Claudette's Blog

I’m on the road again. My husband has the first driving shift and then it’s my turn. So I’m taking some time to catch up on what we’ve been up to so far.

Our campground in Yamessee was OK but not WOW! This was a KOA. Not much to do. The campground is clean and very wooded which is great in very hot days. We left early to visit Savannah, were we warmly greeted by Ted, a writer, educator, storyteller and our tour guide for the morning. The Savannah hospitality was immediately present as he warmly welcomed us to his hometown.

Savannah was settled in the early 1700 by a man named Oglethorpe, who envisioned a Utopian society where all could live in harmony. This is the first settlement where whites and blacks were to live as equals as so written in the Savannah Charter.

Savannah has recently been through some remodeling in the last 25 years. After another historical building was scheduled for destruction in order to put up another parking lot, 7 women got together, raised some funds and purchased the property. Today, many of the historical squares in Savannah are being put back and include the building of new homes of period style architecture.

Of course, there are plenty of narrated bus tours, but to really experience Savannah and all its flavors, walking is simply the best. Ted is passionate about his home town, and his expertise as an educator and English professor makes him a joy to listen to. He catered our walk to our tastes and desires of what we wanted to know about Savannah. He showed us many interesting photos and maps of historical Savannah as well as pointed out which buildings were original and which were new. Ted also does walks for children, which is great for family touring.

Ted processed to enchant us with the history of Savannah, its vast culture diversity of Jews, Irish, Scottish, Islamic as this town grew. Each square represents different cultures as they came to establish themselves to what is now the third most important port city in the US.

For lunch, Ted recommended several places to eat, but we chose to eat at Mrs. Wilkes house, which used to be a boarding school. The fixed menu of local traditional food is served family style, meaning that bowls are on the table and guest of 8 to 12 per table pass around the food. It reminded me of the Waltons. It was great. We met local people eating here as well as some from coast to coast. This was a great way to eat food that is traditional to what folks in Savannah would have as a Sunday dinner. Mrs. Wilkes is open only form 11:00 to 2:00 from Monday to Friday. It was well worth it.

For more on Ted’s tours, visit his website at www.awalkthroughsavannah.bravehost.com and for Mrs. Wilkes restaurant, visit www.mrswilkes.com

After our visit in Savannah, we headed for the beach. This was a bit more of an adventure as no visible signs were available for Hilton Head beaches. We saw plenty of resorts and if you are someone how loves golf, this is the place to come. They have plenty of condos from what we could see but beach access for individuals like us was a bit of a pain. We finally found Drisden Beach, which is a state park. There was plenty of parking for which you pay about .50 for an hour. The sands are white and fine and there was a gentle slope into the ocean. For May 4th, the water was really warm, I would say at least in the 70s. For someone who normally doesn’t like cold water, this was really nice. The one thing I love about traveling at this time of year is that it’s not crowded.

Today is a travel day, going to Miami were I will let you know more about our campground there and what we did.