Holy History…not necessarily literally…just that there was a lot of it.

And I dig that stuff. Close second to science. I really dig that science stuff.

I had no idea and I was so impressed. So was Beau. Which is not always easy. He tolerates and supports my travel goals…but sometimes he’s less enthusiastic than I’d like him to be. I mean this world is grand and there is so much of it.

Focus Angie.

We continued our anniversary adventure, so on day 3, we meandered our way up the Florida coast on “A1A Beachfront Avenue”. Well, actually on the A1A Highway, but that’s not nearly as fun to say.

Even though we weren’t cruisin in a 5.0, the Chrysler got us there.

Finally we crossed over the Florida Georgia Line (not a just a band, but a border too).

First stop: Burger King. Good ol’ Georgia Burger King cause we travel in class!

Then we continued the remaining hour and a half trip to our next destination:

Savannah, Georgia

From the moment we got out of the car, it was like we were transported back in time. The south is magical like that. I mean I’m not an expert, I’ve spent all of 10 days in the south now, but just sayin’

The people are kind and friendly, from the valet, to the doorman, to the front desk worker (who gave us wine and upgraded us to a suite). Oh, well we casually mentioned our anniversary… such a great travel strategy.

Traveling on your anniversary, I mean. I know you thought I meant telling them it’s your anniversary no matter what, but I’m an honest soul so I wouldn’t lie. If I can have a birthday month, I’m pretty sure an anniversary week is acceptable.

We checked in and checked out our suite with a balcony (squeal) at the Andaz Savannah.

Then we explored on foot the downtown historical area. From the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist to the bench where Tom Hanks caught the bus in Forrest Gump and all the beautiful parks and old buildings and lovely trees in between.

 

For dinner we went down to the riverfront. Down some historical steps and over a cobblestone road where we laid eyes on the Intracoastal Waterway for the first time. Which then prompted an impromptu lesson from Google to learn more about this massive waterway and how it came to be.

We asked some random person where to eat. We walked there. Put our name on the list and sat in the bar. We ordered drinks and glanced at the menu. Unfortunately, there was no shrimp cocktail for Beau on the menu, so we had to leave.

Fortunately, Beau found a restaurant with shrimp in the name (insert eye roll) and we had to walk even further. By the time we arrived, I was starving and grumpy. Beau snapped this picture and called me hangry.

It was a delicious dinner at The Shrimp Factory. So I forgave him.

The next day we got in our rental car and headed out to Hilton Head to swim in the ocean again.

On the way Beau bought himself a little styrofoam cooler. He was pretty pleased with himself. It only made this squeaky styrofoam sound against the back seat for an hour. No big deal.

It rode in the trunk on the way back.

On the way back I really wanted to buy a Georgia peach. Traveling is all about the photo ops. And I had this brilliant idea that I would hold a Georgia peach and caption my photo “Til Next time Georgia. I may not be one of your peaches, but I bought one”.

That night we had dinner reservations at The Olde Pink House. It’s somewhat of a thing to do while in Savannah.  The bartender at our hotel said it was kind of hokey, but we had fun nonetheless.

Oh and a free dessert for our anniversary dinner #2.

The next morning I captured a few more photos:

Then we checked out of the hotel and loaded the Chrysler with our luggage, the little stryofoam cooler and my bag of peaches and headed out for our final destination:

Charleston, South Carolina

When I said that Savannah was cool, I didn’t know that Charleston would throw me an even cooler party.

We splurged and booked a room at the Spectator Hotel (the #1 hotel in the continental US and #2 hotel in the world according to travel + leisure). I’m not sure exactly how that works, but I’m convinced.

The lobby was amazing. The bar was classy. The hotel room was luxurious. The butler service was impressive. The bottle of champagne and congratulatory letter on our 15 years waiting in our room upon arrival was the final convincing piece of evidence that this was indeed the #1 hotel.

Yes, we told them it was our anniversary upon check-in. I’m telling you…it’s the only way to go.

We only had one night in Charleston and we had dinner reservations at High Cotton. The waitress was fun and friendly (just like everywhere) and we spent a majority of the dinner trying to figure out the family dynamic at the table behind us. We finally came to the conclusion that it consisted of: the grandma, the mom and dad, the college-aged daughter and the newly adopted baby. Beau’s theory was that the dad was a doctor and the mom was bored now that her college-aged daughter had left home. They then adopted a baby, so that she wouldn’t feel the empty nest.

People watching is so much fun.

We also had another anniversary dessert…creme brûlée this time.

After dinner, we walked around Charleston aimlessly in the dark and checked out old buildings and streets and little nooks and crannies. Okay, I’m not sure why I said nooks and crannies, it just seems an appropriate term when exploring a place that has so much history. Like if the walls could talk, there would be so much hiding in the nooks and crannies.

Okay, nevermind.

We returned to the hotel to have a final celebratory drink before our next day departure.

Best.

Decision.

Ever.

The couple that sat at the bar next to us were definitely a highlight of the trip. Rick and Georgie from Key Largo, Florida. They were traveling north to avoid hurricane season. Good call since a few days after we departed, Hermine decided to make landfall.

Yikes!

They told us all about themselves, gave us parenting advice, travel advice, advice about whiskey and bourbon and scotch, and basically how to enjoy life in our 40’s and 50’s.

She asked about my adventures and my blog. I told her the name of it and I wonder if she looked it up. Georgie, if you read this: You rock! Your energy and honesty and spunk are all things I aspire to be when I grow up.

The next morning, we borrowed two lovely bikes from the hotel and rode all over Charleston. We rode out to the seawall and stared across the water at Fort Sumter (the first battle of the Civil War). We rode past the colorful, historic homes of Rainbow Row and past old mansion after old mansion and neighborhood after neighborhood.

It was so much fun. Well, not as much for Beau because the bike apparently wasn’t manly. To his benefit, the garbage man and construction workers we passed did chuckle. A little. Okay a lot.

Thanks Beau for humoring me on this one.

FYI: Cobblestone roads and bicycles don’t cooperate.

We checked out of the Spectator (doesn’t that just sound fancy) and made our way to the airport.

It was a great trip full of new experiences and memories.

I love traveling.

Where to next?

Adventure awaits…