A weekend in Savannah

Savannah, GA has been a city on our to-visit list for a while now. While we do get to travel much of the South, but we don't get over to the eastern side very often.  We decided to spend a couple of days in Savannah to close out our summer vacation.

After our week at the beach, we drove up to Savannah Friday afternoon. It is only a two hour drive from Amelia, so it wasn't a long drive, but simultaneously shortened our drive home by two hours. Win/win.

We checked into our hotel, East Bay Inn, and settled in for a little while before heading out to dinner. I hadn't really done much planning or preparation for this trip. I made a little list of a few restaurants that sounded good and a few places to check out, but that's pretty much the extent.



I wanted to check out the Olde Pink House for dinner. I called to see if they had any spots open for dinner the same day, but we weren't interested in dining at 10 pm. They did say they had several places where they seat first come, first serve and also serve the full menu at the bar.  Bryan and I often opt to eat at the   bar in crowded or overbooked restaurants. It's just the two of us and we can avoid the wait. (However, this will soon change.) When we arrived they seated us immediately in a bar area at a table. We must have arrived at a good time because later I watched as people waited for 30 minutes or so for a table in the same area. We shared several small dishes and had a lovely meal.

Saturday morning Bryan went out for a run while I lolled about in the big, cozy bed. That's one thing I love about traveling, lolling about in comfortable beds whilst watching HGTV. We got our act together and walked down the street to B. Matthew's Eatery.  Great breakfast! Seriously, don't miss this if you go.



Our plan for the day was pretty simple: walk the historic district. We intended to check out a few things on our walk: City Market, ShopSCAD, and Chippawa Square.

















We did a lot of walking, occasionally popping in a cute shop, but more often stopping in a square and resting. My favorite thing about Savannah was the squares. Every couple of blocks we'd come across another one. And they are perfect for pregnant ladies.



See?





By late afternoon we had returned back to Bay Street and started towards River Street. Bryan and I were both captivated by these old bridges and many storied buildings.



The stairs and cobblestones in this area are not for the faint of heart or weak ankled. Wear sturdy shoes.



Sunday morning we checked out of our hotel and drove out to Tybee Island for breakfast at the Breakfast Club. It was nice to end our vacation with another glimpse of the beach before heading back east.

Savannah is a great, old Southern town. Tons of gorgeous architecture and charm around every corner. We saw a bunch of bachelorettes walking around, but it's also a great weekend get away for a couple.

Where we ate:
- Olde Pink House
- B. Matthew's Eatery
- Gryphon Tea Room
- Leopold's

Beach Trip!

Bryan and I were able to get away for six days at Amelia Island, Florida last week. It was getting super hot in Memphis and I was ready to cool off with a sea breeze.

Word of warning: this post will be lengthy and picture heavy. 

We drove down all day Saturday. We weren't sure when we left if we wanted to make it all the way or stop over halfway. But once we got through Macon, GA we still had energy and decided to push on.  It was so nice to wake up Sunday morning to this view.





We started our day with coffee and a walk on the beach.

Afterwards we headed out to breakfast and to do our grocery shopping.



We always make a stop at Atlantic Seafood for all our local seafood needs. The guy behind the counter was super helpful and suggested this Pompano for us. He even invited us in the back room to watch him fillet it.



Once we got back to the condo the weather had changed. There was a hurricane off the east coast and it effected us for the next three days. Crazy wind for most of the time and mostly cloudy Sunday afternoon.



We did some shopping Monday and Tuesday since it was too windy to be at the beach.



We were walking on the docks at the marina looking for wildlife when Bryan spotted this little guy. A river otter living under the dock near Atlantic Seafood. Turns out there is a family, a mother and three babies, who live there. They were adorable to watch.



There were many walks on the beach.





Wednesday the wind finally died down enough for us to put the tent up. Bryan used sand buckets to reinforce the tent from blowing away.

My aunt had taken my mom and other aunt to Big Talbot Island State Park not far away a couple weeks before we went. Seeing their pictures and hearing the description we wanted to go and check it out for ourselves.



Big Talbot Island is one island south of Amelia. In the picture above you can see Amelia on the horizon. The tide is causing the bluff of Big Talbot to wash away, creating a graveyard of trees. It was fascinating to walk along the beach among them. It felt other worldly.



But to get to the beach you have to walk a 1/3 mile trail. It was beautiful... until we saw the spiders. Which there were lots of. Big ones. Not far from our heads.





Bryan armed himself with a stick to protect us.



Finally we made it down to the beach.









We happened upon a young osprey bird who let us getting pretty close to him. He'd just taken a dive before perching here.





To avoid the spiders we decided to try climbing the bluff to get back to our car. Bryan got a lot of sand in his shoes.

We spent Thursday and Friday morning on the beach.







Bryan made a little fort in the front of our tent.



We had a great trip. The last beach trip as a couple. Next year I guess we'll have a little one in tow.

Where we ate:
- Cafe Karibo
- Timoti's
- 29 South

What I made:
- Baked pomano, served with roasted potatoes and asparagus
- She Crab Soup
- Sauteed shirmp with lemon garlic butter sauce over pasta

Where we went:
- Downtown Fernandina Beach
- Atlantic Seafood - for fresh seafood
- The Plantation Shop
- Big Talbot Island State Park
- The Ritz Carlton - for drinks on their patio at dusk

Getaway Picture

In recent months I've been going through a bunch of old pictures. My parents and I had a couple of boxes of photos scanned and put on a disc. They came back out of order despite my putting them in order with note cards dividing them between the various photo albums I took the photos out of. Having a disc of old photos is great... but when your baby pictures is next to college pictures it can make finding a specific photo very challenging. So I've been putting some time aside here and there to work through organizing them.

