The flight out here was fine except for the last two minutes. We were about to land in "the world's biggest airport". I was looking out the window and saw a big thunderhead cloud coming up on the right side of the plane. Just before we hit the cloud the pilot came on the loudspeaker and said "Flight attendants hit the deck now!" They did – they did belly flops on the floor and then we hit the cloud and all hell broke loose. The plane shook violently for a few seconds and then we were out of the cloud. You don’t see that everyday, the diving flight attendants.
Anyway, let me start off by giving Atlanta the 8 or 9 words it deserves. Atlanta seems to be a giant blob of sprawl eating most of northern Georgia. All the streets are named Peachtree Street. While there are some skyscrapers, they are set in strip malls. All restaurants in Atlanta are in strip malls. Everyone drinks Coke instead of Pepsi. While there is a mass transit system, it just goes to the strip malls. The freeways all have 14 lanes…so you can get to the restaurant… on Peachtree Street…in the strip mall…to drink Coke. The NPR station plays classical music instead of NPR news. Atlanta sucks. I have renamed Atlanta to Snorelanta.
250 miles east of Snorelanta on the coast is Savannah. Unlike Snorelanta, Savannah is old, interesting, sophisticated, there are no strip malls, and no one drinks Coke unless there’s a shot of rum in it.
First off the city is old. It was founded in the early 1700’s by an English guy named Oglethorpe. It’s built on a grid system around a series of squares.
So around each of these squares there are really great old houses, old trees covered in Spanish moss, cobblestone streets, the works. Here is a generic Savannah house on a square.
There are just dozens and dozens of these old houses and row houses there.
The trees are covered with Spanish moss.
Here is the Bed and Breakfast that we stayed at, The Eliza Dukshu House. Eliza built the house in 1847 after a long successful career as a vampire slayer.
Its was kind of cool. Old, haunted, they serve wine at 5pm each night in the parlor.
Breakfast is in the courtyard each day.
The B&B is right around the corner from the famous “Mercer House” from the book and major Hollywood motion picture “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”.
It’s great to walk around the squares and look at the old houses. Especially at night. However at night the cockroaches come out. They scatter along the sidewalk as you walk. They are big and crunchy.
Dining in Savannah is a big deal. It's a great restaurant city. Elizabeth on 37th is the epicenter. In an old mansion,very formal, but outstanding food and service. Jim Williams had his meals in prison delivered from here. Strangley however they make their Mint Julips like Slurpees at 7-11. Very odd.
Sapphire has more of a club feel and is downtown. Dark, sexy, great food (lamb lollipops!), and super cool art on the walls.
After some time in Savannah we went to Hilton Head. It’s just a few miles from Savannah, across the river in South Carolina. Hilton Head is an island in the Atlantic. It’s filled with golf courses, strip malls, chain restaurants, etc, much like Atlanta. Supposedly the beach is nice but we could not find it. Trapped in endless traffic circles, golf courses, and housing developments we gave up. We had lunch at a seafood restaurant and drank wine. A very big roach attacked my foot while I was eating. I screamed. Yes it was a girly scream.
So the next day, in search of a beach, we went to Tybee Island, just outside of Savannah. This is a nice beach town on a little island. While it is in Georgia, the NPR station is from South Carolina, so they actually play news instead of classical music. There are no golf courses, no planned communities, no Wal-Marts. Just sand and seashells. It was great. For lunch we went to the Crab Shack. The Crab Shack is a restaurants that serves several different kinds of steamed Crab, Shrimp, Crawfish, Mussels, etc. The food is great and then you get to go feed baby alligators in the parking lot.
Now I am back in the giant blob that is eating northern Georgia. NCR took me out to dinner tonight…at a restaurant… in a strip mall.
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