Day One: Savannah Road Trip

Savannah, Georgia: After some last minute planning, our trip to Savannah has become a reality. We headed north for a three day trip filled with a lot of activities from history to haunts.

Our first trip out of Florida since 2009 began with a trip to Payless for a car rental. Since our Santa Fe has over 260,000 miles on it, we decided to take a rental car on the trip. We rented a Hyundai Sonata for the trip, one of three cars we are looking at to replace our Santa Fe.

The plan for the road trip had us crossing the state via notorious US-301. While saving time over I-4, US-301 is known for being a giant speed trap with some of the small towns along the way being rated by AAA as being the worst for speed traps. But we made it through without trouble and only saw one police officer on a traffic stop.

Lunch was a grab and go at Popeye’s in Starke. If things go as planned, this will be out only national chain meal. I plan on trying local restaurants the rest of the trip.

The drive continued to be very scenic. We passed through many small towns as well as the city of Jacksonville. Once we crossed into Georgia we made a stop at the Welcome Center.

After almost six and half hours on the road we arrived at Savannah. The city reminds me of a cross between the St Augustine and New Orleans. A whole lot of history in just the small section we traveled.

Our first stop in town was the Savannah History Museum. I could not think of a better way to start the trip then to learn about the history of the city. The museum told the story of the city including the rich military history and its place as the birthplace of the Girls Scouts. There even is a bench from the movie Forrest Gump which featured actor Tom Hanks telling his life story on a bench in Savannah.

Then we tried to visit the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force. Unfortunately, it was too close to closing time and there wasn’t enough time to experience the museum so we will be going back later in the trip. So we decided to go check into the hotel and unpack the car.

We are staying at the Country Inn and Suites at Savannah Airport. Because this was a last minute trip, the budget was not very big for the trip and we needed to save some money on the trip so being just outside of the city is a substantial savings. Plus its proximity to the airport may allow me to get some planespotting in during the trip.

After we checked into our room, we headed to Bonaventure Cemetery but after the drive there, it was closed. I quickly learned that there is not much open after 5pm.

On the way to the cemetery, we drove past Stadium, home of the Savannah Sand Gnats. The Sand Gnats are a minor league affiliate of the New York Mets. Luckily there was a high school game being played so I went inside to take a few photos of the stadium. What a cool vintage stadium.

We had our first taste of Southern Georgia cooking at Johnny Harris, the longest continually operated restaurant in Savannah. What an amazing experience both the food and the service. Our waiter Richie was awesome! He had us step outside our comfort level and try stuff we normally would not have tried and everything he suggested was really good. I highly recommend eating here and when you do, ask for Richie, you won’t be disappointed.

After dinner, we took a drive over the Talmadge Memorial Bridge into South Carolina. Now our roadtrip has entered it’s third state.

We quickly departed South Carolina and headed back to the hotel to rest up for a busy day tomorrow. We have a ton of things planned for tomorrow. Be sure to check back for more from the trip. For now, enjoy the slideshow of photos from Day One of our adventure.