Weekend Getaway

Memorial weekend loomed large - 4 whole days of vacation.  Yeah!  What was I to do?

So I called my sister and said "Let's go to St. Louis!"

"Really, are you serious?"

"Sure, I can be ready in an hour."

So that was the fastest trip decision and the littlest amount of preparation we've ever had, but we were on our way to St. Louis.

I shared the back seat of the truck with my nephews.

Chatter, chatter all the way.  Earplugs with music, trying to read wasn't so successful.

We were on our way  for a weekend of fun, no agenda, no hotel reservations.  The first hotel was full so we went across the street to the Pear Tree Inn by Drury (at Union Station).  This was a GREAT CHOICE.

The hotel was clean and updated.  It had a good view of the arch, free garage parking, free wi-fi, free long distance, free FULL breakfast, etc. etc.  We also got free tickets to the Pirate exhibit, IMAX movie, and a free kids tickets to the Arch.  Price wasn't bad, especially after all the free perks.

Saturday night we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe.  Long wait but got to listen to lots of 80s music and videos.  The boys got to see the full-version Thriller video.  I teased Konner by goosing him during the scary parts.  He jumped and then grinned at me.  Jennifer and I sang to the 80s hits.  We embarassed Michael and Kolbee.

We got two hotel rooms to spread out.  Kolbee slept in my room.  I tried to convince Jennifer and Michael to let Konner sleep in my room too but they said I'd never get any sleep.  (He's hard to get to sleep and he grinds his teeth at night.  Plus his brother was NOT happy about sharing a bed with him.)

Kolbee said I snored.  Pssst - he did too!

The next morning we ate a yummy breakfast at the hotel.  Did I mention it was FREE!  Made it even better.  I ate sausage for part of my breakfast.  I told the crew later that morning that I liked the sausage but it didn't like me.  Konner informed me that "Shashage don't talk Aunt Tracy."

We did a little shopping before starting our sightseeing.  Jennifer and I spent probably an hour or so in the Container Store.  After all that time, we each spent about $10.  Remember - we were in the truck and it doesn't have a cover on it.  How were we going to get big purchases home?   Ah, but lots of ideas.  I'll have to look up the closest store to Murray.

Then we discovered our hotel chain (Drury Hotel) had a package giving out 4 free tickets to see the Pirate Exhibit at the Science Museum and Under the Sea movie at their IMAX.  We stopped by the hotel and got our packages.  Off to the Science Museum....

For those that don't know, the Science Museum is free for most everything.  There are lots of cool, hands-on exhibits on different floors and buildings.  This summer, they have a special Pirate exhibit complete with sunken treasure and artifacts.  The special exhibit costs money, as well as IMAX movies, but we saved about $120 total with the free tickets!!!!

After that, we drove.  And drove, and drove.  Our goal was lunch and the Arch.  We decided we wanted Pizza Hut so we punched in the directions in the GPS unit and away we went.

Away we went to a delivery-only Pizza Hut.  Hmmmm.  Still hungry.

Decided to travel to another PH.  Turned out the next one was a Taco Bell/Pizza Hut combo.  What that really means is it's a Taco Bell with a choice of 3 individual-size pizzas.  We were hungry and ready to stop.  Weird experience. 

Next, the arch.  We were a long way away after our PH adventure run.  We kept taking wrong turns and finding more 'photo ops' along the way.  All along the way, Konner kept calling off commercial phrases because he was 'reading' business signs/logos.  "Subway, eat fresh."  "Welcome to Macy's."  And he loves Petsmart.  He can spot those and Applebees a mile away.  And another of his phrases now is "Serious?"  It looks funny coming from a 5-year old.

We ended up across the Mississippi River in East St. Louis, IL.  There were several highway overpasses stacked on each other.  Jennifer and I joked with Michael that we wanted to get on "that" overpass because it was the closest one to the river and the tallest and it would offer awesome pictures of the arch and the St. Louis skyline.  Well, when all was said and done, we made several wrong turns, and then 'planned' last second exits and now we were on that overpass.  No one was behind us so Michael stopped so we could take pics.  We were stopped in the middle of the highway. I'm sure we were a funny site to see with two women hanging out truck windows taking pictures.

