Georgia In Review

Our new neighborhood in Georgia was at the KOA in Richmond Hill, less than 30 minutes from charming Savannah.  We were nestled in between beautiful, huge trees and our oversized front window faced the serene 35 acre lake.  It was one of those campgrounds where we wanted to spend just as much time at home as we did sightseeing.  

We counted at least 9 varieties of birds that swam in the lake each day & loved the bald eagles, ibis, blue herons & egrets we'd spot in the area. 

Ahhh... more of our most favorite trees:)

Our front yard was so lovely, I had to drag the girls out for a photo shoot:)

I LOVE decorating for Christmas, but actually enjoyed the simplicity this year.  We bought & decorated a 3-foot Christmas tree & gathered supplies outside to make a sweet centerpiece for our picnic table.  But yet again, we were no match for our neighbors who displayed flashing lights & garland, festive holiday signs & blow up santas.

We took a day to enjoy Tybee Island, just 20 minutes south of Savannah.  Why, Paula Deen herself advertises it and she is the Queen of Savannah after all!  It was too chilly to swim, but perfect for Alayna's favorite beach activity... chasing birds!

And we had lots of schoolwork to catch up on, so we brought it along... not a bad classroom!

Natalie working on her favorite subject, Algebra.
...Could you feel the sarcasm in my tone?!?

Alayna & Dad chillin' on the swings

Of course while in Savannah we had to explore all things Paula, which included her brother's restaurant Uncle Bubba's Seafood & Oyster House.  Delicious, fresh seafood, yummy southern drinks & sides, and gorgeous marsh views.

Mmmm... the ONLY way to eat oysters... grilled over the fire and smothered in garlic butter & parmesan cheese!

I could've just driven down the breathtaking streets of Savannah for days... nearly as charming as Charleston.  

Everywhere we looked were reminders of Savannah's history... street signs named after historic figures, monuments honoring them & town square after town square after town square, (I think we counted 23 in the small historic district!) each one honoring a piece of Savannah's past.  Savannah was actually the first planned city, designed by Oglethorpe in a series of grids with public squares & parks placed throughout.

Oglethorpe arrived in 1733, naming the 13th & final American colony "Georgia" after England's King George II.  Savannah became its first city.  It was intended to be a place for the poor (who were imprisoned for their debts) to have a chance at a fresh start. The new settlement offered individuals the freedom to worship as they pleased and for a time slavery, lawyers & hard liquor were prohibited.

We loved walking the streets & browsing through the boutiques, souvenir shops & eateries-especially along the Savannah River-, finding little treasures like mouth-watering, southern pralines.  Oh my. 

Filming for an upcoming movie was taking place all around town.  We occasionally had to pause at street crossings until the cameras stopped rolling.  The film crew was super-secretive, but locals informed us that Kevin Costner was involved... sadly we weren't able to confirm that information first hand!

We stopped for lunch at a place friends had suggested... The Pirate House.  Built in 1754, it was originally a seaman's tavern in the days of sailing ships and pirates.  After our meal, a pirate gave us a tour, telling tales of the underground tunnel that connected the rum cellar to the river where drunk visitors were placed on ships later to awake at see as crew members!  It is said that Treasure Island was inspired by events that occurred here and that ghosts still haunt the premises today...

The Savannah History Museum was another interesting stop where we found items like Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin & the bench used in the movie Forrest Gump.

We learned that Eli Whitney didn't invent the cotton gin, just made it more efficient using wire teeth to pull the seeds from the cotton rather than rollers that squeezed the seeds out.  Just a few years before he patented his machine in 1794,  the south exported 200,000 pounds of cotton.  By the early 1800's, 41 million pounds per year were exported.

The Forrest Gump bench

Dinner at Paula's Lady & Sons restaurant was a must, and pretty much what we expected... BUTTERY, fried, southern home cooking.  Visiting in the off season, we thankfully didn't experience the out-the-door-lines people warned us about, but loved chatting with the staff hearing that Paula -though a serious business woman- is truly as sweet as she seems.

Southern fried chicken, riblets, creamed potatoes, mac n cheese, yams, collard greens, lima beans, green beans, black eyed peas, banana puddin', peach cobbler, gooey butter cake... practically all swimming in butter...

Feeling a few pounds heavier just reading this?!?

We waddled out, vowing never to do that to our bodies again:)

A short distance from the restaurant was the Historic Savannah Theatre where we watched a Christmas performance.  The theatre is considered to be the oldest operating theatre in the U.S.

Near the end of our stay we were lucky to catch a battle reenactment at Fort McAllister, the southernmost and most active Confederate fortification in Savannah's defenses.  In 1864 the fall of Fort McAllister marked the end of Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's March to the Sea, and prepared Sherman for the siege & capture of Savannah.

"From the roof of Cheves' rice mill (2 1/2 miles across the Ogeechee in the direction of the arrow) General Sherman and his staff watched the reduction of Fort McAllister, sunset, December 13, 1864"

The surrender

Our final Georgian destination took place after dropping off our RV at a repair shop in South Carolina. Atlanta was the first stop on our jeep journey back home to Kansas for Christmas.  I SO wanted to take a CNN tour, showing the girls the behind-the-scenes of a news broadcast, but we only had a day so chose Passages instead. This traveling "museum of the Bible" gave us a fascinating look at the history and impact of the best-selling, most translated book of all time.  Steve Green, president of Hobby Lobby, has collected Biblical artifacts since 2009 and The Green Collection now has over 30,000 impressive items (300 of which we were able to view).  No photos were allowed, but here's a small sampling of what was in the museum:

  ~a marble menora from a temple in Jerusalem in Jesus' time

~a huge 14c torah scroll made from calf skin, found in Germany

~Esther scrolls from the mid 17th century, read at the beginning of the Feast of Purim

~a small, worn piece of Greek papyrus with the writings of Hannah's Prayer in 1 Samuel

~incredibly ornate Torah tiks (coverings)

~one of the earliest texts of John, Peter & Psalms written in Greek, from just a couple generations after the disciples

~Latin Vulgate Bibles from as early as 9c

~Wycliffe's New Testament translated into Middle English, 15c

~a written, signed letter by Martin Luther just days before he faced the church officials on charges of heresy

~the only known copy of Tyndale's New Testament, edited & printed while he awaited execution, 1535

And so much more...hours more!  We were sure to request a visit to Kansas City, noting that Union Station would be a most perfect display venue.  We would recommend anyone to visit this impressive collection if it comes to town.

On to finish Tennessee and then home for a much needed visit!