Day 19: July 1, 2011

7:32 pm

Air Conditioning

Watching an Independence Day thunderstorm from the Williamsburg Hospitality House

Writing on July 4, 2011

On our last morning on Ashland Farm, we packed and ate another delicious breakfast. We got a tour of the micro green house! Well, I guess it’s a micro green greenhouse. They grow tiny versions of the herbs, flowers and plants we eat every day. Teeny tiny arugula and teeny tiny endive, etc. The woman who tends the garden let us nibble everything—we had a verifiable salad by the time we left the greenhouse. It was awesome! Before we left, we sat on the porch, drinking Lucy’s delicious coffee plus hot milk and chatted about the family. I’m so glad Teddy got a chance to connect again with Lucy and Clay and that I got to know them better. What a welcoming and happy home they have. It was wonderful to stay with them, and if they’re reading, THANK YOU GUYS! And snuggles to Rusty and Regalo.

We had a fairly long drive to Savannah that day. We got through a lot of Lord of the Rings, though, so that was good. We’re on to the second book! I was so excited to get to Savannah—I had heard it is the cutest place ever. Which it is. But first, the Matrix. Oh the faithful Matrix. So the hood doesn’t open or whatever and we needed to get the oil changed. We dropped our million pounds of bags off at the hotel—The Marshall House—got back in the car and drove to the shop outside of town. We called a cab to pick us up. We waited twenty minutes. Troy from the taxi company, whose cab smelled like a pack of cigarettes, picked us up and swung us back around to the hotel.

The Marshall House is gorgeous—it was the first establishment to be built as a hotel in the city of Savannah. It was also our first taste of Colonial American history. I know that the hotel itself has very specific connections with our early history, but I can’t remember the specifics. There are, however, tons of stories about the Founding Fathers going to this tavern in Savannah and that church, etc. I do know that the hotel is most renowned for being haunted! Teddy and I cracked up reading the stories of sightings during “Ghoststock 2006”—of course you’re going to see a ghost when you go to “Ghoststock 2006”. I do believe in that stuff though and I was a little creeped out to hear stories about clacking high heels on uninhabited floors and little children playing in the halls in the middle of the night. Teddy may or may not have heard the high heels…

Anyway, we decided to cohabitate in peace with the spirits and thoroughly enjoyed their bed and breakfast. Our room was so gorgeous and so southern. There was outrageous crown molding and beautiful wallpaper, etc etc etc. We really cut a deal on this hotel too! Free breakfast included.

Our mascot, Yoda!

Teddy is a Hobbit

I Yelped some dinner and found what I could only imagine to be the best place to eat in Savannah for Erica and Teddy: The Pirate’s House. We were not disappointed! We learned so much about pirate history in America. The restaurant is housed in the oldest building in Savannah, right by the water. There were tunnels underneath the tavern that led out to the water. There are stories of men getting drunk, hit over the head and dragged to work a pirate crew without their consent! This was called getting “shanghaied”. Love it—never knew where that expression came from. This all happened right underneath our dinner table. There was also a gift shop where we got a mug for our collection. I also got a mug with the restaurant’s signature pirate drink: “The Skull Crusher”. We asked them to make it as virgin as possible so my skull wouldn’t get crushed. Captain Flint died in the bedroom of the tavern…I mean even though Captain Flint was a fictional character in Treasure Island, that doesn’t mean he didn’t die in that bedroom!

Oldest building in...America? Savannah? Can't remember.

ARRR!

Sure crushed my skull!

I just drank out of this mug last night. Still awesome.

Original prints from Treasure Island

We ate the best chicken ever—it was a brown sugar fried chicken with pecans. Despicable. Also, crab dip. Delishable. After dinner, Teddy wanted to walk by the water. Last time he said that, we got “robbed”, so we laughed a little and knew we would have better luck this time. We did! Savannah is SO much fun at night. We both wished Teddy could drink, because this sure is a drinking town. It’s also a family town. There were hundreds of people all over the boardwalk: listening to live music, drinking beer sold on the street that you can drink on the street and just people watching. It felt like the most happening place in the south! All the shops were still open at 9 or so, including a massive candy story where everyone was eating their prawwwwlines. All of this action is set to the backdrop of historical buildings, cobblestones and historical taverns repurposed to …taverns.

We walked up some old, mossy, steep cobblestone stairs to more dancing, music, drinking and cigar smoking. I can’t wait to go back and see more nightlife in Savannah. We grabbed a much needed orange sorbet at the hundred year old ice cream shop, Leopold’s (line was out the door at 10 pm), told each other Marshall House ghost stories and went to bed.