Bed & Breakfast

BED:

BREAKFAST:

AND THE PARLOR:

of Park Avenue Manor, my and Chris' uncle's spectacular Bed & Breakfast Inn in Savannah, Georgia. If you are ever vacationing in Savannah (which I highly recommend), stay with Glenn and Maurice.

When we weren't lounging in the parlor or eating at awesome restaurants with Glenn and Mo, Chris and I were hiking through Savannah's many green squares (where Chris did not join me in sniffing the young flowers), wondering through creative shops, and admiring varied architecture.

Savannah is all old bricks and moss, iron and cobble stones. My favorite spot in the city may be half way up a steep iron staircase from River Street where I can run my hand along an old brick wall, soft with green moss and fern sprouts, and where the path below is unevenly paved with the ballast stones from the bellies of merchant ships and the emerging park above drips with Spanish Moss afore 19th century Italianate buildings and palm trees.

I have written of Savannah before: http://heatherpaiges.blogspot.com/search?q=savannah

I promised some pictures of Charleston and Savannah, so here are a few of the few that we took.

Ice cream in Savannah because it was Blue Bell. Even though it was cold, we were so excited about seeing Blue Bell ice cream (which you can't find up north) that we ate it anyway.

The trolley goes back and forth down River Street in Savannah. The driver has a seat on both ends of the car.

This building was built out of ballast stones from the belly's of trade ships.
The mansion at Middleton Place plantation. most of it was destroyed in the Civil War.

A building on the College of Charleston campus that allured me.
Middleton Place is an active farm.


I guess the peacock thought I was pretty.

The Aiken-Rett house, a beautiful mansion in downtown Charleston.

St. Michael's Anglican Church where Chris and I attended during our stay. It's steeple bells are the oldest cast bells in America.

The Circular Church on Meeting Street in Charleston was a very interesting building surrounded by a fascinating graveyard. The picture on the right was take 5 hours before we found out I was pregnant.

Savannah just became one of my favorite cities.

The history of the colony is layered upon layer and the beauty of the historic district is unrivaled!

The town has 23 grassy squares. Most feature a monument or fountain and are surrounded by antebellum buildings.

All of which are veiled by Spanish moss. (Did you know that it is called Spanish moss because the local Indians said it looked like the conquistadors’ beards. The British thought that quite funny and the name stuck. Once Henry Ford decided to use it for seat stuffing in his cars, but he had to recall it because people were being attacked by chiggers.) There is so much Spanish moss in Savannah that some trees looked like matted-haired beasts!

Chris and I rode a trolley through town then walked along River Street, which was built with the ballasting stones from the bellies of the boats. Now, a Christmas light-decked River Queen docks there.

Chris' uncles run a Victorian Bed & Breakfast there, Park Avenue Manor. http://www.parkavenuemanor.com/ We lounged in their parlor(s) for a while and they treated us to dinner at Six Pence Pub, where Julia Roberts catches her cheating husband, Dennis Quaid

in "Something to Talk About." Other stories set there include "Cape Fear," "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" and songs like "Moon River" by Johnny Mercer.

Philly

Chris suggested that we go on a date Saturday night. So did we go local or to Manhattan? Or to Philadelphia? When we lived in Kittery, Maine, we went to Boston for dinner on a few occasions because it was only an hour away. How wonderfully spontaneous. How had we lived only 1.5 hrs from Philadelphia for a year and not gone there yet? Well, I am not bulbous enough yet to pass up a long car ride or a day (well half day) of walking around a historic city, so to Philly we went!

"The Birthplace of America" is a beautiful city. We come from good ole Texas where most buildings are two parking lots apart and few precede 1900 and fewer 1850, so living near historic districts of the 17th and 18th century has been a real treat for this history major! From duty stations to month-long classes, we have had opportunities to explore: Portsmouth, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Charleston and Savannah. I think I have written about each of them some where in this blog. I cannot choose a favorite! Each city enchants me in a different way. There is something about old brick, repainted shutters, courtyard gates and cobble stones beneath the shade of tall trees that both eases me and makes me bounce at the same time.

Independence Hall where the Declaration and the Constitution were signed. And my chubby self in Society Hill, one of my new favorite places.

Dormant Sugar Maples to Vivacious Palm Trees

Chris and I fell asleep to the Christmas-tree-topper Chrysler building standing outside Brian's window at 37th and Lexington.  I have labeled his 80 yr. old flat a "cozy little money-sucking fire hazard."  He agreed.  I like it. 

We had spent our evening in New York carrying pumpkin spiced lattes through Times Square and Grand Central Station.  I got to wear my pretty coat, so I bounced instead of walking and twirled instead of standing.  (and they say boys never grow up- ha!)  Did you know that Grand Central Station was built by the Vanderbilts? Yep. Interesting fact: the ceiling is a painting of the night sky and the constellations are all reversed because they traced them from a projector!

The next day, I caught a glimpse of the U.S. Capitol while crossing the Potomac River.  Soon after that, we saw the original capitol of the first American Colony in Jamestown, VA.  And Pocahontas told me to tell you hi.  Okay she didn't really.  Anyway, that night, we cozied into the Dyken's house for dinner and video games then woke up to pumpkin pancakes!  Mrs. Dykens is so sweet.  : ) We drove 10 hours straight and made it here (Jacksonville, FL) by midnight. 

We went from one of I-95s nothernmost cities to one of it's southernmost cities.  I felt like we were chasing fall southward.  The trees went from gray to orange to yellow to what is this color again?  Oh Green.  Yes, we ran out of fall around Savannah and now here we are in Jacksonville, where the hibernating Sugar Maples have transformed into vivacious Palm trees.  And my attire has gone from pea coat to bermuda shorts.  We are here for the month.  I hope I don't miss the first snow and I hope I do get to go to Disney World.