Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Savannah is the kind of town that spawns a story like Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. It is an old, old town, incredibly beautiful. The trees draped with Spanish moss contribute to the sense of mystery, as do the old buildings and old stories.

We took a trolley tour of the mile-square historic district. It is filled with small, lovely squares surrounded by interesting old buildings. We saw the house that was the home of antique dealer Jim Williams, accused of killing Danny Hansford, a local male prostitute. There is a bookstore dedicated entirely to 'the book', we plan to visit it tomorrow. We passed a synagogue that is the third oldest in the United States and which houses a Torah from the 1400's. We passed the church where John and Charles Wesley served during their time in Savannah. We passed the church where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached his first sermon.

We walked by the river and saw the port area with giant ships, we saw two tugboats and the statue of the 'waving girl' which is a famous Savannah landmark. We stood on the 'echo spot' by the river and tested it out.

We also saw Paula Deen's restaurant, we were too late to get a table for tonight, maybe tomorrow. We walked a bit in the City Market, but it was just too hot to walk there a lot. We used the trolley tour as transportation today, using the on/off feature. So after stopping for lunch in the City Market, we got back on and rode a few stops to River Street. Our first stop there was the Savannah Candy company, where you can get a free taste of praline pecan candy - really good. So of course we got a pound of that, and a big caramel apple because their caramel looked great.

We walked around some of the smaller shops and looked at all the souvenirs. Del Sol has t-shirts, bags, jackets and some jewelry, all of which changes color in the sunlight - very cool. But we went there because we had certificates for a free bottle of water. That was really appealing in today's (seasonable) heat.

Tonight we walked a few blocks and had dinner at a British pub in the heart of the Historic District, called the Six Pence Pub. It was fun to eat in the window and see the horses and carriages go by, along with tour trolleys and rickshaw tours. It is a great place to visit, but most likely winter would be an even better time to visit.

Plan for tomorrow is to get up early and walk to the City Market to try to get a reservation for Paula Deen's, visit a few of the spots we saw today and get an up close look, then in the evening we are taking a ghost tour. Lots to see, a couple of days really just touches the surface.

Sunrise on the beach

I got up in time to watch the sun rise over the Atlantic. The tide was going out, so the beach seemed a mile wide. I walked along the beach while the sky lightened. Suddenly there was a pinpoint of brilliant orange/gold light. Then within 10 minutes the full sun had risen to well above the horizon. It just seemed to explode up. I spent about an hour on the beach, walking on the hard sand, watching the gulls skim the surf looking for food.

Jekyll Island 4th of July

Best 4th of July ever - we are on Jekyll Island GA. Our hotel is right by the beach; we took our beach towels and walked over the dunes on the boardwalk which has footlights to the beach. The tide was low so the beach was broad and the sky filled with stars. The official Jekyll Island fireworks display was less than a mile up the beach and we had a great view sitting on towels by the beach. It wasn't really crowded, the temperature is about 75 degrees and there is a strong sea breeze. There were some people wearing glow in the dark red, white and blue necklaces and bracelets or carrying glow wands. I can't ever remember a better 4th of July.

We ate dinner at a restaurant on the Intercoastal Waterway, sitting on a broad porch surrounded by trees draped in Spanish moss. There was a light breeze and the porch had overhead fans, so it was very comfortable. Ok, I admit the flies detracted a bit from the experience, but what is life without a few flies!

On the way back, we drove around the south end of the island and got stopped in a roadblock. The entire island police force seemed to be there. I had to show my drivers license, and the policeman started to let us go politely then noticed that my license seemed to have expired. I told him to turn it over and explained that is how Illinois does it, with a sticker on the back of the license. He laughed and said 'That can get you arrested down here, we aren't that smart. Have a nice evening.' then handed me my license and let me go. Of course, I really thought that we got stopped because I had a margarita on the porch!

I am loving every minute of being back in the South. Good night y'all.

Thoughts from tropical Florida

We spent the last 6 days in Central Florida, in Lake Wales for 5 days and now in Apopka/Orlando. Lake Wales is 'famous' as the place where, in 2004, the eyes of hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne all passed over Lake Wales, causing residents to evacuate and leaving massive damage in their wake. But the area residents rebuilt quickly and today there are no obvious signs of the destruction.