We made it back to Missouri and made our way to the Arch.  As we were turning a corner we spotted Stephanie Jennings and her family.  WHAT ARE THE ODDS????  They were waiting to cross the street while we were turning on that particular corner.  Remember, this is after many wrong turns and taking pictures.  It's a small world.....

We made it to the Arch and parked on the riverfront.  It's an amazing site, walking up the huge set of steps between the river and the Arch.  The arch stands 630 feet tall and took 2 years to build.  Under the arch, there is a Westward Expansion museum that the boys enjoyed.  We also watched a documentary on how the arch was built.  The boys barely made a peep.  Konner's comment was 'cool.'  He's really into construction and big equipment.

After waiting 2 1/2 hours, it was finally our turn to go up in the arch.  The 'pod' elevator you ride in holds 5 people and looks like a stubby tin can on its side.  I meant to get a picture of it but forgot.  It takes about 4.5 minutes to get to the top and only 3 minutes for the ride down.  From the bottom to the top, the elevator pod rotates 150 degrees from it's original position.  Pretty cool.  Kolbee was apprehensive and Jennifer wasn't helping matters any.  She loves to kid the boys and kept telling Kolbee some "horror" stores about the ride.  Somehow he was talked into going.

It was nighttime by the time we got to the top.  I had never been in the arch at night.  It was beautiful looking over the city lights on one side and over the river and floating casinos on the other side.  Afterwards, Kolbee decided he loved it and wanted to go back again.  In fact, both boys wanted to go back the next day.

As we were walking back to the car, Jennifer kept taking more and more pics of the Arch at night.  She has a really good camera that lets her do that.  I bet she took 50 photos just in those 15 - 20 minutes.  Yes 15-20 minutes to walk back to our car.  Enough pictures!!!!!!!  Each one couldn't have had more than 5 degrees of difference.  :)

So it was back to the hotel for some much needed rest.

The next morning Kolbee was lagging behind.  Jennifer went to wake him up and was greeted by speaking cocoon.  "Kolbee is not at home.  Please leave a message after the beep.  BEEP!"  He is our family comic relief!

We ate breakfast again at the hotel (yum again) and then went to Grant's Farm.  It's free also, just costs to park.  We saw some Clysdale horses - so elegant and HUGE.  Then we rode on a tram around the farm.  We didn't get to see many animals along the route though.  They have this area that's kinda like a little zoo.  They have some different animals as well as an elaborate tack room, awards/trophies room, and a room full of old carriages, cars, carts, and fire engines.  The adults pooped out before the kids did.  We decided to head for home so we could get some rest before going to work the next day (luckily I had the next day off).

Konner and I slept most of the way home.  There is nothing sweeter than a cute litlte nephew snuggled up on your shoulder sleeping. 

Short, sweet, fun trip with the sis and family.  Good stuff.

A little bit of this and a little bit of that

We started our Wednesday morning with yummy sausage biscuits. Thanks Kathy!

Then we drove to Bonaventure Cemetery. It was originally a plantation years ago and now many famous Georgians are buried there, including Johnny Mercer.

There were some really old burials and some unusual headstones.

Is this not a gorgeous setting?

This little girl, Gracie Watson, died of pneumonia in 1889 at the age of 6. This is one of the most photographed monuments in the cemetery.

Graves with a ‘ring’ around them were not Stacy’s favorite. Until we came across one that had flowers planted in the ring. Then she decided it wouldn’t be so bad if the ring had a purpose.

There were several graves for children. Too sad.

When we finished touring the cemetery, I got a call that my oldest nephew, Kolbee, was in the hospital. He was a sick little boy. Luckily he was released Friday afternoon. So this is a shout-out to Kolbee. I’m glad you’re feeling better!

