First of all, the vacation was wonderful. Savannah is a lovely city full of very nice people and excellent food. Even though I think we planned a bunch of activities, we didn’t scratch the surface of what it had to offer. I had a wonderful time and am looking forward to going back. If I had my way, we’d be heading back before the end of the summer.

But here’s what we did pull of:

Dinner at Pirate’s House – Decent food but way over priced for what you get. There is supposedly a ton of lore about the house, but getting anyone to talk about it was more of a challenge than I expected.

Ogelthorpe Trolley Tour – Interesting, but overall not very practical. The tour lacked any sort of real detail, the tour didn’t stop anywhere and the narration wasn’t anything different than what you get in a guide book. And we never used it for transportation after the tour was over. It wasn’t bad, but on my return trip we’ll either walk or bring bikes. It really wasn’t worth the money.

Ogelthorpe Haunted Trolley Tour – Again, an interesting idea, but it lacked detail and excitement. Unless you get scared when someone turns on the lights, this will probably leave you bored. Not on my list of things to do again. I think I’ll give one of the walking tours a try next time. Mind you, there are about 10 different ghost tours available. At the least I’ll do the one for Bonaventure.

Riverboat Dinner Cruise – Loved it! Excellent food, fun atmosphere, good music, attentive staff that want you to have a good. Would love to do it again and will probably do the murder mystery boat ride next. Well worth it. I think this would be fantastic in late summer.

Breakfast at Goosefeathers – Excellent Eggs Benedict, but the place is packed in the morning. It’s affordable and there’s gonna be a line out the door.

Churchill’s – Nice little pub. Very busy. Very tasty Steak and Ale pie. Not a grand selection of beer though. Worth dinner at least once.

DoubleTree Hotel – Very nice and in a great location. It’s right across the street from the river so it’s pretty convenient to everything. Very friendly staff and a convenient pickup point for tours. Careful though, they do charge $15 a day for their valet parking and you can’t say no. This little charge was added to the bill on the last day. Bit of a surprise. I’d stay there again though because I had no issues whatsoever.

Huey’s – We didn’t have dinner, just dessert and drinks. They apparently have a great eggs Benedict, but again, I didn’t try it. That’s on the list for next time. Not a bad selection of beers and it’s right on the water so that’s not too shabby. They have live entertainment as well. I’m certainly willing to head back and give it a full look.

So there you go, that’s my trip. Probably way more information than you ever wanted to know. But, if you’re planning a trip out there it might be of help or at least some interest. As I said, I can’t wait to get back out there. However, I think we’re going to investigate Blackbeard first.

But here are a few pictures featuring the trees, the statues and the memorial for Johnny Mercer.

Bonaventure is absolutely beautiful. The statues, the palm trees, the Spanish Moss all come together to make a an eerie yet beautiful landscape. It’s a massive place that you could spend hours if not days touring, but we only had time for a quick visit. We did what you might expect and went to visit the grave of Johnny Mercer. I’m embarrassed to say that I know nothing of Mercer, but obviously know his songs. I was unaware of his catalog until recently and I recognize so many titles.

So that’s it then. Time has run out. We’ve reached the end. It’s time to head home. What a wild four days it’s been. I feel like we’ve done a huge amount of things, but at the same time we’ve barely done anything. There is so much left to do. Who knows when we’ll be back, but I’m looking forward to it.

I was a little hesitant about the live entertainment of a DJ with microphone and keyboard setup. This usually instills fear, and the Captain and Tennille vibe didn’t help matters either. But, he was excellent. His song selection was great and he got up and got involved with the crowd. He called people out for their birthdays and anniversaries and did plenty to get people dancing. His version of the "Electric Slide" is probably the stuff of legend on the high seas.

We saw a marriage proposal and witnessed the booty swinging stylings of Kiki who surely missed her calling as a solid gold dancer. You better stand clear or those hips will knock you clean overboard!

The chance of rain was supposed to be slight, but there was a massive rainstorm with plenty of lightning about 30 minutes after we left the dock. The entire coastline would light up and this especially exciting when we passed the freightliner in the dark. The opportunity presented itself to collect another souvenir glass if I ordered the right drink, so I did, a Riverboat Rita decked in red, white and blue. I will take every opportunity to get a cheesy cup full of booze. I will now add the hurricane glass to my skull glass from the night before.

That was a great tour and yes we bought the cheesy souvenir photograph and yes I plan to do it again. If you get a chance, it really is fun.

Since the rain had stopped, we ducked into Huey’s for a beer and pasty. Friend dough covered in powdered sugar is always a good time. I swear if I have to go through the tunnel, down the stairs, through the kitchen and into the catacombs one more bloody time to go to the bathroom, someone is getting cut. This is total madness. Why is going to the restroom so damn forbidden in this city?

I think the boat tour has been the highlight. I thought it was going to be a little lame but the entertainment was great. The food was really good too. Maybe it was because of the other people, but it was a hell of a lot of fun. The murder mystery tour they offer would be kick ass and if we came back we’re definitely doing it.

It was a lot of fun to drive around at night with the lights off and heard some of the tales. The details are a little sketchy though. But I was just as amused at the other tours going on, like the hearse tour, the Ghosts and Gravestones and the haunted walking tours. There is no end of ghost mania that’s for sure. I think the walking tour would have been neat since they walk right past the old cemetery. Might have to look into that one for next time.

We also made a stop at an old hospital where they discovered an old tunnel, which for a lack of a better description is an old “body chute”. During the yellow fever epidemic it was a way to get bodies out of the city without causing a panic. But it’s original use was for some odd experiments on patients who died in the hospital. They built a small tunnel and a small examination room and then did as they pleased to patients when no one was looking. If that’s true, that’s some pretty creepy business.

Bonaventure Cemetery is still on the list to get to. It seems to be just outside walking distance and tour bus boundaries. Looks like we’ll need to drive other there ourselves or arrange a tour. I’m sort of inclined to get the tour so we can hear all the sordid details.

I’ve also noticed several odd thing again:
There is no such thing as level ground around here.
Spanish moss is pretty, but apparently flesh eating.
Public restrooms are none existent and bathroom use of any kind requires a great deal of planning.
Everyone seems to need a dollar from me.
Omelets with seafood are odd, but quite tasty.
Everyone thinks their restaurant, bar, t-shirt shop is haunted.

And speaking of haunted, the haunted tour is coming up. Let’s see what this town has to offer.

We’re finally going. We’ve said we’d take a vacation for several years now and each time it’s fallen to the wayside. But now we’re packing up and heading to Savannah. An actual vacation complete with ghost tour, riverboat cruise and a visit to the Mercer house.

So what does on pack for such a trip? Just the usual – camera, laptop, backup camera, iPad, camera kit, Kindle, multiple ebooks about Savannah and some Mt. Dew. I would take my bike, but it just won’t fit.