lane highway straight east to the coast of Georgia. Savannah lies about 175 miles from Macon and it took about 2.5 hours to get there.
We settled in Pooler, just outside the city limits of Savannah, and once we were ready got back into the car to venture into the heart of the city. Just when we thought we had lost ourselves, a huge bridge loomed right before us, and we were suddenly transported into a place that seemed as though it still belonged in the 18th century. Savannah is the oldest city in Georgia (1733) and I was just in awe at the architecture.... plaster and stucco walls with aged worn brick peeping through. ancient facades and columns, cannons from the 1700's, and these incredible, beautiful little squares scattered like gems at points throughout the city. My first impression of Savannah was... awe.
It took a long time to find a parking spot. We finally parked in a Kroger (like the rebels we are) and stopped to get drinks for the long walk ahead. Neither of us were wearing tennis shoes, but rather sandals, which we would later regret. After leaving Kroger, we basically turned ourselves loose in the city. It is immense - you could explore it for days and not know every nook and cranny that Savannah has to offer. But we did pretty good. We came by an old cemetery very soon, and headed inside. It was there that I stopped and felt my heart pitter-pattering, tested, and came back with a 41. After my relatively steady levels all day so far, I was a little bummed. I ate a granola bar and asked Josh if we could sit on one of the benches a bit while I caught my breath.
After a few minutes we were up and walking again, past the cemetery, through more beautiful squares. When we finally crossed traffic over to Bay Street, Savannah seemed to once again morph into something completely different. We stepped down a set of ancient looking stone steps and picked our way through uneven cobblestone down to River Street. It was huge, it was bustling, it was...incredible. The river sat before us, and shops lined the street in both directions. It was so ancient, so old, and yet so full of life. As if the future had taken residence in the past overnight. There was a festival going on for fourth of july, and an endless assortment of souvenir shops, entertainers and tourists.
First things first, Josh and I booked a ghost tour (which I was not thrilled about!) and then set down River Street, looking through all of the shops and finally finding a place to eat. We were both starving, and glad for the respite from the burning summer heat. Josh ordered a parmesan chimichanga and I a salad. Even though I'd just been low, I didn't want to use too much insulin and figured this would keep me pretty steady. After eating we set out again, searching through more shops, taking pictures and absorbing all the incredible sights. We even ducked into a candy shop where we were greeted by the most amazing smells, and these sweet workers making taffy who threw us both a piece! Neither Josh or I like taffy, but even I had to admit that, fresh off the taffy-making machines, these were awesome. The permeating smell drove us out eventually - me from the madness that surely would have enveloped from not being able to eat so much of the sugar in the store, and Josh from the sickly sweetness. But it was still one of my favorite parts of the trip --- forbidden fruits taste the sweetest, I guess?
We turned ourselves loose in Savannah for the rest of the evening and afternoon. Ghost tours were at 10:40, so we had lots of time to kill. One funny episode happened when we snuck into the River Street Inn, an old, historic and beautiful inn famed for being haunted. Josh and I were looking over the impressive balcony down to the first floor landing, and as I walked away Josh yelped and asked, "did you do that?" I stared at him, puzzled, before he explained that something had just pushed him, hard. I was three feet away from Josh though and definitely had not pushed him! I'm sure it would have been scary if it had happened to me, but, at least from a spectator's perspective, y'know, it was kinda funny. Creepy... but funny. Regardless. Savannah is definitely haunted, y'all.
We checked out the 4th of July concert going on by the River, roamed through antique stores, viewed the parks scattered throughout the city, went into the tourist-ey shops, looked for souvenirs and even saw an old man walking around in booty shorts, which made us bellow in laughter. I even convinced Josh to go back into the candy store get some candy... in case of a low, of course! (I admit it, I was totally obsessed with the Candy Store at that point!)
We walked back through Savannah in search of our car at around 6:00 PM and were pretty sure we had lost ourselves after walking for what seemed like... forever...
As I said earlier, neither of us were wearing tennis shoes, so our feet were killing us, and we ended up asking some man with a British accent how to get back to Kroger. We finally made it, and stumbled inside for some snacks and some much-needed drinks. After spending some quality time in the AC, we drove around Savannah to relocated to a closer (and legal) parking spot before grabbing dinner. We were fortunate to ask a couple of cops about parking to find out that parking meters were all free after 5 and on weekends in Savannah. This made finding a spot a lot easier!
Finally, it was time for the ghost tour, and we climbed into a rickety trolley to be greeted by an eclectic tour guide named Ana. I was scared out of my freaking mind. Ghosts are not my thing! But Ana was fun and told us all kinds of ghost stories before we silenced our cell phones and got off the trolley to check out some creepy warehouse. The tour was fun but I hated this part! I hate being in creepy places, and we had to spend about 30 minutes with little detectors searching for ghosts and hearing the story behind the place. Josh's phone rang while Ana was telling the story, and everyone stopped to stare. Which was weird... because he didn't get a text, call or email, and he had silenced his phone!
We also toured some building called a Chandlery, which was honestly all just theatrics, but the tour was fun and I thought it was a totally memorable part of our vacation! We were pretty wiped after the tour, and decided to end the day after that.
All in all... it was an awesome first day, and my sugars remained pretty steady after the afternoon low. :)
Stay tuned for Part 2!
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