This is one I've come across. I have no idea when it was taken - anytime between the years 1995-2001. But it as since found a permanent spot on my desk. I look at it daily. It takes me back to a time and place and a feeling of the warmth of the sun on my skin, wind in my hair, and a mist in the air. I can't help but take a deep sigh and relax a little each time I look at it and get lost in those moments.

It's no wonder I've been craving the water and being on a boat lately.

What are you day dreaming about? The beach? Sunny weather? A specific time and place?

Asheville 2013

We had heard that Asheville was a cool town and a beer town from several different people over the last couple of years. When we got a wedding invitation to attend a wedding outside of Asheville we decided to make the trip and see the town.



I left work early and we headed out on our longest car trip in a few years. We hit some traffic outside of Nashville which was a bummer, but we made it to town around 9:30. After checking into our AirBnB basement apartment we went out in search of food. We had decided on the way into town that we would try Ben's Tune Up, which had good Urbanspoon reviews and was mentioned in a Garden and Gun article before it had even opened.

Ben's Tune Up is in an old car shop and has an open air courtyard with such a cool electic vibe. Unfortunately the kitchen closes at 10 and we arrived at 10:10. After begging the waitress we were able to get a plate of sticky rice with swordfish and we were very much grateful. We also both enjoyed two first pints of beer on the trip. We were both impressed, but I think the long trip combined with our hunger/thirst helped.

The next morning Bryan got up early for a run and I slept in a bit. We ventured into town for coffee and breakfast. We didn't have time for a full breakfast as we had tickets to the Biltmore.







The Biltmore. We had been told it was a must. After seeing how expensive tickets were I was a bit hesitant and also a bit resentful. But we purchased our tickets online in advance to save some money. It was quite the operation. Bryan and I were both impressed with the amount of staff and organization to the whole enterprise.





We parked and were shuttled to the front of the house. After going to the bathroom and drinking some water we entered the house a little after our ticket time. I think we avoided a line by being a little be late. The inside is grand and amazing. But there are people everywhere. With these annoying little ear/phone devices. We had opted out of the audio ($10/person... no thanks) and read the information on the guide, looked at the rooms at our own pace and scooted past the audio people.

The whole time we pretended it was Downton Abbey, comparing rooms and imagining the characters there. Dorky, yes.



The grounds were incredible. I had heard that there were gardens and being a garden dork now, I was excited to see them. They were impressive to say the least. I love the grounds of Monticello, but this is totally different. Olmstead was a genius.













We opted out of additional tours in favor of heading back into town for beer. If we were staying longer I think we could have spent an entire day on the grounds, but alas, our focus for this trip was beer.

We had a list of places we wanted to try and we started ticking them off.



First up, Wicked Weed which has an incredible tap list of house made beer along with some really delicious food. We stopped here first for lunch and brews.



Next stop was LAB where we got a sampler flight.

Next up the Thirsty Monk basement which features a Belgium bar. Bryan wasn't a huge fan.

Then we walked down the hill to Asheville Brewing Company where we split some garlic knots and had a pint each. We sat outside and watch kids play games and families eat.

We went back to our apartment to change and rest up before dinner. We drop to West Asheville for dinner at The Admiral. We sat at the bar and got to watch the bar staff and the kitchen which was highly amusing. Dinner was great but we were feeling full and funky from all the beer that day.


Street art outside of the Admiral

Sunday morning we got up and went to breakfast at Early Girl. It was incredible. Beer is not allowed to be served until noon in NC so we changed into our wedding clothes and then went to Hi Wire Brewery before we went out of town to the wedding. Like many of the breweries in Asheville they did not serve food, but had a food truck outside. We snacked on some fries to hold us over to the reception.


Hi Wire Tap Room

Ben and Elizabeth got married at a Christian conference center in Flat Rock, NC. It was about a 30 minute drive outside of Asheville. We enjoyed seeing Ben, meeting his new wife, and catching up with old friends, Ricky and Starr and seeing their baby.


A moment on the patio of the conference center before we left.

Once back in Asheville it was time to hit a few more breweries. We started outside the city in Black Mountain at Pisgah Brewery. They are highly awarded and are all organic. They had a surprisingly nice little outdoor area for the industrial building they were in.

Our next stop was Wedge in the River Arts district. It was sadly raining when we arrived. I would have loved to see (and also enjoy) their eclectic outdoor area. We enjoyed a pint inside with a bowl of peanuts. They also had a food truck outside.

For dinner we wanted to go back to Ben's Tune Up for a real meal. We enjoyed our last dinner and another pint.



Monday morning we packed up and went back over to West Asheville for our last meal at Sunny Point. The wait was kind of ridiculous, but the weather was nice and they had a nice outdoor area for waiting. They also had their own impressive garden which I enjoyed perusing during the wait.

Their heuvos rancheros was amazing. Best meal of the trip. We stopped at a grocery store to buy some beer before hitting the road.



Overall it was a great weekend away. It was so refreshing to be in a totally new environment. The weather didn't hurt either!