Perhaps the best known attraction in Lake Wales is Bok Tower Gardens, a botanic garden and sanctuary designed by Frederick Law Olmstead. It is designated a national historic landmark. It is a beautiful peaceful place with miles of paths. (Gloria would tell you that it also, unfortunately, has thousands of mosquitoes.) The singing tower which houses a carillon, sits on what is billed as the highest point in peninsular Florida, with a view for miles. We did visit the garden, but only spent a short time as the temperature was in the mid-nineties, the humidity was high and the sun was shining. It would be a great place to visit in January......

We also visited Spook Hill where cars roll uphill. Here is the legend:

"Many years ago an Indian village on Lake Wales was plagued by raids of a huge gator. The Chief, a great warrior, killed the gator in a battle that created a small lake. The chief was buried on the north side. Pioneer mail riders first discovered their horses laboring down hill, thus naming it "Spook Hill." When the road was paved, cars coasted up hill. Is this the gator seeking revenge, or the chief still trying to protect his land?"

I don't know the real story, but our car rolled uphill backwards, not once but twice. The second time we were picking up speed, but I am not a great backwards driver and we hit the curb.

Mostly our stay in Central Florida was about visiting family. We spent several days with my father, who is 91. While he is doing pretty well, he isn't interested in much activity, so we spent the time at his house, which backs up to a swamp. We found it endlessly fascinating to sit on the screen porch and look over the swamp. It is filled with birds and frogs, which make for lots of interesting sounds. The smallest of frogs makes the biggest of sounds. There are some heron or egret like birds that are brown with red heads, the adults are at least 3 feet tall.

This is the rainy season in this tropical place, so most days between 3 and 10PM there is rain, much of it really heavy. The storms bring out the frogs in full force. And all the wildlife attract predatory birds. We weren't sure if they were eagles or hawks, but there are many, many of them circling above.

Today we visited with my husband's family, there were 5 generations in the house. We had a good time, the house was full of visitors, roughly 20 people. It gave me a good chance to practice Spanish (more listening than speaking skills). Now we are in Altamonte Springs, it is still raining lightly and we elected to not try to attend Red, White and Boom, the fireworks display in Altamonte Springs.

Marching Through Georgia

After two really long travel days (about 12 hours each) we have arrived in Lake Wales, FL. We navigated the last few hours of the trip mostly in a downpour of varying strength. At a couple of points I would have pulled off the road if I could have seen well enough to find a spot to pull off. But we arrived safely. There are very few people staying at the resort where we are, not everyone chooses to travel during the monsoons. Other than the last few hours, the trip was pleasant and uneventful.

By far the most interesting thing that we saw was a giant windmill farm in Indiana. We believe that it is the Fowler Ridge Wind Farm, a joint venture between Dominion Oil and BP Alternative Energy. My research indicates that the first phase deployed 222 wind turbines, a second phase this year added 133 more and a third phase is planned (or underway) to add and additional 150, which will make it one of the largest wind farms in the world. It was an impressive sight, it went on for miles on both sides of the road, as far as we could see. A few years ago, we saw wind farms in southern Minnesota and South Dakota, but this dwarfed anything that we saw then.



After leaving the wind farm and continuing through the very long state of Indiana, we crossed over the Ohio River from Indiana to Kentucky as we entered Louisville. The river is incredibly wide at that point, and is also very beautiful. Jovito found it interesting that the state line is in the middle of the river. We saw Churchill Downs which is an institution. On to Nashville, where we did not see any traces of the major flooding that occurred not too long ago. We got a good look at the Tennessee Titans Stadium. Fortunately we were too early in the year for there to be a game, so traffic was not an issue.

We stayed in Chattanooga last night. We had dinner at Cracker Barrel, which had a 15 minute wait at 9PM, then had a true Southern breakfast at a Waffle House. I enjoyed the Tennessee accents and the Tennessee scenery. Although Chattanooga is far from Johnson City, there are enough similarities to make it feel like home. After breakfast, we drove through the last 10 mines of Tennessee, following a lovely river then climbing the mountains out of town.