Next we went to Wormsloe Plantation (1745), home of Noble Jones from the first Georgia settlers from England. There are only tabby ruins left. Tabby refers to a mixture of oyster shells, sand, lime and water. It makes very strong walls and used quite a bit in Savannah, including some streets.

The plantation is most famous for its Live Oak Avenue. If only we had a horse-drawn carriage….

Live oaks naturally twist and created this canopy. There were more than 400 trees planted by one of Noble Jones’ relatives in the late 1800s. Live oaks are called ‘live’ because they never completely loose all their leaves through the seasons.

The plantation is next to a marsh with an observation deck. It looked like really thick soupy mud with fields of grass. We decided to try an experiment to see if we could drop something and make it sink. We gathered sticks from the area and let the bombs fly. It failed miserably! We decided they weren’t heavy enough but no one was willing to walk in it to test out the ‘quicksand’ theory.

We drove to Leopold's for lunch.  We ordered sandwiches and it seemed to take forever to prepare.  Stacy had a great view of the food preparations and was giving us a play-by-play.  hee hee  And of course we had to get dessert afterwards.  We ate our ice cream cones and sundaes outside while people-watching.  It was lots of fun and the ice cream was yummy. 

After our refreshments, we were fortunate to partake of Stacy's Savannah Sightseeing.  There were several pictures we wanted to take that we couldn't get on a tour bus.  We had so much fun.  We kept repeating pieces of the tours we had heard over the past few days.  It was pretty amazing that we remembered where most things were and remembered quite a few facts.  Stacy showed her southern hospitality by letting other cars go past us.  Little did they know we just wanted them out of the way so we could go a little slower and enjoy the view.  We hopped in and out of the car quite a bit looking at houses and taking pictures.  Mandy rode shotgun while Stacy drove today.  Quite often Mandy would hit a button on her seat when she was getting back in the car.  That button would trigger the heating element in that seat to turn on.  It wasn't very long until her buns were getting warm.  We definitely did not need the warmth today!

We ended our day by going back to River Street and purchasing chocolates and candies at the Savannah Candy Kitchen.  Yum, yum, yum.  Now if we can only make it home with our goodies to share with our families.  :) 

I'm So Happy

Tuesday in Savannah was such fun.  We hopped the tour bus and took an 'on/off' trip around Savannah.  We had the whole tour yesterday afternoon so we knew where we wanted to get off and spend more time.

One of our stops was Forsyth Park.  This is where one of the most beautiful fountains in the world is located.  It's in the largest park in Savannah and surrounded by really beautiful live oak trees with hanging spanish moss. 

We caught a little old couple holding hands enjoying the fountain. So sweet...

Isn't that a beautiful sight? It was patterened after a fountain in Paris. Here we are enjoying the park.

We wandered around lots of the parks taking pictures of great architecture and wrought iron and enjoying the peacefulness of the surroundings.  Although there was traffic from the cars, it still held the most wonderful peaceful feeling around the squares.  Savannah has done a great job of restoring these parks and old houses.  Most of the dark red brick was made by slaves and is now worth lots of money.  You can't find brick to match it in color or texture.  The different examples of wrought iron on fences, gates, and window ledges is beautiful.

Patterned after Buckingham Palace in London

Unique owl-like window

Wrought iron centerpiece on stairwell

AMAZING entryway to a gorgeous house

Such detail!

Pelican post - notice the webbed feet at the bottom.

On another trip on the bus, we came around the corner where 'the bench' was located during the movie and guess who we saw? 

It's Forrest Gump!  Complete with the plaid shirt, Nike tennis shoes, baseball cap, beat up luggage.  This actor was great.  He had the mannerisms and speech down pat, including the 'not quite hand wave.'  He carried on a hilarious conversation with the bus driver and the passengers, including praising 'that Tom Hanks guy did a good job playing him in that movie.'  When we passed by the location where the bench had been when Forrest found the floating feather, he made mention of it.  And then when we got to the corner, he mentioned that he had to find Lt. Dan.  So he got off the bus and we saw Forrest 'running' to find Lt. Dan!  It was absolutely hilarious.  We had taken this same tour the day before without seeing FG so we were shocked when this happened.  (As Forrest was running, our bus driver turned another corner and Mandy and Stacy who were sitting in the very back of the bus saw him clip a car's bumper.  The bus driver never even noticed.  That's what bumpers are for.  I'd hate to drive one of those things around those narrow streets with cars parked on both sides.)

