Bayous to Beaches. Oct 19. Day 11. Sunny Savannah and Perfect Palm Coast

[WileyCoyote]

Friday 11 October
Yesterday is HERE

As a reminder, we have been on the non-Florida leg of this trip. We return to the sunshine state today

Andy woke really early today - around 4am , which wasn't so great as we had the drive back to Florida later . His cough and sore throat were not clearing up at all and it was a real drag for him. Yet again it seemed certain air conditioning units made it worse than others and this one was definitely aggravating him.

Of course I didn't know any of this, as caring wife that I am, I was blissfully till 6am

Naturally there were still problems with the jeffing bank transfer - it was truly beginning to tee us off. Andy stayed in the room to deal with it and I went down to bag a table at breakfast

This turned out to be much more substantial than we expected and had been included in the price .. double bonus! It is in a small room on the mezz floor and was very busy .

A good choice of pastries , sausages that were a bit spicy, scrambled egg, grits, oatmeal. It’s the first place I saw a big pot of hot melted butter to ladle on your toast or waffles. Too weird. I’m always much more feeble at breakfast plates than Andy

I did take a couple of the little muffins for the car journey.

Overall we thought the Planters Inn had been a great choice - nice location and the freebies like brekky and the cheese and wine social had been great .

We asked reception to call us a pedi cab at 10 - we planned to do a couple of hours touring and leave our cases in the room till check out time.

The guy who picked us up was hilarious - so laid back and totally reminded us of our kids.

I had a list of places marked out on my map that I wanted to see and he worked out the best route around them. He gave us loads of info as we went round and it ended up being a brilliant private tour.

We also liked how he referred to "Slowvannah" - it summed it up perfectly.

Off we went - first stop was going to be Forsyth Park passing lots of pretty squares on the way

We passed by the Baptist Cathedral - definitely one I would go back and take a look around on another visit

Just love the trees around here

Pretty buildings too

Passing by Monterey Square

And arriving at Forsyth Park

Such a pretty park - there was music playing and it had just such a beautiful atmosphere

It was lovely

Back to the pedi cab and on to Chippewa Square

This was a tribute to William Jasper who had held onto the South Carolina Flag during the Battle of Sullivan Island and who was mortally wounded ( by the British) during the siege of Savannah

This was a marker for the start of what was apparently the first road to be laid down in Georgia

It really is so rich in history

Past the Sixpence English Pub ( complete with red phone box) and arriving at Chippewa

Yes its yer man James Oglethorpe again, soldier, philanthropist, man about town and founder of Georgia - he's everywhere

The marker that says Chippewa Square is the place where Forrest Gump sits on the bench and tells his life story. The bench is in a museum (I discovered after looking at all the benches) and it seems the plaque is a big selfie spot . So now you know Its not any of these

Its a pretty square - but then, we didn't see a square in Savannah that wasn't gorgeous

We had whizzed along and in only just over an hour had seen all the places I had marked on the map - Andy had enjoyed being sat in the cab while I took the photos - I think its transformed his view of sightseeing now !

We were soon back at the hotel - after paying our $45 for the tour

We checked out and were on our way by 12
Saying good bye to beautiful Savannah - we felt it was like New Orleans but a bit less crazy - it had a similar vibe and was equally as beautiful. Definitely a new favourite.

A few last glimpses of this pretty city

Best Dang Biscuits there are

And then we were on the road

Crossing into Florida around 1230

We decided to stop at the St Augustine Outlets

We picked up some great stuff here that we hadn't seen in Orlando - I will put that in a separate post

After a couple of hours of mooching we were back on the road about 3.30 - declining the chance to look at the "romance superstore"

50 minutes later we had arrived at our destination

I spent the next week attempting to get a picture of this sign with no cars in front of it

Our stay for the next week was here

WE drove straight past the entry key pad though and just could not work out how to get in

In the end I walked in to try and find out how to open the gates and two minutes later Andy appeared - another car had pulled up and shown him the keypad

It looked a nice resort

We had a top floor apartment

We had booked this through Airbnb and we were really pleased with it

It was perfect for our stay - the view over the waterway was so nice and the apartment was spotless and tastefully furnished

After dropping off the cases we were straight out to Walmart

Pretty feeble trolley though really

Around 6.30 we were back and doing the unpacking - mainly the food and one of the cases but we stopped after a little while as we were definitely getting hangry . There was an outback steakhouse a few minutes away so that felt ideal. We were seated by 7.15. It did take a while for the food to come out though so we were seriously flagging by the end.