We then crossed into Georgia and traveled the rest of the way today. Georgia is a very large state it seems, and encompasses multiple types of geography. The northern part is mountainous and filled with forests; the foothills are rolling with pine forests. Atlanta is truly a big city; since it was Sunday, we drove straight through the middle of town, and it took nearly 30 minutes to get all the way through. It is really a lovely town, quite modern. We saw Turner Field, the home of the Atlanta Braves, which is clearly visible from the highway.

After leaving Atlanta, the scenery begins to change. Southern Georgia has few trees, just small stands, is much flatter than the northern part. It has broad fields where red clay is prevalent. There are many billboards, advertising hotels, restaurants, boiled peanuts, Georgia pecans and Georgia peaches (which happen to be in season). Ok, I have to ask, who has eaten boiled peanuts? I went in a gas station in Gainesville, FL (home to the University of Florida) and they had two crock pots of boiled peanuts, one plain and one Cajun. They had ladles in them and you could scoop out a cup for yourself - I did not indulge, but I was curious.

We passed by the Chickamauga Civil War Battlefield, the Andersonville National Historic Site (the home of the infamous Confederate Civil War prison camp), and Jimmy Carter's home town. I would someday like to visit Andersonville. Years ago I read the novel "Andersonville", written by MacKinley Kantor and I have never been able to forget it.

We had intended to stop and travel the last few hours tomorrow, but once we were four hours away, everyone was eager to push through and finish up the trip. The rain has stopped and we are enjoying the steamy summer Florida evening. We are all pretty tired at this point, more later.

Ready to Head South

I seem to be most interested in blogging when I travel, I think that for me traveling evokes memories and emotions. Surprisingly that is true of the most mundane of travel, it does not have to be exotic or exciting. In my view, every trip seems to have its own special merit.

Our upcoming trip starts with visits to family, first Dad and Ann then Jovito's sister and mother along with assorted family in that area. Fortunately for us, the two families live only about 100 miles apart, making it easy to do a combined visit. Since Dad is 91 and Josefina (Jovito's mother) is 89, we decided not to let any more time pass before visiting.

I am hoping to visit Bok Tower and Gardens while we are in Lake Wales, but it is in the 90's and humid with rain most days so when we get there we may decide that a visit to a botanic garden is not that appealing.

After a week of family visits, to break up the trip home, we will drive up the east coast and visit Jekyll Island, GA for a couple of days and Savannah, GA for a few days. Both of these places take me back to my Southern upbringing. Jekyll Island was a popular vacation spot for Tennesseans, but we never made it quite that far, so this will be the first time for me. And we haven't been to the beach in years, I think the last time was 2001, so that will be fun.

Savannah is billed as one of the 10 prettiest towns in the USA, lots of history, site of 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil', home to Paula Deen's 'Lady and Sons' restaurant, place where the Wesleys spent most of their short time in America, filled with Civil War history.

Then the route home takes us through both Carolina's, Tennessee and Kentucky, which all feels kind of like home to me. Then we hit the flat, far less scenic mid-West that also feels like home.

So stay tuned, more to come.

I have read through some of the posts I did while I was traveling, and it brought back memories of the trip that was, for me, the trip of a lifetime. I am so glad that I took advantage of the opportunity. And although it would have been a lot easier to just stay in London, it was great that it was Gloria's BritRail week. The experience was far richer because we got the opportunity to see many places. I came away with some sense of the island of Britain and the variety that exists within the boundaries of what is really not geographically that large.

I am not able to chose one experience or place as a 'favorite', there were so many that compete for that honor. London was exhilarating, filled with history, diverse and lovely. But Bath houses the site where King Edgar was crowned the first king of all England, the Roman Baths from 420 AD and the Jane Austen center; oh, and Johnny Depp has a house there. Bath was an amazing mix of past and present. The small villages that we visited were pristine and unspoiled despite being the site of numerous movie filmings. Swansea had one of the best museums I have visited, with fresh, interactive exhibits. But it also had a lovely beach, the Dylan Thomas Center, the ruins of a lovely castle, the largest market in Wales and much to recommend it. Edinburgh was looming, dark and gothic and was worthy of a far longer visit than what we made.

My head is filled with images of places that we visited, much like a slide show, except that they come unbidden into my mind at random times and places. I only hope that with the blog, my journal and the approximately 500 pictures, I will be able to hold onto these images and spend the winter polishing them.