Doing the Charleston

I woke up early this morning and took Bridget on a run on the beach. With the recent change in time thanks to daylight savings we weren't up all that early and we still caught the sun rise over the ocean. I'm so accustomed to the sunset over the ocean on the west coast that this new to me. The tide was out and left the sand on the beach smooth and hard which made pushing Bridget's stroller easier.

We then went to the oldest continually operating plantation, Boone-Hall plantation. It was established in 1600's and started by producing indigo (for the blue dye) and cotton and over time has grown pecans and produced bricks all with the use of slaves. Now they still grow produce for local markets (no slaves though).

Another oak lined drive

Another chance for a family picture... (Bridget pulling Kate's hair)

...or two

Picking cotton

Boone-Hall from the drive. You might recognise this as Allie's home in the Notebook.

Looking from Boone-Hall down the drive

The original slave quarters at Boone-Hall. It had over 300 slaves in it's hay day.

We took a tour of the plantation (that now looks a lot like a farm but I guess if you have historic slave quarters on your farm you can call it a planation) and we saw a 6 foot alligator and it's 2 foot baby. Awesome.

Once we were done at the plantation, we drove into Charleston and walked around it's historic district. Charleston had a much different feeling than Savannah. Where in Savannah all of the historic buildings felt like they were museums and they took steps to recreate and preserve them in that era, Charleston had a more modern feel to their history.

Huge house that looks like no one is living in it and is falling apart

Kate says we can move to Charleston if we can live in this house.

Charleston had more wood railings whereas Savannah had iron. This is largely due to the fact that the railings were torn down and made into cannon balls during the civil war while Savannah was protected by a naval blockade.

This house and many in the area were built in 1670. People still live in it.

Back to the beach behind our hotel once again to finish off the day.

I did want to make one comment about the food we've been having. I've been trying to get as much seafood and BBQ that I can down here and it has all been delicious!

March to the Sea

We started the day at the Wormsloe Plantation in Savannah. It has the most beautiful oak lined entryway and no, it is not the one from Forrest Gump. I think I'm going to make this a black and white pic and frame it for my house.

Wormsloe was built by one of the first settlers to the Savannah area (1733). The house is no longer standing but there are still some tabby ruins. Tabby is what they used to build stuff like walls and was a mix of lime, water, sand, oyster shells and ash. There are actually a lot of shells used in construction all over Savannah including some old streets.

Slave quarters

Jason in the slave cabin sleeping loft

Entrance to Wormsloe

After Savannah, we decided to head to Charleston. We hadn't planned on stopping there originally but we figured we'd driven all that way so might as well spend more time in the area. It was a 2.5 hour drive north of Savannah and we opted to pass through the city and spend the night on one of the surrounding beaches. It was a little nicer than Tybee Island and we got a room right on the beach.

Eating dinner at the restaurant next to our hotel. Jason had the blackened Mahi-Mahi that was so good even I enjoyed it (and I generally hate seafood).

Bridget also enjoyed dinner.

Well...most of it.

We had such a good time we decided to stay another day so stay tuned for more Charleston...

Welcome to Savannah y'all!

We took a trolley tour of Savannah's historic district. It took us past all the squares and houses of importance in the area and gave a bunch of history about them along the way. Bridget was strapped to me in her carrier for almost the whole ride until I noticed that she kept slumping forward and I realized she had fallen asleep sitting up.








B loved playing with the moss.


Andrew Low House - former home of Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts, and place where the first Girl Scout meeting was held

Kate wants to buy this house and move to Savannah. However, she admits that she'd have to fly north for about 4 months in the summer. It's only March but already we felt that if the weather were any hotter it would be too hot.

Sitting on a bench in the park where Forrest Gump sat waiting for the bus

Savannah goes all out for St. Patrick's day and dyes the fountain water green in all the squares.


Just driving down the street. The old oaks covered in Spanish Moss made everything look cooler.

We finished off the day by driving out to Tybee Island 20 minutes from Savannah and taking an evening stroll on the beach.

The devil went down to Georgia

We left Rocky Mount and pushed on to Savannah. The road kills picked up quite a bit today with raccoons still holding their own but with more of what I think were muskrats. There were long stretches of road with swamp running along the side (which is where I think all the muskrats were coming from). We actually had to turn on the A/C in the car! We made it into Savannah with time to do a quick drive around the city to see some of the sights. We're planning on taking a trolley tour of the historic district. All the trees around here are covered in Spanish moss which makes everything a little more historic and creepy feeling.

The Spanish moss in the trees here did remind me a little of Jersey City, except that the "Jersey moss" in the trees are plastic bags like this one outside our 4th story window at home. I have a new appreciation for "Jersey moss" now.

In the Beginning...

We left Jersey City this morning on our trip to the south. The plan is to make it down to Savannah, Georgia and see as much as we can along the way back. Today's goal was to drive to a town just across the Virginia border called Rocky Mount, North Carolina. We drove for 8 hours today and Bridget slept for all but 1.5 hours. Let me give you some of the highlights along the route.

The best part about driving in New Jersey was leaving New Jersey. As we started to drive south we noticed things start to green up. There was also a marked decrease in plastic bags stuck in trees and a lot more blossoms. We really loved the wild daffodils growing in the ditch along the side of the road. There was also a lot of raccoons "sleeping" on the side of the road. We drove past the Philip-Morris headquarters, maker of such fine produces as Marlboro cigarettes, reminding us we're in tobacco country. Our GPS took us on some back road to get to our hotel and we drove past our first cotton field with some of last year's crop still unharvested. As we drove around Rocky Mount to find a place to eat lots of people were out on their porches in rocking chairs enjoying the warm evening. Tomorrow we'll drive the 6 hours to Savannah.

(In the Golden Corral parking lot. Gotta love those buffets)

So far a great trip and it's only going to get better. We'll keep you posted.