Honey, I’m HOME!

I missed home.  I missed Wally and Molly, and my bed with the comfy pillows.  I missed the cloudy, dreary weather.   I missed everything about this state, this town and my boring, daily life but it was good to be away for a while.

Where do I start?  The drive to Savannah was long.  Driving through Atlanta is a nightmare and that city can kiss my ass.  My nephew handled the long trek surprisingly well.  He’s excellent up till the four hour mark but he needs a break after that.  Knowing this, I think I was stopping so we could stretch our legs every two to three hours.   We were all tired and on the brink of insanity toward the last stretch, but I swear to god, once you see the sign that says “Savannah” the city pretty much slaps you in the face with beauty.  We were driving for hours and then BAM!  All of a sudden it went from ordinary to the most beautiful place I have ever seen.  There is something about palm trees coupled with oak trees and spanish moss that kind of takes the breath away.  I’m sure the people in the south who see this every day would think I’m crazy, but it was gorgeous.

I think I pretty much shot myself in the foot where Savannah was concerned before I even arrived.  I was so excited and wanted to do so much that I had really high expectations.  What I didn’t count on was the drive being that tiring, and us all being grumpy at the end.  I wanted to walk around and take the city in, but after walking a block in the hot Georgia sun after driving for 10 hours, I quickly saw that the plan was going to be much different.  We were losing light and patience so we all got in the car, AGAIN, just to drive around the city so we could see more.  Unfortunately, Savannah driving is kind of confusing if you haven’t been there, so we got lost and since it seemed like no one else was satisfied with aimless driving, my sister picked a destination.  Tybee Island.

It sucked.  My thinking was – we’re going to be in Florida after this for a few days doing nothing but beachy things, so why are we wasting precious Savannah time looking for the damn beach?  I wasn’t a happy camper but I sucked it up because it wasn’t all about me and I did what the group wanted.    After that we had time for a quick dinner and then we gave up for the night and returned to the hotel which was nice and comfy.  I crashed.

The next morning we slept in and then went out to Bonaventure Cemetery.  Unfortunately, the only pictures I managed to take of Savannah were here because I spent the rest of the time being grouchy and driving.  It was hot and muggy so we didn’t stay long, but even the cemetery was gorgeous.  I swear, it’s those damn trees.  They make everything look magical and painted in a ghostly but charming way.

That’s it for Savannah.  When we left the cemetery we said goodbye to the city and drove six hours to our destination in Florida.  I won’t talk about the drive there, but basically there was a lot of family and beach time when we arrived.  I was enjoying myself in the ocean for a while and I don’t have one single decent picture of the ocean without a family member in it because of the vacation mode I was in and my fear of getting water/sand in crevices, but I do have zoo pictures.  Let’s go there.

West Palm Beach zoo was fun!

This “lizardy thing”, as I like to call it, is everywhere in Florida.  This one was at the zoo, but while I was visiting my Dad I saw about 7 or 8 of them in his backyard, mostly sunning on the fence.

My favorite animal at the zoo was the West African Crowned Crane.  Weirdly beautiful creature and uhm, quite taken with me if I might say so.  If I walked two feet, it walked two feet.  And it stared.  Honestly, I don’t know if it wanted to eat me or date me.  I did leave my number, though.  We’ll see.

More about the trip and the drive home later, but I’m tired.  I’m going to relax now.