Savannah Georgia

Oh Savannah! We absolutely loved it here. This was our first visit to Savannah and it left us wanting more. We hope to visit again and spend a little more time to take it all in. Savannah is steeped in history, dating back to 1733. It is known as America’s first planned city.

We started our day in Savannah with a trip to the Bonaventure Cemetery, featured in the novel and movie “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”, and in John Muir’s memoir “A Thousand Mile Walk”, where he wrote about the six days and nights he spent camping among the tombs. Wandering through the live oaks and azaleas here was perhaps the highlight of Savannah for me, just gorgeous!

We picked up lunch and had a picnic in Forsyth Park. At 30 acres, it is the largest park in the historic district. From the park, we headed towards the river and walked down Bull Street. I highly recommend this approach to seeing Savannah. Bull Street runs between Forsyth Park and City Hall, with historic squares almost every other block. We strolled past fountains, monuments, Antebellum architecture, live oaks, and azalea. It’s amazing how well planned America’s first planned city was; and a shame more cities haven’t taken note!

We stopped in a restaurant on the river for a drink and were asked if we wanted it to go! I thought that only happened in New Orleans, but apparently it’s legal to imbibe on the streets in the historic district of Savannah as well. We took our beverages and walked along the river. I spotted a dolphin that flipped around several times before swimming on. We found a bench and watched a huge cargo ship go past. It didn’t look like there was anyway it would fit under the bridge, but it did. We headed back towards our car, sad that our day in Savannah was coming to a close.

 

Providence Canyon, Georgia

We have wanted to visit Savannah, GA, Charleston, SC, and Asheville, NC for some time, and decided that we were going to see them while on the eastern side of the country. While researching Savannah, I came across pictures of Providence Canyon on the Georgia State Parks website. My initial reaction was ” this is in Georgia!? where?” I plotted it on the map and discovered it was in route to Savannah, only adding 45 min to our overall drive time. It worked out, because we started our drive after attending a full day continuing education course and stopped in the town of Eufaula, AL for the night. We were able to visit Providence Canyon the next morning and arrive in Savannah at a reasonable time.  They call Providence Canyon “the little grand canyon”. Having been to both the north and south rims of the Grand Canyon, this is a stretch. However, it was a beautiful place and such a different landscape than what is typical for this area of the country. It was approximately a 7 hour drive from Memphis.