A long time ago I started reading a book series by Eugenia Price about the city of Savannah, Georgia. It is beautiful, amazing historical fiction following the settlement of Savannah from the beginning settlements to the Civil War. She paints such a picture of the area and captures the hopes, dreams, struggles and desires of the founders in a way that I've always been in love with the area. I've felt a connection with the dreams of building something better, creating a legacy. So when I had a chance to take a quick road trip to Savannah from Atlanta I decided to defy logic, jump on the chance, drive the 4 hours down there and live a dream I've harbored for over 15 years.
And then there I was! Although it was quite a bit different than the pre civil war pictures I had in my mind - it was still pretty amazing. The history, architecture, raw brute strength of the river damns, the actual buildings that housed titans of industry. The watch towers that people waited for ships to return to harbor from months at sea. The counting houses, the trees draped in moss, the salt bayous, light houses, the rivers, the ocean, brick streets, parks in the squares, fried green tomatoes and Tybee Island, it was all amazing and a heck of a lot to cram into 5 hours of site seeing!!
Best part of all - I'm skinny on in the Atlantic Ocean!
Shoulda stayed on the Atlantic ocean cause once I finished dinner at the impenetrable "The Lady and Sons" restaurant featuring Paula Dean's cooken' - and as she told Oprah "Honey I'm your cook not your doooctottooorr." And DANG her cooken' proved that was true. I looked at her menu and said - ehhh I can see that at home no biggy....but I got in without a reservation and so I thought what the hey - well DANG I had the fried green tomatoes, light and delicious, then the crab soup - pure butter and cream with a slice of crab to make it "healthy" and as a glutton for punishment I added pecan pie with ice cream - DANG. Needless to say - should let the street bouncer keep me out.
Seriously - you have to check in with the hostess on the street - if you have reservations - you get a card, and are told to go through the Paula Dean store into the waiting lobby where another hostess will validate you have a card and seat you as it is available. If you don't have reservations and I didn't - you can wait on the curb / sidewalk until you are summoned to the hostess stand, handed a card for the bar area, then you go in a separate door, hand the hostess your card, go up an elevator to the 3rd floor where you can dine in the nearly empty but apparently very exclusive bar with full menu..... Crazy times. Not looking forward to my next cholesterol reading!
I think someday when I am older and have time and a roundabout to cruise me through town I'd love to go on all the historical tours of the town and breath all the history of the area - just not too deep cause the morning river smell reminded me of burnt hair..... still a dream was lived and who can put a damper on that!
And as a teaser for something in the future:
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