I haven’t posted the menu .. it’s the same as every other Outback

BlackBerry martini for me

And you can see the bread in the background. Swiftly inhaled seconds after the photo

I had the filet with lobster - generously donated to Andy
He had the rib

He has mac and cheese as one of his sides.
It was too much so we brought a few bits back with us.. including a dessert which I didn’t forget this time !

A a result of being tired we did forget Andys credit card. We had left it tucked it in those folders that they bring the check in. Fortunately it was there the next day and we were able to collect it.

Back at the apartment I was completely excited to get some laundry on and after grappling with the tv we were finally able to get it to tune in and work.

And now .. for a week of relaxing

Starting HERE

Today's cocktail tally: 1
Holiday tally so far: 20

[WileyCoyote]

Ralph Lauren

Dress - on clearance rail $28 (from $99)

Swim shorts $16 ( from $69)

Polo Top $14 (from $89)

Tommy Hilfiger

Huge Shawl (it is virtually full length) $28

Stripey dress $35

Stripey Jumper $11

Plain Jumper $14

American Eagle

Shirt $8

[Fuellady]

That was a much more satisfying tour this time. Savannah really does look lovely and seems to have a nice relaxed atmosphere. Interesting fact about the Forrest Gump bench - it does look a lovely spot. The drive to Florida seemed easy too and a nice stop off at the outlets. Looks like you got some good bargains there. Glad you had a good meal at Outback, we loved it on our last trip but I know it can be a bit hit or miss. The mac & cheese from there is one of our favourites. Your blackberry martini looks absolutely delicious.

The apartment looks great... spacious and clean. The chairs on the balcony are really cute. Ah, laundry facilities... I'm guessing these are the holy grail of accommodation when moving around a lot. I'm already wondering just how much I'll have to pack in case I don't find any at all during our 10 (ish - still to finalise) stops. Nice views over the lake as well, and it must be nice to have a base for a week after moving around quite a bit.

[Melbatb]

The pedicab certainly seems the way to go! What a lovely city!

Dinner looked copious - not surprised you took some home!

And did Andy manage to sort out the transfer?

[Goldia]

Fab shopping haul. A shame the Forrest Gump bench isn't actually in the square, oh well, it looked a very pretty little square nonetheless. The weather seemed lovely today, lots of sun in the photos.

Your apartment looks fab. Nice to be able to sit back and relax for a few days without hitting the road.

[WileyCoyote]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

The pedicab certainly seems the way to go! What a lovely city!

Dinner looked copious - not surprised you took some home!

And did Andy manage to sort out the transfer?

See more...

Yep it’s the way to see the sights from now on.
The transfer . Almost there

Originally Posted by Goldia

Fab shopping haul. A shame the Forrest Gump bench isn't actually in the square, oh well, it looked a very pretty little square nonetheless. The weather seemed lovely today, lots of sun in the photos.

Your apartment looks fab. Nice to be able to sit back and relax for a few days without hitting the road.

See more...

It’s such a pretty place Abby. All over. Charleston was pretty in places but Savannah seemed lovely everywhere.
The place on Palm Coast was such a great find. We really enjoyed our time there .

[Rob & Jan]

So lovely seeing photos of Savannah we went a few years ago, it's such a beautiful place.

[CrispyA]

Great pictures of Savannah and the tour sounds lovely. Glad this was a better AirBNB experience for you!

[smithlane]

Hurrah, at last a successful tour! The pedi cabs sound far less stressful and you get to see exactly what you want. How do you order them?
Savannah just looks perfect, I’m trying to find a way of adding an overnight here instead of a quick visit but it would be 3 one nighters in a row and I don’t think Jim or the kids will thank me for that! Did I tell you we’ve booked a night on Jekyll? I’ve reduced Sawgrass to one night so after Jim’s round of golf we’ll head straight there.
Your accommodation looks ideal and a second hurrah for finally getting a decent view out of the window, it’s looks beautiful.
Dinner looks great too. You can really tell this is where you fall in love with Palm Coast.
Loving the stripes, our wardrobes are in fact identical! Really hope they have that candy coloured stripe dress in Tommy Hilfiger this year as I’ll be grabbing one of those if they do!

[Goosey-Lucy]

Savannah just looks so beautiful, I’d love to go one day!
Seemed a pretty good day overall, apartment looked lovely!