escaping thoughts: Savannah, on my mind.

18 years of living only 120miles away from Savannah, I curse myself for never paying it a visit until now. My weekend started a little rough with flight delays caused by a random hail storm. I didn’t get into Jacksonville till late Friday night and was exhausted from the work week. Mary and I sat on her couch both trying to stay energized and keep conversation going, but an hour into it, we threw in the towel, and went to bed, only to get up 5 hours later for our drive to Savannah.

The drive was a little less than 2.5 hours with a stop at Chik-fil-A to consume their so good spicy chicken biscuit breakfast. If you have yet to try it, find the closest Chik-fil-A and get to it! The drive was smooth and we passed many little bridges over marsh land along the way. We drove right to Paula Deen’s restaurant, The Lady and Sons, and saw the line was already wrapped around the block and it was only a little after 9AM. We quick parked the car and hurried to the line. The website had said the reservations for lunch and dinner for the day start at 9:30, but the hostess must’ve started earlier because by 9:30 we were at the hostess stand and had our choice on what time we wanted to eat lunch. We put our names down and scurried off like giddy school girls, posing for pictures in front of the restaurant and off we went to explore Savannah. We walked all over the historic district, and without meaning to, walked in a really huge circle around the historic district. We walked down cobble streets, to the river, through many squares, taking in the charming beauty of the tree and hanging moss-lined streets of Savannah.

By the time we saw all that we wanted to see, it was time for lunch. We got back to the restaurant and were seated promptly. We both opted for the buffet and sweet tea and we could hardly wait to dive right into the food. We were first served with a cheese biscuit and a ho’cake (fancy name for a pancake if you ask me). Now, onto the buffet! For only $13 we had many options: fried chicken, roasted chicken, riblets, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, collard greens (the best I have ever tasted), green bean, sweet corn, and sweet potatoes. There was also a salad bar, but puh-lease. Really? Salad? Who would go to Paula’s and eat a salad. Load me up on fried, “budder” goodness please! For dessert, they brought out a tray and we chose banana bread pudding and one of her “budder” gooey cakes.

After lunch, we headed down to Paula’s store and bought shirts and I bought a frying pan magnet bottle opener! We soon headed back on the road and back to Jacksonville. We spent a few hours laying on the couch before we had to get ready for dinner and a graduation party. We ate dinner at Yo Sushi – hands down best sushi ever. I have dreams about their Helen roll – which has cooked spicy crabmeat on top of the sushi rolls. Mary so kindly sent me a picture message of this yesterday. I wanted to punch her I was so jealous :) . See picture below.

We then went to a graduation party in San Marco where I was reunited with some high school friends I haven’t seen since high school graduation – seven years ago. It was nuts!! We drank many beers, swayed along to live music, and spent the night outside. One thing I don’t miss ahout Florida are the mosquitoes. I have ten bites on my legs that are red and itchy like no other. Grrr.

Sunday quickly came and it was time for me to go, but not without surprising my family first. I spoke to one of my cousins Friday to see what my family had planned that weekend. It was my aunt and uncle’s wedding anniversary and they were going to have lunch at one of our favorite after church eating places, Piccadilly. Mmmm. Mary and I got their early and slowly, my cousins trickled in, each shocked to see me! The best was as I was walking to the table, my aunt and uncle happened to walk in and couldn’t believe I was there! I then received death threats from my aunt who got upset that I didn’t call her when I first came into town.

Lunch was wonderful and I was really happy to be able to see my family and still do all the things we wanted to do this weekend. I miss Jacksonville a lot. It was a nice weekend to see my family and friends that I grew up with. It’s a special bond that I don’t quite have up here in DC. Well, minus living with my sister. I don’t know how more special our bond could be. Haha.

So now, I leave you with a few pictures I took of our mini road trip to Savannah:

one of the many little bridges we crossed