5/3/2015

Weekly Update 5/3/2015

This week I continued to have a great visit with Allen.

On Monday, we drove south to St Simon's Island. Although it was a cloudy day, it was a good day to be in the car instead of by the pool. I made poor Allen stop at a Waffle House for breakfast, but dinner was at a seafood restaurant on St Simon's. Between the meals, we visited the lighthouse (Allen climbed to he top; I could not) and the Maritime Center, and walked a bit along the rocky ocean coast. We leisurely drove home on some of the back roads enjoying a nice drive and talking in the car. 

 

Allen's at the top of the lighthouse

also on the cupola of the Maritime Center

Tuesday, it was rather cool, and not a particularly good day to sit by the pool. So we went to the Civil Rights Museum in Savannah. It's small, but interesting, and tells about the time in Savannah when so much was happening all over the South. We had hoped to also tour the First African Baptist Church, and were told that the last tour was at 3 pm. When we showed up for that, the sign on the door said that tours were over at 2 pm, so we didn't get to do that. We sat in City Market for a while and people-watched, then went to the new Sandfly Barbeque that had recently opened. It was good, except they didn't have any brisket the day we were there, so I settled for pulled pork. We went back downtown later that evening for a show at the Savannah Theater. I'd never been to a show here (I thought it would be rather like the lame entertainment you get on a cruise ship, but had wanted to go). Allen was the youngest person in the audience, if that tells you anything about the kind of people attracted to this theater. But as it progressed, it got better and better. I especially liked the Sonny and Cher and Elvis parody, and the Broadway show tunes. 

At City Market

The Savannah Theater

 

Wednesday it was damp and cloudy again. With another day of not being able to go to the pool, Allen and I took a ride along Bluff Drive on the Isle of Hope. I have a book that gives a brief story of each of the houses on the exclusive street - who they were built for, when they were built, any interesting facts about them. Then we went to Coach’s in the afternoon to watch a Yankees game. The Baltimore Orioles were also playing, so it was interesting to see that game on the big screen - not one fan in the stands! The game went on, but the stadium was closed because of the riots in the city. That evening, we had reservations for a Slow Ride, which is a bicycle built for 12. Allen had seen one earlier in the visit while we were wandering around downtown and thought it looked like fun. We almost didn't get to take this ride because all the daytime rides were canceled due to the weather, but when it cleared up, we were able to join another group of two young couples on a pub crawl. It really was fun, thanks to Allen and the other young kids. I'm pretty sure I put a damper on things because they must have all been waiting for me to have a heart attack while pedaling (they promised that if that happened, they would lay me down on the floor of the contraption and pedal like hell to the hospital - thanks guys!) But it was really fun. 

our "bike" - missing all the pedalers who were in the bar getting a beer in a to go cup

we got our beers!

 

And then it was Thursday, and time for Allen to get on the Delta airplane and fly home. The week really went fast for me, and I was so delighted that he came to visit. It seemed as if we didn't do much, since he'd been here before and seen a lot of the tourist attractions on other trips. And I'd hoped that we would have more time at the pool than we got. But it was wonderful to have him here. I missed him immediately.

Allen made a new friend in Savannah

 

I went to The Rail on Thursday because Dave and Lisa are heading back to UK and I wanted to have one last pint of Guinness with them before they went away. Friday, I was back into my routine. I did four large tours at DH (it's that time of year for large tours), but then skipped 17 Hundred 90 since there's no one left here in Savannah to enjoy a Friday night drink with.

I did get to 17 Hundred 90 on Saturday; the Lunch Bunch had a nice Derby Day luncheon planned. We were supposed to wear a nice dress and a hat. My idea of a nice dress is a clean t-shirt, and the only hat I own is a Buffalo Bills baseball cap. But I rummaged around and found a dress and my straw “convertible-top-down” hat and added a couple of fake flowers to it. I guess it was OK. The menu was great: mint juleps, boursin cheese and pecanwood bacon deviled eggs, pork tenderloin sliders with blackberry honey mustard, shrimp and spinach hush puppies, sweet and sour napa cottage slaw, brie cheese with peach and blueberry chutney, followed by peach and blueberry cobbler for dessert. Connie's husband, Jim, is the chef at 17 Hundred 90 and made all this for us and it was wonderful. I got out of the dress the minute I walked into my condo again, and put on my jeans and a tank top to go to watch the horse race with Sylvia and Charles at their house. Another mint julep. Knowing nothing about the horses, when asked to pick a winner, I chose Frosted - an old gray nag. She didn't win, but I felt a connection to her. 

it's hard to see, but the hats were a lot of fun