Weekly
Update 6/13/2022
I
had a WONDERFUL visit with Allen. He was here for five days, and we
did some things, but sat around and relaxed a bit, too.
He
arrived last Wednesday in the late morning. But, he had to leave his
home in the very early morning hours to catch two flights to
Savannah. I didn’t plan to do much for his first day. We went out
to eat a late breakfast / early lunch at Henry’s, a favorite place
for Kay and me. And then we went grocery chopping and to the Butcher
Shop to get good steaks to grill out. That had worked very well when
Lisa was here, and I hoped Allen would enjoy that too. Since he’d
been up for a long time, so we just watched some old Batman on tv,
and went to bed early.
Allen
hasn’t been to Savannah since before the pandemic, and while most
things are the same, a few things have changed. So we went downtown
to spend the day on Thursday. He wanted to get pictures of Forsyth
fountain, so we started there and had a nice lunch at Collins
Quarters in the park. He had not been to the Prohibition Museum on
other visits, so I thought he might like that. We walked around the
Power Plant District a bit because that’s all been developed since
Allen’s last visit. We got Wet Willies and enjoyed them as we rode
the water taxi across the Savannah River and back. It began to rain
really hard, and we just about made it to Churchill’s for dinner
before becoming completely waterlogged. The rain stopped while we
ate, and we were able to walk to Leopold’s for ice cream before
heading back to the car and driving home to the apartment.
As
Allen was reading guide books to look for interesting things to do
while he was here, he was intrigued by what he read about Daufuskie
Island. That is an island about half way between Savannah and Hilton
Head, and it’s only accessible by boat. It was made famous by Pat
Conroy and his book The Water is Wide. I wanted to find a
guided tour, but didn’t have any luck with that, so we booked a
round trip ferry to the island, and a golf cart. With the help of
some brochures, we found our way around to most of the places we
thought we should see: Pat Conroy’s School, the African Church, a
little museum, and a winery. It’s an hour ferry ride to get to the
island, and we spent about four hours there, and then took the boat
back. It was a pretty interesting day. Since we were already in
South Carolina, I wanted to show Allen the R Bar, where I’ve gone
to watch a couple of Buffalo Bills games. We stopped there for
sandwiches on the drive back to the apartment.
Allen
seemed to like the history of Daufuskie, so I felt he might also be
interested in going to the Pinpoint Museum in Savannah. So on
Saturday, after we’d spent a little time in the morning at the
pool, we went out to Skidaway Island to see that. Just as we got out
of the car, it began to thunderstorm again. We could view the video
and walk around inside the canning factory while still being dry, but
there were no tours or guides. We still were able to get a good idea
of what the life was like there. It cleared up a little, and I took a picture. The blue sky is deceiving, and the rain had just stopped. We met Kay for supper at Jim and
Nick’s Barbecue that evening. I’m glad Allen got to meet her.
Sunday,
we drove to Jekyll Island. The forecast was for more rain, starting
in the early afternoon. In order to see as much as we could, we
began at Driftwood Beach before the rain started. The beach was quite
crowded, but it was nice to walk along in the sand. Allen got his
feet wet, but I mostly stayed away from the water. We found a small
grocery store where the deli offered made-to-order sandwiches, and we
ate at picnic tables there. We took an early afternoon tram tour
around the historic part of the island, and it began to rain as we
were on the trolley. It wasn’t raining hard, and it didn’t last
too long. We visited the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, which is one of
my favorite things to do. There were not many turtles in the
hospital, and I was disappointed, which makes no sense - why be
disappointed that there are no sick or injured turtles? As we left
the island, it began to rain in buckets, and I was a little nervous
driving. We had planned to stop and eat someplace in St Simon’s,
but I was so focused on the road, I didn’t realized that we passed
the little town and then I didn’t feel like turning around and
going back. We stopped at Love’s Seafood, a famous (but a little
out-dated) restaurant along the Ogeechee River. The view was nice,
and the food was good. Allen had the special, alligator alfredo. I
had grilled scallops.
Monday,
we went back to the pool to relax again. We went out to local
breakfast place to eat, and then took naps in the afternoon. Before
I knew it, it was time to go to the airport. I dropped him off at
the gate, and waved goodbye. And then I missed him immediately. I
was so happy to have him come visit. Now it’s back to my routine.
