Meandering Around Savannah

This is a series of photos as our days in Savannah wound down...

Some beautiful roses found their way to me for Valentine's Day.

One afternoon, I decided to go for a walk and Jim said "I'd wait for that black cloud to pass over." So I waited and waited and then walked outside to see why the cloud wasn't moving. Holy moly...there was a serious fire somewhere. It turns out it was a warehouse fire at the port involving tons of rubber.

Marg had asked me about the Wedding Cake House, which she had seen featured on an HGTV show. I hadn't heard of it, so that gave me a new mission during one of my walks. Here it is on Monterey Square. I've walked through Monterey Square many times (it's the same square that the infamous Mercer Williams house is located on), but I had never noticed this house before. It just shows how many beautiful homes there are.

Also located on Monterey Square is this lovely synagogue, the Congregation Mickve Israel, one of the oldest synagogues in the US. It was organized by Jewish immigrants from London who came with Oglethorpe in 1733. You can see the black smoke from the rubber fire was following me on my walk.

This pretty walk is on Bay Street, just above the river, before you get to the Cotton Exchange.

Here is the Cotton Exchange which had its permanent home on Bay Street beginning in 1883. It is now a tavern, but was at one time the center of cotton exports to New York and London.

These walkways were used by the cotton factors to examine the cotton as it came to the port. The factors were brokers who worked in the interests of the cotton planters to get them a fair price.

Look how high this ship is riding in the water...

Troup Square, one of the squares close to where we were staying, is also referred to as the Jingle Bells Square.

Walking through Pulaski Square...

Telfair Square was one of six venues hosting the 2014 Savannah Book Festival. There were many notable authors in the city for the event, including one of my favourites, Wally Lamb. Must check that out next year...

When we'd finally get a day where we wouldn't freeze our hands on the golf course, we were out there. We didn't play as much as we had hoped to, but the weather was just really cool this year.

The golf course is located near the air force base, which can make concentrating a bit hard sometimes.  (Well, that's my excuse anyway.) The jets usually came out in pairs, so once one went by, you knew to wait a few seconds for the next one.

This was the little house next door to our rental. We would often see the trolleys or walking tours stop in front of the house, but it took us a while to finally hear a version of the story of the house. It is called Laura's Cottage and one story says that Laura was a black woman who worked for Mr. Davenport in his house a few doors away. He had made many promises to her, but died before fulfilling them. For that reason, Laura has cursed all men. There are a few ghostly stories from people who have stayed in the cottage. Savannah is full of ghosts and stories.

At last we were getting some warm weather and people were planting flowers. So nice to see...

This photo was taken on February 28. That's a little ahead of when the flowering crabs bloom at home!

We saw a lot of work going on around this tower not far from our house and wondered what it was. They were already preparing for the influx of people on St. Patrick's Day. Savannah has one of the largest parades in the US, and with the to-go cups allowing you to drink on the streets in the historic district, it's a recipe for a big party. In preparation, additional cell phone towers were being installed to accommodate the 600,000 people who will be at the parade.

A beautiful sunny Sunday in Forsyth Park. This park is so well used...dogs, picnics, football games, frisbee throwing. It's a great place to people watch.

I walked through the Colonial Cemetery a few times. It's a very historic (and haunted) cemetery.

We went on a ghost tour when Pam visited, and one of the houses our guide mentioned was at 432 Abercorn Street. I had an idea where it was and when I was out walking one day in Calhoun Square, I looked around the square and figured that this place looked pretty haunted. Yep, this must be it.

I got home and googled what the house looked like and (sorry people who live in the house above) that wasn't it. Turns out it's this very nice and not-haunted-looking house. So many stories...

Down at the river...one of my favourite walks.

I was taking a photo of the steamboat and heard this gentle squawk beside me. I guess the seagull was looking for some attention. Look at his tail...awesome!

March 2...only a few days until we leave. Nice to see so many people enjoying the weather.

Barb and Ed had mentioned this artist down by the river, so we stopped by to see him. He's also from Haiti with a similar style of painting to Alix.

One of the first times I actually saw people on the steamboat. You could tell the nice weather was finally arriving bringing more tourists each weekend.

This is Reynolds Square where you can see the Pink House (oh those mint juleps!) in the background. For some reason, a bagpiper was walking back and forth playing in the square. I asked Ed if it was a special Scottish day, but to his knowledge it wasn't. Just another entertainer doing his thing.

We had to laugh one night when we walked through one of the squares and a black gentleman was playing the saxophone. When he saw us he stopped the song he was playing and launched into "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen." We definitely looked like tourists.

Here is Joy, our lovely lady from Lucky Savannah rentals, who took such great care of us when we were there. No request was too big or too small for Joy. Thank you and see you next year!

The time came to leave our rental, but we had a few days before we needed to start the drive home. We decided to go back to Jekyll Island and stay for a few days. We knew the weather forecast wasn't good, but this was ridiculous. Endless torrential rains and one wild windstorm. After two days, we decided to hit the road for home.

That windstorm must have really hit hard through this area. There was mile after mile of broken trees.

We were in Virginia when we saw the first hint of snow...

Ooh...a service area with a Cinnabon. Sign me up!

Ooey gooey goodness...

And this strange sight that I noticed when I was looking through the sunroof. Where the heck was everyone going?

We zoomed by New York City...

And just outside the city a big rock flew into us. Thank heavens for shatterproof windshields!

It didn't take long for that crack to form...

And here we are in Maine, back in snow country. You wouldn't believe this is a four-lane highway. What happened to plowing the second lane?

Shouldn't he be plowing the other side? Even Tappy looks depressed.

Nothing like a little winter storm to accompany us home.

Well, this was rather pretty...

Back in Fredericton on our street. This was taken on March 20. I'd say there is still a bit of snow!

The end of another wonderful trip to Savannah. Something about that city has just captured us. We have booked the same rental for next year and can't wait to return.

Our next travels? God willing, it's Russia in June. With the current political situation in Russia, we're hoping it will all go well. Here endeth this blog.