6/13/2022

 

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.