Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina Are So Southern

Monday, April 6 and Tuesday, April 7 - After leaving Florida, our first stop was at Jekyll Island in Georgia. It is a charming island known for it's gorgeous summer homes of the rich and famous of a bygone era. I especially wanted to visit The Georgia Sea Turtle Center as I really wanted to see the loggerhead turtle which is so prevalent in the wilds of Georgia. The center is also like a hospital for sick turtles and as we listened to one of the scientists there talk about the injuries of this turtle or that turtle and the conscientious care they were given, I couldn't help but remember when we saw them selling turtles in the food market in China. What a contrast. They were kept in a little plastic pool and then when a person bought one, they would cut it away from the shell, put it in a bag and weigh it.

Savannah was real southern with its beautiful historic buildings, pecan pralines, and of course, Paula Deen. I had to see her restaurant and gift shop. Savannah also has a lovely river walk lined with shops, restaurants, and riverboats.


























At one of our stops, I saw a sign on two hot pots, Boiled Peanuts. Of course, I just had to try them. (The lady in the store thought that I was from another planet because I had never had boiled peanuts.) To me, they tasted a lot like cooked pinto beans and so for the first time I realized that peanuts really were legumes, and not nuts.
Craig's editorial...they tasted nasty and smelled even worse.

We visited Tybee Island east of Savannah, and then headed north. I found myself fascinated by the swampyness of much of the wooded areas on the sides of the road. I kept thinking that this would not be a place I would want to hike. We had an opportunity to spend some time walking around Charleston, South Carolina and found it charming. I especially found the place where the slave auctions was conducted....sad. It is now a big market place, but my mind wondered as I looked at the huge building close to the port. We stayed in Myrtle Beach which is a major beach town, but since the weather is a bit cold and windy, it didn't seem so hopping.

As a footnote, we have now completed 22 days of our trip, and have over 5200 miles on the odometer, so we're about half way. We also have over 2000 pictures, so you might want to have a few excuses on hand in case you are invited to come on over and "see a few pictures of our trip"!