Later that day, we had reservations at the Lady and Sons, Paula Deen's restaurant.  We first stopped at the City Market and had time before our reservations.  After looking around the City Market area (lots of restaurants, boutiques, and art galleries) we traveled down Congress Street and shopped at the PD store and then waited for our names to be called.  We were ready to "Put some South in your Mouth!" 

Note the 'skillets' in the wrought iron gate entrance.

The restaurant is three stories tall.  We dined on the third floor.  As soon as we sat down, we were brought warm cheddar biscuits and hoecake.  Hoecake is like a pan-fried cornbread/pancake mix.  It was unbelievably DIVINE!!!!!!  I've found a new fave food.

We chose to eat a salad and buffet.  The food was more than delicious.  I could feel my cholesterol rising with every bite.  I even tried collard greens and they weren't bad!  The corn was so fresh and butter beans are my favorite.

Is your mouth watering yet?  We had to save a little room for dessert.  Kathy had the brownie, I had the peach cobbler and Mandy had the banana pudding. 

Stacy told our waiter (Tatoo John) that she wanted all three.  He said no one has ever asked him that before.  If you know Stacy, she's not shy about her sweets.  After he left, she told us 'He thinks I'm joking.  I'm not, I'm serious!'  We just bust out laughing because she had such a serious face.  She then told us if he brought her some of all three, she would be a happy woman and get a bigger tip.  Well...when he brought our desserts, he had thirded all three desserts and gave her a piece of each as well as a full peach cobbler.  She was in heaven!  Tatoo John was so fun.  He DID get an extra large tip that day.

After our late lunch we got back on the bus.  Several times that day, we happened to get the same bus driver.  He called us the 'Caintuck' (KY) girls.  He was funny and different than Angel from the day before.  He told us why lots of the houses had two separate staircases to the main entrance - one for the ladies and the other for the men.  It was improper for men to see ladies' ankles.  The ladies had to lift their skirts and hoops to ascend the stairs.  The bus driver wondered why ANY man would ever lust over some sweaty ankles.

We toured the Isaiah Davenport house built in 1820.  We didn't realize until later that we couldn't take pics inside.  Bummer.  They had a realy neat cantilever staircase and we couldn't find any postcards of it either.  If you are interested, check out the link to see it.  This house was scheduled to be torn down for a parking lot in the 1950s.  That's when a group of ladies got together and raised $22,500 to purchase the house.  It was later restored.  This restoration started the restoration movement in Savannah. 

By now it was getting cold and starting to drizzle.  We were huddled together on the bus and ready to go back to the condo.  Our bellies were full of good food and we were cold and tired.  We went back to the condo and watched tv, read books, and some of us took a little nap.  That's right - we pooped out at 4pm that day. 

But it was a GREAT DAY!!!!!

"No Sweat Day"

If you're wondering about the title of today's blog, Kathy mentioned that she hates to sweat and really hoped we would have a 'no sweat day.'  We hope to make her dream possible!

Today was full of taking tours around Savannah.  The first tour we took was the Paula Dean tour.  We were signed up for the 10 am tour.  At five minutes before 9 I got a phone call from an unknown number.  It was Old Savanah Tours telling us they were waiting on us.  They had the reservations mixed up but luckily it wasn't a problem. 

Our tour guide was named Anna.  She had that true Southern Georgia accent - very similar to Paula Deen's.  I loved hearing her talk.  She told us she was gullible and believed everything people told her.  She told us a story about believing her brother when he said the city was named after her.  Supposedly when she was a young child she fell into the water and someone yelled 'Save Anna, Save Anna!'

