The first day in Savannah, we took an organized city tour in the morning and walked around the city's historic district and waterfront in the afternoon. Two of the many web pages for tourists are: www.savannah.com and www.savannahvisit.com.
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| Getaway Morning. Timing Is Everything! There Was An Overnight Snow, And It Was Below Freezing All Day! | Savannah's Visitor's Center, An Old Railroad Station. For Our Stay In Savannah It Was In The 60's | |
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| Telfair And Wright Squares - Savannah Has 21 Squares
(One-Block Parks) At Street Intersections In The Middle Of the Historic District - Great For Scenery, Brutal For Traffic! | ||
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| Christmasy Oglethorpe Square Named After Georgia's Founder | Savannah City Hall At The River End Of The Historic District | |
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| Our Tour Included The
Owens-Thomas House "Regency Architecture With Elegant Period Pieces" | We Had A Guided Tour Of Most Of The House, Very Nice, But No Photographs Inside, Of Course | |
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| Owens-Thomas Carriage House, Now The Visitor Center | Pat At The Courtyard Fountain, Said To Be The Privy Location! | |
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| Lunch Line For Lady
& Sons (TV Cooking Show Host) They Don't Take Reservations For Small Parties | Not Wanting To Spend An Hour And A Half In Line, We Had A Porch Table At This Cafe! | |
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| Girl Scouts Founder Juliet Gordon Low Birthplace | ||
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| Maybe They Have The Coldest! | Cathedral
Of St. John The Baptist, Oldest Catholic Church In Georgia | |
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| A Tour Paddlewheeler On The Savannah River But Only Operating Weekends In The Winter | Across The River On Hutchinson Island - Trade Center And The Westin Golf Resort | |
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| There Are Nice Parks Between Touristy River Street And The River - Here A Sculpture Of A Boat | 1996 Olympic Games Sculpture The Yachting Competition Took Place On The River | |
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| There Are As Many Stories About Her As There Are Tour Guides - Or Web Pages ! | ||
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| Moon River Brew Pub For A Pre-Dinner Drink | Touristy Place On The Waterfront For Dinner | |
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| Kevin Barrys : An Irish Bar- Not Too Unusual | However, One With Irish Music Is Very Unusual! | |
We spent the morning of our second day on Tybee Island, "Savannah's Beach" a sizeable resort community about 25 miles east at the mouth of the Savannah River.
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| The Lighthouse Is A Big Attraction On The Island, Maintained By The Historic Society, But Is Operational! | A Resident (Kentucky?) Or A Lighthouse Enthusiast? The Complex Has A Great Web Page | |
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| The Lighthouse, The Fourth One On This Site, Is 154 feet Tall With 178 Steps | Mid-Morning Shadow On The Station Grounds - Not That Tall When Compared To Others On The Coast. | |
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| The Lighthouse Grounds. With Whale Oil Lights, It Was A Sizeable Community With 3 Keeper's Families | The First Lighthouses Were Too Close To The Ocean. With More Intense Lighting, This One Is Set Back | |
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| Pat Enjoying The Great Visibility There Was No Wind At All Today, Even Up Here | The Light Source And Fresnel (Fre-nel') Lens It Is Visible From 18 Miles On A Clear Day | |
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| Fort Severn Shared The Island With The Lighthouse Built in 1885, It Was Active Through World War II | It Is Now A Museum Of The Fort, Lighthouse, And The Island Resort History | |
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| From A Distance, This Sign Looked Ominous, Not That It Shouldn't Be Taken Seriously!! | This Attention Grabber Was Open For Lunch! Many Businesses Were Closed For The Season | |
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| The Municipal Pier, Originally Built By The Railroad Is Now Owned By The Community | Tybee Was Settled In The 1600's, And Was A Savannah Getaway Resort In The 1800's | |
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Fort Pulaski, Defended By The Confederates, Is A Mile Away Across The Savannah River | Built Before The War, Rebel Forces Withdrew From Tybee To Occupy It After The War Started | |
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| Rifled Cannon Let The Union Shell It From Fort Severn
A Mile Away. It Was Repaired (Above On The Right), But The Wall Was Breached, The Rebels Surrendered, And Forts Like This Were Then Considered Obsolete | ||
We had wanted to stay in Seabridge, the same condo as last year, but there was considerable damage to it from the hurricanes, and the owner had some doubts that it would be ready for us in January, so we were just happy to get another place for the month. We expect to be in the same Seabridge condo as last year on February 1.
