The long awaited Savannah Sister Story… My sister and I went on vacation to Savannah. This is our first vacation together in over 30 years, so we wanted to make it big. What would prompt such a road trip between two sisters? Well, turns out, as I kept writing about the wonders of travel and traveling solo, my sister wanted to try her hand it. Her first thought was to go somewhere I hadn’t gone yet, that is road trip accessible: she absolutely does not fly (well, there is always a first for that…lol). But, then she soon realized we probably should just go somewhere where she wants to go. I told her, wherever she wants to go is where I want to go. We soon decided on Savannah, as it was about half way between us during that time in September; her in southeast Kentucky and me in southwest Florida making Savannah a perfect meet up spot.
My sister, Mandy, was so excited to dabble in solo traveling, at least just the road trip part. She knew once we met in Savannah, the solo would turn to a Jones Duo and we would be connected at the hip for the rest of the trip. We had LOTS to catch up on. Sure, we have been talking and texting over the years. I made a few visits back home, but nothing like being away from the rest of the world for a whole week catching up like only sisters can. We were going: date set, plans made, hearts bursting with anticipation of a much needed vacation, but more importantly, a much needed reunion.
Well, as we all know, plans change. Plans change all the time, and yes, our plans changed. Turns out, I would not make it to Florida before this trip. In fact, my Florida destination was going to be pushed off for another week or so due to work. I was going to have to make another work trip before getting to Florida, so decided, to take my time going south and leave for my work trip from a different location. Location was unknown as this time. As Mandy thought more about the trip, more about my whereabouts before the trip, more about really not wanting to drive 7 hours by herself, she crafted a genius plan. She knew I was going to be in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky before I headed down I-75 south to Florida. “Wonder”, she thought, “if Pooh (yes that is my nickname – we all have nicknames in Kentucky), if Pooh would just drive over here and spend a while then we could just drive down together.” She texted me saying to call her, she has a plan. I called before she can even put the period at the end of the sentence…LOL.
“What is this brilliant plan?” I ask. Mandy proceeds to tell me how she was thinking about me already being in Kentucky, and how I could just drive east towards her house, stay with her for a spell, drive to Savannah TOGETHER for our vacation, stay the week, drive back to Kentucky, then I could proceed down south to Florida after that. BRILLIANT!!!!!
So, instead of driving to Florida right after Mammoth Cave, then flying up to Savannah, I diverted over to Mandy’s house, and spent the next week, living like a normal, non-traveling person. It was great as I had a home for a week, instead of a hotel room. What’s better? I got to see Mandy every day for 7 days. It was like we were kids again, sharing the same space, in harmony, working during the day, hanging out at night. What a wonderful break in between all the driving to Florida. I was finally home, for a while anyway. I was able to see all three sisters and my best friend since first grade (but you already know all of that, because I know you read my last post about my home town J).
We both got more and more excited each day closer to our departure day. We were both so happy that Mandy had this brilliant plan as some of the best vacations start with the road trip. Finally, I would have a passenger to talk with, a confident, a friend, a sister. I was truly excited to talk to someone outside of work on anything but work, but especially her as we had so, so much to catch up on. Saturday couldn’t come soon enough for us to get on the road and head south. The seven hour drive turned into about a 12-hour journey as we didn’t drive straight through. We both agreed that if either wanted to spontaneously stop along the way, just say the word (give me a 2-second warning, so I could signal and get over safely), and we would stop. We did just that. We made a stop at Culvers for lunch (I LOVE Culvers – a first for Mandy). We stopped at Sierra Nevada Brewery (it was curbside only, but we still got to see the massive distillery from the outside). We stopped at an Outlet Mall (Mandy really wanted to shop at Vera Bradley). Final stop, Savannah: we rolled in around 9:30p. That was Day 1.
Day 2 was meant to be a bit lazy, so we slept in, planned out the rest of the week, caught up on 30 years worth of catching up, walked casually down and around town, turned in early and looked forward to the days ahead.
The rest of the trip was packed with riverboat cruise, cookie company stops, haunted ghost stories, trolley rides, walking (lots of walking), parks with fountains, history, lighthouses, beach, sea shells, swimming, and all kinds of entertainment.
