Savannah Redux - So long summer

An iconic sight all over the city...Spanish moss hanging from tree branches

Just about a year ago (where does the time go?!) when I was starting this blog, we were planning a trip to Savannah and Hilton Head Island. We had such a good time we decided to head back there this Labor Day weekend.

On that first visit we made an unexpected side trip to Tybee Island, GA. Tybee Island is my kind of beachside community. I couldn't believe that I had never been there before. Kitchy shops side-by-side with nicer boutiques. Flop flops and shorts or the uniform of choice. You can get a daiquiri drawn out of a slushy machine or have a nice glass of wine in a sit down restaurant. All go into making this a fun, eclectic place to spend some time.

I broke one of my cardinal rules of travel this trip. A couple of my complimentary stay certificates were going to expire at the end of this month and I let that influence my choice of hotel. Don't get me wrong, the hotel we stayed at was very nice. (Residence Inn, Savannah Midtown) But, it didn't meet my walking distance criteria. I knew on this trip that we were going to concentrate most of our time on Tybee Island so I thought being a bit out of the downtown wouldn't matter. I was wrong. Usually in the evening when we might have walked out to get a drink or just take in the city we were faced with having to get out the car to go anywhere. It put a bit of a damper on things. Lesson learned or reinforced more to the point.

We started out early Saturday morning and stopped for breakfast at the Red Eyed Mule in Marietta before we headed out of town. Figuring we would get to the hotel prior to check-in time, we decided to head to lunch as soon as we got to Savannah. We checked with the hotel just in case and we were too early for check-in. Lunch it was!

Decorative wrought iron work

Our lunch destination had already been decided, Uncle Bubba's Oyster House. The food we had there on a previous visit was so good we wanted to go back. The food this time around was very hit or miss and mostly disappointing. However, the one thing that didn't let us down was the key lime pie. It was so good we had it twice. We stopped back on Sunday just for that pie. The place was packed and on a wait but the bar in the back is full service and first come, first served. We walked out back and snagged the last high-top near the bar. We ordered our pie and looked around the bar. Guess who was seated at the table right next to us? Paula Deen's husband, Michael Groover. Captain Mike was having lunch with his brother. Lot's of people stopped by to say hey and a few to get there pictures taken. He was smiling the whole time and took it all in stride. We didn't approach his table but he did greet us as well as others in the area.

 After lunch on Saturday we drove a little further down highway 80 right out to Tybee Island. We had no plan other than to walk out to the beach and pick up a few souvineers. I was so anxious to get to the beach I had my travel companion parking the car way sooner than I should have. Let's just say my memory was hazy and I had us parked about 10 long blocks away from where we wanted to be. Fail! We made the best of it and took a walk on the beach before heading back to and re-parking the car. (I hope someone found the meter with all that time still on it.) Once we were re-parked we walked over to the public pier on the beach and took in the beautiful view of the ocean and the beach. It was beautiful day and I really enjoyed my time there.

The plan for Sunday was so take a trolley tour of Savannah. Something we've done and enjoyed in other cities. We took the Oglethorpe Gray Line tour. It's a 90 minute on/off tour that takes place in downtown Savannah. The tour was fine but the on/off component didn't operate like any I had experience with before. Once around for the whole tour and then you get dropped off at one of two stops. From there the on/off service is provided by small buses (think hotel shuttles) that pick you up and drop you off at the various points the tour covered. It was fine and worked as advertised but wasn't what I expected and kind of took some of the fun out of it for me. Your experience my vary but at least you now know what to expect. Note to self: read the fine print.

After the tour we headed back to Tybee Island for lunch at Stingray's, a seafood restaurant right on the main drag. The best I can say about this place was that the food was ok. Everything was just bland and uninspiring. Between this place and Uncle Bubba's the food this trip was not a standout. Except for the key lime pie at Uncle Bubba's, that was awesome, and worth a trip there just for that.

So the long weekend went, eating ok food, enjoying good company and spending time at the beach. Not a bad way to ease into fall.

Happy travels!