Savannah

We started our day in Savannah with a ride on The Old Town Trolley. It was great, we could ride along and hear the history behind the places and things that we were seeing. Plus, we could get on and off at our leisure.

The river front is very nice. We liked watching the boats going down the river. There are lots of shops and places to eat. I highly reccomend the candy shop. We watched them making some of the candy and got to taste it too. We had to try the fudge also, it was SOOOOOOO GOOD!!!
We saw "The Waving Girl" statue.

There are some of the most beautiful churches in Savannah that I have ever seen. This one is the Cathedral Of St. John The Baptist. It is so big and very beautiful.

Here is the Independant Presbyterian Church. This is the church that you see the feather floating by in the opening scene of Forrest Gump.
Here is The Mickve Isreal Temple.

The many squares in Savannah are so pretty. I really liked the fountain in Forsyth Park. All of the parks are rich with history and are such a tranquil setting with the spanish moss in the trees, it makes such a beautiful scene.

The architecture of the buildings and houses is just so very beautiful. The pictures above are a couple of my favorites. The house with the greenery on the steps was just so inviting and so well kept.

The other house was such a bright pink that I just had to get a picture of it. We went by it on the trolley and I told Barry that I wanted to get a pic of it, so we got off at the next stop. I had to walk 5 blocks back to get the picture. It was just so colorful. I guess partly because it was next to a yellow house. It made the pink stand out, I guess. These are just outside the historical section.
Anyway, Savannah is a very beautiful place. It is a photographers paradise. Everywhere you look is a great place to take a picture.

Hunting Island

Here are some pictures from our time at Hunting Island. The lighthouse was, of course, the main draw for me, but the beach there is really nice. We arrived there in the morning and toured the lighthouse. It was a bit different from the others that we had visited. This one is built so that you can see the spiral of the stairs going up and down. I really liked that.

The weather was a bit cooler and that made the climb to the top easier. The view from the top was awesome. I took lots of pictures while I was up there. I watched the birds flying by in their V formation. I love just standing up there feeling the wind in my hair and taking in the view.

Inside the lighthouse there are plaques and pictures about the history of the lighthouse itself and the area.

I thought that this picture was kind of neat, with the shadow of the lighthouse showing on the ground below.

The other picture is of the beach and a section of big rocks. There are three of these along the beach.

Here I am atop the lighthouse.

Going Down.....

I guess you can tell from the big smile on my face, that I was enjoying myself.

The lady at the entrance was kind enough to take our picture as we came out. We walked around the grounds and then headed to the beach.

Here is Barry walking around on the rocks at the beach. He found several small crabs in the water there.

There was lots of dead trees and drift wood in a couple of sections along the beach. We found some shells in these areas. I even found a sand dollar near the rocks.

This beach was the best place to find sea shells that I have ever been to. I could not believe how many shells there were along the beach. Some good sized shells too.

As the tide came in the rocks began to disappear. I could stand in the water and see the shells washing up, along with some little fish too.

We even saw some dolphins swimming not very far at all from us. I tried to get a picture of them as they came up, but all I could ever get was their fins. If you look reeealllllly close, you can see their fins in the picture below.

These are some pictures of the water coming up over the rocks. It was cool watching the water overtake the rocks and the beach. We had placed towels on the beach, a good distance from the water when we first got there, and we had to move them back so they wouldn't wash away.

Here is the trees and drift wood that we had been walking around before the tide came in.

Hunting Island is a good beach to visit, especially if you like to gather shells and see a lighthouse.

Hilton Head Island

Hilton Head Island is such a beautiful place. With all it's sea pines and of course beaches. I was impressed with the fact that there are no tall signs or billboards everywhere, just the natural beauty of the island. The businesses are hidden from the main road with lines of trees. There is a sign for each one, but it is displayed very neatly and is not distracting or taking away from the natural beauty of the area. I read in one of the books that I bought while there, that the developers had that very thing in mind. Their idea of, " No Building Taller Than The Tallest Tree"; "Paint In Natural Earth Tone Colors"; "Make The Oceanfront Available To As Many As Possible, While Disturbing As Few As possible" shows all around.

The Lighthouse and Harbor Town was the lure for me, but the beauty of the place is so inviting.

When we decided to visit Hilton Head, I had to call my Aunt and Uncle, who just happen to live there. While we only planned to visit for a day, they opened their home to us with the greatest hospitality, that we stayed for four nights. We had such a good time staying with them. They showed us around alot of places that we otherwise would not have seen. We had a really nice time with them.

We visited:

Sea Pines,

These stick displays are really neat.

What a great idea for Halloween also.

The Inn At Palmetto Bluff, where we tried to find Oprah or John Travolta, to no avail.

This is a exhibit from sculptor Patrick Dougherty. He uses saplings to create his sculptures. This one was created during his month long stay at the Palmetto Inn. It is titled "Home Sweet Home" and will be on display until Dec.

Harbor Town and many of the shops there,

South Beach,

The Church Of The Cross, listed on the National Register Of Historic Places. Built in 1857 and sitting on the bluff overlooking the May River, the church has rose colored glass from England gracing the windows and soft pink plaster inside to enhance the light.

We attended a street fair, ate at some of the local places (The Gobble And Squat), had alot of ice cream,

Encountered an alligator at Lake Joe,

We hung out in the pool and did alot of catching up.

We had a wonderful time. Thanks to Sandy and Jerry we were able to see more of the area than we would have on our own. I can understand why they ended up there, it really is beautiful.

Fort Pulaski

Fort Pulaski was a really neat place to visit. I am not much of a history buff, but I found the Fort to be a very interesting place. As we toured the Fort, we learned alot about the Fort itself and of its history.

Things like: at the begining of the Civil War, Fort Pulaski was ranked as one of the most spectacular harbor defense structures in the United States. Many considered it to be "unbreachable". However, in 1862 Union forces began constructing 11 cannon batteries about a mile away from the west side of the fort. On April 11, 1862 those cannon batteries would fire a new weapon called the " rifled cannon" which had a range of 8,453 yards and that projected a bullet shaped shell that would spin giving it increased accuracy, range and penetration. Within 30 hours the rifled guns had such a devastating effect on the fort that it was surrendered and all forts like it were considered obsolete.

You can see the damage that the rifled cannons had on the wall, in the pictures.

The reder bricks show that the wall has been repaired and also show just how much of the wall that collasped.

I snapped a picture of Barry sitting on one of the

cannons atop of the fort.

At different times of the day, Soldiers come out and tell stories about the fort and their way of life in those times.

I enjoyed our visit to Fort Pulaski and learned a little history too.

I guess you can still learn things as you get older, or maybe it's just that you actually pay more attention then when you were in school.

Anyway, if you are in the area, I would highly recommend visiting Fort Pulaski!!!!