Cool Fact: Did you know that the filming of Forrest Gump, the park where he sat on the bench and the feather dropped down, was right here in Savannah at Chippewa Square? The bench is actually in the Savannah Visitor Center now.
Cool Fact: Did you know that the movie Gator, where Burt Reynolds crashed through that pavilion, was filmed right here in Savannah in the Whitfield Square? The pavilion was re-built about 8 times during the filming of the movie, and a 9th one built to leave in place for all to adore.
Cool Fact: For anyone that has read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, must surely know that was all Savannah based, right?
Cool Fact: Did you know Johnny Mercer was born right here in Savannah? Not sure who John Mercer is? Do you know the song Moon River? Yep, that is him; he wrote the lyrics!!
Cool Fact: Did you know the London café where Julia Roberts looked into the window to see her husband in an affair in Something to Talk About, that was filmed right in Savannah at Six Pence?
Cool Fact: Did you know that Savannah is the longest continuously running crane port in the US? Did you know it is also the most western port on the east coast, being the same distance to Chicago as New York-New Jersey and Norfolk?
All these cool facts that Mandy and I didn’t even know became so amazing for us to discover together. We re-enacted several of these scenes as we hopped on and off the Old Town Trolley. Shout out to Ruben, one of our trolley drivers on the tour, as he was really into “telling the story” of Savannah rather than spitting facts out to us. Highly recommend you track down Ruben and hop on his trolley (ride the entire loop starting with the Visitor Center before hopping off – you won’t regret it).
Mandy and I had so much fun exploring during the day, then if something was too crowded (couldn’t get a good picture without people or wasn’t so easy to hop off the trolley nearby), we would make note, then I would get up early morning for a run and seek out those spots to take our photos. That was really a great motivation for me to go running and much like a scavenger hunt, as I ran from memory of where we were the day before, I wouldn’t map it out. I learned much of the area that way and truly enjoyed the early morning hours before the crowd woke up.
Our daily routine became, get up, eat breakfast at hotel, explore until all hours of the night, watch a Halloween movie (31 Days of Halloween on FreeForm), sleep, repeat. One adventure took us on a riverboat cruise, the Georgia Queen. That cruise is where we learned about the port history and its growth, saw the Waving Girl (story of girl who waved at all the ships coming in and going out of port), passed by the Olympic Torch statue (in honor of the 1996 Olympics where Savannah hosted the yachting events), and a beautiful look at Savannah from the water side. Mandy and I enjoyed sitting back and relaxing on the cruise as we had walked many, many miles the day before. Cheers to sisters!!
Another adventure led us to Tybee Island where Mandy saw her first lighthouse, then proceeded to climb all 178 steps up to the top. I enjoyed watching Mandy’s face light up as she looked up to the light before climbing the stairs, then be in awe as she looked back down at the beach from the top. So fun to experience this together!!
Then, we stopped many, many times into the Byrd Cookie Company. They give free samples; as many as you want and they have over 15+ to try. The cookies are really good. My favorite was the triple chocolate cookie. We also had to stop at Leopold’s Ice Cream as well since it is over 100 years old and the ice cream is just as good now as it was oh so many years ago. I had the Peanut Butter Chippy. Amaaaaazing!!
One of our last stops was at the American Prohibition Museum. We were not sure what to expect, but after going inside and experiencing the history, seeing the real-life wax figures, paying to see the “exotic animal” within, and then enjoying the speak easy at the end, assured us we made a great choice of visiting this museum. The history behind the prohibition and the strong voices that came out of it was so very interesting.
With all the adventures and all the catching up, for me, the best part of this whole trip was not only spending time with my sister, but watching travel through her eyes. When she would see things for the first time, or drink a Starbuck’s double chocolate chip frappuccino double-blended for the first time, or walk up her very first lighthouse, or curl her toes in the sand, or collect sea shells, to see the joy on her face, knowing that feeling of what it is like to experience life through traveling adventures, was priceless.
Let’s not wait another 30 years to have a sister vacation. I am ready, when you are ready.
Go where you want, when you want, for as long as you want:
Alli L
For all the photos, go to @TheSoloTraveler50 on Facebook