When she found out we were on a Girls Getaway and not related to each other, she said how great that was and not a 'blond among us!'  She asked everyone on the tour if someone had a birthday or anniversary.  No one did.  Then we hear Stacy pipe up and ask "do we get anything free if it is our birthday?"  A man near us who was quick on the draw, started signing the first few bars of "Happy Birthday" to Stacy.  Everyone got a good laugh.  Anna, almost speechless, said she has been giving tours for more than 20 years and NO ONE has ever asked that question before. 

Anna drove us around different parts of Savannah showing us not only points of interest to Paula Deen but interesting sites.  We stopped at the market where Paula bought her produce when she was starting her restaurant.

They had all types of neat things besides just produce - some lucious looking tomatoes, strawberries, lima beans, microwaveable potato bag, wrought iron decor, baskets, etc.  This shop had a door greeter - the biggest cat I've ever seen.  It appeared to weigh 25 pounds plus.

Stacy was enthralled by watching this little lady breaking green beans outside the market and was worried that she probably got paid just pennies to do it.  As we were leaving the area, Stacy asked where that little lady had gone.  Mandy said she was only out front when the tour bus showed up - for appearances' sake!  I think that burst Stacy's bubble. :)

We went to the Byrd Cookie Company.  We got to try diferent samples of cookies - not the kind we bake, but more like tea cake cookies.  Our favorite was the Peach cookie - all except Kathy that doesn't like fruit in anything.  I had to get a small box, they were so good.  I doubt I'll make it home with the cookies.  They also had a triple chocolate and an apple pie that were really good. 

The end of the Paula Deen tour was lunch at Uncle Bubba's Oyster House.  Bubba is Paula's little brother.  His restaurant is between Savannah and Tybee on the marshes.  We had low country boil, chicken fingers, swai fish (type of mile white catfish from Southeast Asia), a gumbo-type rice dish, really good green beans and the best mac and cheese you've ever tasted.  The waiter told us mac and cheese was a true vegetable.  Right.  I've always like vegetables.  I was the only one that would try one of Bubba's charbroiled oysters.  I was afraid it would be slimy but it was actually pretty good.  We finished the meal with yummy baanan pudding.  Sorry I don't have any pictures but we were too anxious to eat!

We could choose to drink water, tea, or homemade lemonade.  That was THE BEST lemonade I've had in a long time.  Stacy, Mandy, and I really enjoyed it.  Stacy and I wondered if we should ask for a 'to go' cup.  Stacy pointed to her glass of lemonade and asked the waiter if she could get a 'to go' cup.  He gave her the WEIRDEST look and asked 'for your lemonade'?  What else????? She kinda laughed and said 'yes'.  After he walked away, one of the other people at the table said maybe she was going to use the to go cup to take home some mac and cheese.  Not a bad idea!  Too bad we didn't ask for another cup.

When we got done with that tour, we signed up for the Historic Savannah Tour.  The day before when we were buying our tickets, we overheard the receptionist hand a tip to a tour guide and talked about how several people had been saying great things about her.  We said we wanted to be on her tour tomorrow.  She told us her name was Angel and she would be working tomorrow.  So after the Paula tour, we hung around for a few minutes to grab Angel's tour.

 Angel was really funny.  We thoroughly enjoyed our tour with her.  She showed us all around the historic and victorian parts of Savannah.  We got to take several pics and tomorrow we get to get on the same tour and get on and off as much as we want. 

She also told us the proper way to pronounce pecan is peeeecaannnn.  I don't think so.

One of the funny things that happened on this tour was the conversation in front of us between two ladies and Angel.  One of the ladies' husband only realized she was gone on to Savannah after she had been 'missing' for 5 days.  Now how could he not have known she wasn't home.  And didn't she tell him or leave a note?  W.E.I.R.D.

After the tours we went back to Tybee and rested a little bit and decided to walk to downtown Tybee, one block over.  It's a street with little restaurants and shops.  We ate pizza and purchased a few souvenirs.

Our day has ended.  ... And it WAS a 'no sweat day.'