(Or, How Two Florida Kids Get Sunburned in Georgia)
WARNING: This is a lengthy post.
This past weekend (look at me being all on top of things), Jon and I traveled to Savannah, Georgia to celebrate our TEN Year Wedding Anniversary. There's nothing like saying those words to make one feel instantly older. A phone call from the family of your flower girl and ring-bearer, who are now in their teens, will also do that to you. Ok, I'm sure a lot of things will make you feel older, but when you've been with the same person since you were 16, it's a weird mesh of the different effects of the passage of time.
We were very blessed by dear friends and family with this trip. It was quite the surprise! Very humbling and generous.
Our anniversary was on Friday, but Husband surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers the night before. Daffodils are apparently the 10-year flower, but they're out of season, so he chose all yellow flowers. He also got me an awesome picture frame which I will use to display a photo from out trip. I made him a DVD of pictures of us from the past decade to songs he's written.
We woke up late and took our time getting stuff together- it was vacation after all- and after a run with the pups and a bicycle tire repair, we were on our way!
My parents bought us a riverboat dinner cruise, so after checking into our hotel, we made our way to River Street in downtown Savannah. We boarded the boat and took our seats while listening to the keyboard player announce birthdays and family reunions amid his 'hits from the past" renditions. We also got to take part in some fun people-watching courtesy of the slightly sloshed bachelorette party next to us. After we ate our meal, we made our way to the upper deck to the starboard side (ooo, naval talk) and watched the river carry us downstream. On the return back to the dock, we got to see some pretty amazing vessels. Daydreaming then ensued.
After disembarking (I'm a regular sailor, now), we cruised up and down River Street, stopping in the shops, before calling it a night.
Day two came bright and early and we ventured to Tybee Island to try our hand at kayaking. I was told on the phone to arrive at around 8 am for best conditions. We got there around 8:30 (not too bad for us!) and were greeted by a young guy who very unconfidently that the shop was still closed and that he didn't have a key. We had to wait until the kitchen staff showed up, so we took the opportunity to ride our bikes to the beach and around the island a bit. This is the only time I applied sunscreen. And only to my shoulders....
We saw this adorable old boxer who puffed his warning at us that we had come close enough.
After a while we went back to AJ's and secured our4-hour rental. The same young guy led us to our tandem kayak and with no instruction besides the general direction we should go, left us to our own devices. Our own devices were not very good and I'm sure he had a good chuckle before he came back to help us do the three-point turn it took to navigate between the other boats tied up on the dock. But we were off. And rowing upstream. Uptide? Something like that. It was hard and I felt like the least graceful thing on the water, but we soon got the hang of it and made it to Little Tybee Island which is only accessible by boat. We got out at a few places and cruised around on foot taking pictures of the landscape and collecting shells.
It was soon time to return, so we started back. Once we got into the mouth of the river (I think that was a river- you can take a point off my sailor status), we saw some dorsal fins popping out of the water. Sure enough, three dolphins were playing in the water up ahead! It was amazing. There was a boat out, from a dolphin tour, I think, so the dolphins actually went right up to that boat a few times. They didn't come too close to us, which is probably for the better since I was wary of being tipped over. We had had a close-ish call on the way back through the waves that I didn't want to repeat. One dolphin actually jumped out of the water to the left of us. I was able to catch some of it on video, but not the leap. The video isn't actually as entertaining as it was in person but it was incredible to be able to see them playing like that!
We had lunch at AJ's and realized that the tops of our legs were very red and I had weird spots of burn on the back of my shoulders. I apparently suck at applying sunscreen or actually thinking about the parts of my body that will actually be exposed to sun. For 4 hours. Anyway, we made sure to put some sunscreen on (better late than never, right?!?) and cruise around on the bikes for a while before heading back to Savannah.
We detoured to a Kroger on the way back (only to realize the next day that a Publix was directly across the street from our hotel!) to pick up some sandwiches and snacks for dinner. The day in the sun had taken it's toll and we were tired. Jon caught some zzz's while I read my book.
Now, let me back up for a minute. About 3 years back. French countryside, Champagne region. Great friends, champagne house tours. In the Moet & Chandon house, we learned that 2003 had been a good year for the grapes and they made a vintage out of it. For further explanation of what this means, consult Andy McFandy or, if you don't know him, google it. Anyway, it meant to us that there was a special label with our wedding year on it from our favorite brand and we were there where it was made so we bought a bottle. It has been sitting in our fridge for the past 3 years and we were eagerly awaiting the day we could pop that baby open!
That day came and it was delicious! Sparkly and yummy! It was a bit less fruity than the normal bottle, but my refined tasting vocabulary ends there. It was perfect. And a fun way to reminisce on one of the many highlights of our years as husband and wife.
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| Aug 2010, France |
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| June 2013, Savnnah, Georgia |
The next day was Sunday and if you're still reading this, then Yay! We checked out of our hotel and drove the few miles into downtown Savannah where we parked The Pearl and unloaded our bikes. We were near Forsyth park so we rode there and took photos near the fountain and read the signs about the park's history. I got a little homesick for our pups as it seemed everyone was out walking their dogs in this beautiful city park. If we squinted really hard, we could pretend we were in Europe!
After a cruise around the park, we set out in search of the pretty houses and antebellum style. I have to say, here, that my husband is an amazing man who puts up with my craziness and is able to sort though what I'm saying to figure out what I'm actually saying. Thank you! I'll let the pictures do the talking here:
After lunch at Clary's we set off by car for Bonaventure Cemetery which we traversed by bike. This was a beautiful, peaceful place. I may have apologized to the resting dead for the loudness of my bike seat's springs. Again, some pictures:
Then it was time to go home. To our fubabies and the life God has so amazingly blessed us with!
