Georgia On My Mind
The first stop on our trip after visiting our folks was Savannah, Georgia. I’m telling you, it is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve been to. Absolutely gorgeous. We had the privilege of vacationing with our friends Erin and Eric, who had been there before, and their daughter Evelyn, who was a first-timer like us. Erin is a planner, so we basically had our itinerary planned out for us. 😭 So amazing.
The house that they rented was right in the middle of the historic district, around the corner from the famous Leopold’s ice cream parlor, just outside of one of Savannah’s beautiful squares, and covered in jasmine bushes on the front porch. I mean, I felt like I was stepping into a dream. On our first day there, James and I went for a walk around the historic district and got some vegan nachos and beer at Fox & Fig for lunch, Erin made us a home-cooked southern meal of shrimp and grits for dinner, James and I went on a ghost tour of the Sorrel Weed House, and then we all enjoyed drinks at the bar inside the house. I so badly wanted to have a paranormal experience at the ghost tour, but alas, I ended up just slightly jittery and superstitious with lots of terrible photos on my phone (they tell you to take multiple photos to compare and find ghost sightings).
On day two, the five of us went to brunch at a gorgeous café called Collins Quarter. Evie was the star of the show. Literally everyone working there stopped by to say hello and comment on her beautiful eyes. One of the servers got to chatting with us and said that she also traveled around the country and decided to plant her roots in Savannah. Who knows, maybe we’ll follow in her footsteps…? (Probably not, but never say never)
After brunch we went to the flagship Savannah College of Art and Design building and did a free tour. I learned a lot about SCAD and all of the work they’ve done with restoring and repurposing historic buildings. It always feels so exciting to be on a campus like that, full of creative students with fresh ideas. Made me want to go back to school! Then James and I did a hop-on, hop-off trolley tour. I definitely recommend this if you’re planning a visit to Savannah. We learned so much about the history and it was a great way to get to know the area. We had lunch at a vegan restaurant called The Haunt, wandered around the beautiful Forsyth Park, stopped for ice cream at Leopold’s, and took advantage of the open container law in Savannah and got some mojitos to walk around with.
That evening, we met back up with Erin and Eric for a rooftop dinner at Fitzroy and went bar hopping. My favorite place was a music-themed speakeasy called Alley Cat Lounge, whose menus were newspapers and drinks were song names. They definitely played into the nostalgia and I loved it. As the kids say, the vibes were immaculate.
The following day we did the Telfair Academy art museum and the Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters. By this point in the trip, James and I were getting a little sick of hearing people speak of the Confederacy and slavery so lightly. It was cringey to us that it seemed like there was no remorse for the country’s dark past and several times we saw slavery referred to as “a complicated relationship” between Black enslaved people and white slave owners. I don’t think there’s anything complicated about it, I think people are just uncomfortable talking about how evil it was to own another human being and treat them the way they were treated. We learned that enslaved people were forced to stay inside when abolitionists came into town during the Civil War era because slave owners didn’t want them to learn that there was a path to freedom. And it was reiterated to us that even after emancipation, many enslaved people did not learn that they were free by law until several years later. Most of the tours and sights that we saw in Savannah were told through an overwhelmingly rich, white lens and it was hard to look past that.
After tours we did some shopping around and checked out River Street. James and I went there the first night but apparently started walking the wrong direction because we had no idea how beautiful it was! It felt like being transported in time and place to Europe with cobblestone streets and cute shops and restaurants. Then life really felt like a fairytale when we went on a horse drawn carriage ride. I’ve never done one before and glad to have done it in such a beautiful location. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about horse drawn carriages, so if I had to choose between this and the trolley I’d definitely pick trolley. But I enjoyed feeling like a princess for a bit.
We split up for dinner and James and I ended up at a sandwich shop, then Gallery Coffee for dessert. One of the most memorable moments was looking around that coffee shop and observing everyone. Two older men were playing chess together, someone was playing a cello in the square outside of the shop, a college-aged couple looked like they were falling in love. It was such a sweet moment and I’ll never forget it. The decision to get dessert there was a spontaneous one and I’m learning that sometimes those are the best memories.
Erin and Eric left on Saturday (they had been there for a week and we got there on Wednesday). We had such a fun time with them and took entirely not enough photos together. James and I wanted to spend one more night there, so we got a cheap hotel near the airport. It wasn’t as bad as our Super 8 Chattanooga experience, but certainly nothing like the AirBnb we were in earlier. We spent our Saturday at the Jepson Center, then tried out a couple of our friends’ recommended places—Lulu’s Chocolate Bar and Abe’s on Lincoln. Then we decided to go to an artsy neighborhood and spend some time away from the historic district. We found the cutest shop and female-led artist workspace called Dreamhouse Studios, looked at tons of murals, went to an improv show and finished the night at a brewery that was located inside of a historic home. We had such a fun night talking to locals, meeting the largest great dane I’ve ever seen, listening to records and drinking great beer.
Our last day we went to Tybee Island and spent a bunch of time on the beach. I learned that James is in his happy place when he’s near the ocean. It was so fun swimming with him and then watching him jump in the waves with abandon. You’ve probably seen the trend lately of women recording their boyfriends/husbands with golden retriever energy. That was us. If I had to redo it, I’d spend a night at Tybee instead of the cheap airport hotel.
Man, we had such a lovely time in Savannah. It was the perfect way to start our trip and I’ll never forget it.