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| Here Is Our Duplex, Still On A1A About 7 Miles North We Have The Left. Smaller, But Clean... And Cheaper! | We're Now In The City Of Flagler Beach It Also Is Only A Half Block From Martin's Restaurant! | |
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| And There Is Still A Nice View Of The Ocean, But Only From Ground Level- We Can't See The Beach. | We Had A Lot Of Rain (And Wind) For a few Days "Florida Sunshine" - Bummer, No Golf! | |
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| It Has A Small Combined Kitchen/Dining/Living Room, With 2 Bedrooms And A Bath Off The Far Hallway | Nice Clear Moon Over The Ocean At Sunset Any Port In A Storm, And The Price Was Right | |
Artie Brantl, a friend from back north has a second home near Orlando and met us halfway for a couple of rounds of golf. We had hoped his wife Lucille could join us for dinner, but she was tied up.
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| Artie Playing A Difficult Par 5 At Deltona Hills There Are An Unbelievable Number Of Trees Missing! | Pat & Artie On The 18th Green At Deltona Hills With The Nice Restaurant In The Clubhouse In Back! | |
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| Artie & Clay After Dinner At The Brickhouse Grill. The Golf Course Restaurant Is Not Open During The Week. | Pat & Artie Heading Back To The Car After Dinner In Nearby Deland | |
The South Atlantic Amateur Woman's golf tournament is played here every year, and this is the 79th! It is informally known as the SALLY, and some think that name came from one of the (male) club members calling all women golfers Sally! We followed the final threesome on the back nine last year, this year we planned to do it for the entire eighteen. We were wary however, as the weather forecast wasn't very good. This year's third (the previous day's) round was rained out and the tournament shortened to 54 holes.
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| Virginia Grimes Finished Third. The Tournament Is Held At The
Oceanside Country Club In Ormond Beach They Use The White Tees (About 6000 Yards). Grimes Won In 1998, But Most Of The Competitors Are Collegians | ||
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| Runner-up Taylor Leon. The Round Started Out Windy,
But Cloudy And Warm We Watched The Front Nine, But It Became Very Rainy, So We (And Quite A Few Others!) Left At The Turn | ||
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| Winner Julietta Granada From Paraguay Started The Final Round
With A One Shot Lead, Was Tied By Leon After A Windy & Rainy Front, Lost The Lead, But Made 3 Birdies On The Last Five To Finish At Plus 3! | ||
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| L. to R. Leon, Granada, & Grimes On The 8th. Most Use Motorized Carts. Some Mothers Accompany Them | Leader Board At The Turn. Oceanside Does A Professional Job, And Admission Is Free! | |
Our condo building (1 of 4 in Seabridge) has 70 units with only 5 reporting no damage. Hurricanes Frances, Charlie, and Jeanne came across the state and did terrible damage. Upper units, and units on both ends suffered the worse. Ours is on the 3rd floor (out of 5), next to the end. We met the owner in the almost completed unit at the end of January, and moved in February 1st. It had been seriously damaged and was wonderfully refurbished, but many others are in various stages of repair, and quite a few are still uninhabitable! One of our neighbors is still working on their unit and the other on the end has contractors working every day.
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| The Parking Lot From The Balcony Outside Our Unit Many Contractors (& Owners) Still Working Full Days | Our Third Floor Unit #309 On The Left Is Back To 100% The End Unit #308 On The Right Fared Much Worse | |
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| Cranes Were Active Continuously, Here In The Front There Are 5 Floors Of 14 Units Each In Our Building | The Condo Association Fixed The Roof, But The Owners Had To Wait Before Even Starting | |
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| This Is #508, Top Floor And On The End Once The Roof Was Gone, Even Light Rain Was Bad | It Has Been Stripped To The Bone, And Must Have Looked Much Worse Just After The Hurricanes | |
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| Still in #508, Looking Through The Wall To #509, There Was A Hole Through All The Top Floor Walls | Moving Building Materials To The Upper Floors Was A Common Sight All Through Our Month Here | |
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| These Are Going To #508. The Door To Our Unit Is Just To The Left Of The Tree Top | We Think Our Unit Was Pretty Bad, But #508 Here Must Have Been Much Worse | |
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| Repairing The Facing On The Stairway Top Most Owners Had Insurance, But Some Didn't! | It Has Been Quite Cool And Windy (For Florida). Making Us Take A Few "Unplayable" Golf Days | |
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| They Did A Fantastic Job On Our Unit, And
Aside From A Little Noise During The Day, Our Stay Here Is Wonderful, Just Like Last Year - And We Have Room Again! | ||
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| Charlie & Jen Ebel At Our Place For ... | ... Snacks & Drinks With Joe & Lil Chisholm | |
Two of Pat's golfing buddies from Northampton spent a week with us playing golf each day. Last year, they ran into some wet weather here, but this year, it was perfect. We stopped at the famous(!?) Daytona Beach Flea Market prior to the day's golf.
