Quest for Spring - Savannah, GA

We had headed south looking for Spring and I believe that we may have found something close enough in Savannah, Georgia. By mid-morning, it has been above 60°F and sunny. That is shirt sleeve for us (unlike some others bundled up with gloves, scarfs and hats. I apologize for the number of pictures but we have been pretty busy. There were quite a few bikes running around Savannah, mostly groups of large, loud cruisers trailered in for the sunny weather.

First stop was the railroad museum in downtown Savannah behind the visitors center. There is quite a selection of engines but they are slowly being restored and not all of the run. We did take a short ride through the grounds pulled by the third one from the left. The power plant is the ornate building below.

The second stop was the museum next to the visitors center. This is a single cylinder, front-engine, rear chain drive buggy. It is a 1902 Crestmobile according to the sign. We walked around town during the afternoon then took a "Paula Deen" streetcar tour which ended with dinner at her restaurant The Lady and Sons.

The food was pretty tasty but probably pretty high calorie as well. To me. the best items were the collard greens, cabbage and the mac & cheese. The fried chicken had good flavor but was over cooked. The streets were really crowded since there was a 5K race taking place and many of the streets were blocked off. The picture below shows the green water in all of the fountains in preparation for St. Patricks day.

Today, while walking around Savannah, we passed a Vespa dealer which has a very familiar looking sidecar mounted to a Vespa. The one improvement is the trunk opening from the rear. Bridget spotted it in the garage before I did. After lunch, we headed towards the coast to Tybee Island. The first stop was the lighthouse.

It was 178 steps to the top of the lighthouse and the view was worth the climb. I took some pano shots but don't have the software with me to make them. the next photo is looking into the bulb and lens housing.

The next couple of shots are from Tybee pier located near our hotel. There was a St. Patricks Day parade going on so we really couldn't drive anywhere after making it to the hotel. The main street running through town and all of the side streets were blocked off for a few hours. it was a wonderful walk and, as you may notice, no snow and ice.

Just a shot of the sand between the dunes and the ocean. The next photo was taken from the top of the lighthouse. I'm too lazy to re-arrange all of the pictures in this post to get it in the right order. This is the view looking south towards town.

This is looking north from Tybee Pier. Not many people on the beach though there were a few hardy surfers out in the water.

Tomorrow, we start heading north again for Philadelphia for our flight on Wednesday.

 

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Quest for Spring - Charleston, SC

This morning brought clear skies and less wind. We had stopped in Wilmington, North Carolina, last night after a long day of torrential rains and strong winds. At least the temperatures were slowly climbing. This photo was taken at a visitors center in Charleston, South Carolina, and by then, it was a very pleasant 60°F. There was a long fishing pier here that extended about ¼ way across the river.

The visitors center made for a pleasant stop in a long day of driving. I hadn't realized just how far it was from Urbanna, Virginia, to Savannah, Georgia. Especially if you opt to not taking the interstate highways. The heavy traffic in the cities were the worst part of it and I think there must be a law prohibiting the use of turn signals as no one seemed to use them. If you see an opening in the next lane you just jerk the wheel snd move into it. By 5:15PM, we finally arrived in Savannah, Georgia, where we will be staying for several days.

Quest for Spring - Urbanna, VA

On Sunday, we just went from a small town near Philadelphia to Hershey, PA. On Monday, we picked up my father in-law and drove down to Urbanna, VA, which was about 240 miles. We have been staying in a beautiful B&B with beautifully appointed rooms and incredible food. At my brother in-law's home, there was a compass attached to the ceiling in the living room and I thought that it was a pretty unique fixture. This afternoon, we roasted fresh oysters over charcoal until they just cracked open.

On Tuesday morning, I walked around the town of Urbanna, VA, and there were some nice views of the Chesapeake Bay but most were behind private property signs. And you may notice the lack of warm, sunny weather and as I'm typing this, the rain is pouring down. Tomorrow we head south to try and find Spring.

 

There are some beautiful homes in the area. This one caught my eye but the colors may be brighter due to the sunshine at the time.

My father in-law at his birthday dinner. All of his children were in attendance as well as one other relative. It was a wonderful time and a fantastic dinner. The restaurant was normally closed but they opened just for our group.

 

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On the Road Again

Sitting in the SEATAC airport again after arriving on the red-eye out of Anchorage. We are continuing on to Philadelphia, PA, later this morning so that my wife can be with her father to celebrate his 90th birthday. Then we go off in search of warmer weather. We are thinking of Savannah, GA, or maybe even somewhere further south. The temperatures along most of the Atlantic coast doesn't seem a whole lot warmer than back home. I think the rough schedule is to drive him down to Virginia on Monday, then spend time with my wife's side of the family for a couple of days. Then we check the weather and head for somewhere that doesn't resemble Alaska.

Saturday Evening - Today was one of those flights where things went wrong. Of course, this is right after I mentioned that there have been very few delays or cancellations with Alaska Airlines in Barrow. There was a mechanical delay in Seattle due to fumes from the baggage compartment making their way into the cabin. They ended up cleaning something up but didn't say what it was. But they did remove all of the luggage, passengers and crew. When we got to Philadelphia, we found out that our luggage had made a detour to Minneapolis and is supposed to be delivered to the hotel tonight after arriving on a Delta flight. Hopefully, it makes it. The hotel is one that I had reserved on hotels.com just a short way between Philadelphia and Hershey and it turned out to be an incredible value. The bargain priced room is actually a very nice suite with a fully outfitted kitchen including a dishwasher. Maybe popular with business folks during the week but the place is almost deserted today (Saturday). Due to the flight delays, we didn't get our rental car until after dark and I don't really enjoy driving on these narrow roads after dark.

Update - The missing luggage was delivered to the hotel at 1:50AM. Apparantly the luggage didn't care for Minneapolis.

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