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| It Abuts I95, Close To The Speedway And Is Normally Open Only On Weekends | It Was Supposed To Be Open All Daytona 500 Week, But The Huge Indoor Market Was Obviously Closed | |
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| However, Part Of The Parking Lot Was Taken Over Mostly By Vendors Of NASCAR Stuff | There Were Many Semi-Trailers With Open Sides, Jackets, Clothing, Model Cars, Used Racing Tires?! | |
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| L-R: Bea Carson, Pat, Rose Boyle. The Reason For Going Here Was
The (Closed) Market, But... The Racing Stuff Spread Over A Good Portion Of The Parking Lot Was Somewhat Interesting | ||
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| There Were A Few Non-Racing Vendors Here, Bea Is Eying The "Wind Illusions" | Pat Purchased A Wind Illusion To Hang Outside At Home- Like A Wind Chime. Bea Also Bought One | |
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| Later, Rose On The Tee At Spruce Creek | Bea Teeing Off At The Golf (& Fly-In!) Community | |
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| We Usually Play Here Once Or Twice Each Year This Is The Second For This Year | It's A Little Tight In Places, And There Is Quite A Bit Of Water To Navigate From ALL Tees | |
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| We Had Tightly-Contested Matches- Down In The Rough And No Gimmies! | Adjacent Properties Often Have Colorful Yard Decorations- Here, A Valentine Giraffe! | |
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| Spruce Creek Is A Fly-In Community! Hangers Are Attached To
Houses Like Garages, With Taxiways To Landing Strips. In Some Places Taxiways And Roads Merge, But Airplanes Have Rights Of Way Over Cars! | ||
Our Daughter Sue is with us for a few days. After a day in St. Augustine, we took her to downtown Daytona Beach between Speed Weeks and Bike Week. We rode the "Trolley Boat", much like "Ride The Ducks" in Philadelphia. However while the Philadelphia Ducks are surplus WW2 vehicles, these are brand new, made specifically for this purpose. A local company sells them, a bunch "to the Statue of Liberty!"
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| A Pod Of Migrating Right Whales 600 Feet Off Ormond Beach. The Newspaper Counted About 24! | A 1½ Hour Tour Mostly In The Intracostal, But Also On City Streets & The Famous (Driveable) Beach | |
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| We're In The Halifax River (Intracostal Waterway) Past Unusual Winds And Tides Grounded This Boat | The Stonewood Restaurant Chain Owner's Yacht All The NASCAR Owner's Yachts Left After The 500 | |
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| Mosaic Tiles On The Elliptical Piers Underneath The Broadway
(International Speedway Boulevard) Bridge The Suspended Artists Got A Dollar A Tile, But The Overall Cost Of the Bridge Was Still Reasonable! | ||
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| The Bill France Mansion(s)- NASCAR And Daytona International Speedway Owner | The Harley Davidson Dealership Here, Motorcycles Are Big All Year Round | |
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| A Crowded Marina With Jackie Robinson Stadium In The Background (Minor League Daytona Cubs) | Many Of The Boat Owners Live On Them But This Is Really Designed For The Purpose! | |
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| The Last Leg Was A (Slow) Drive On The Beach There Is A $5 Charge For Cars Now | The Weather Was Warm, So The Beach Was Crowded The Hurricane(s) Got That Hotel In The Back | |
The Daytona International Speedway is enormous and we wouldn't go near it when something is going on with its 160,000 seats and uncountable people in RVs on the infield. But it is 3 days after this year's 500, and we decided to take a tour.
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| There Was A Long Line For The Tram Tour, But They Left Every 10 Minutes For The ½hr Ride. | On The Speedway Grounds is "Daytona USA", With Interactive Games, A Hugh Store, IMAX, Tours, etc. | |
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| The Tram Went Around The Outside For A Photo Stop, About
Where Dale Earnheart Died, It Was Noted! The Majority Of The Tour Was Down On The Level Part Of The Track (At About 10 Miles Per Hour!) | ||
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| That Is Not A Wall On The Far Turn, It Is The Steeply (31°) Banked Track! | Cars Must Go 90 MPH To Keep From Sliding Down The Underlying Sand Can't Be Packed Any Steeper! | |
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| This Is The Pits! The Owner's Boxes And Driver's Wives' Stands Are In The Back | Only One Car Gets In Here, Although An Earlier Race Had A Protest Upheld And There Was An Exchange! | |
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| Pat & Sue In A Couple Of Pricy Seats. Some Of The Track Is Surprisingly Open To The Public | 2005 Winner Jeff Gordon's Car. It Stays Here On Display For A Year Before The Owner Gets It Back | |
