Caleb Crawdad, Forrest Gump, and a Hagrid

October 8th, 2011 was day two of our anniversary weekend in Savannah. Because Jason and I slept late for our second day there, we were super hungry when we woke up. Therefore, we decided to treat ourselves to breakfast at Clary's cafe. Clary's is the famous dinner in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. We had an easy time finding it thanks to a man we met the day before. We randomly heard some guy saying "Abercorn! Abercorn! Abercorn!" to some lady he was with... apparently he really needed to get to Abercorn street. Well, because we heard the name over and over again, we found the street Abercorn... easier to avoid crazy people if you know where they're headed :^) Come to find out, Clary's Cafe is on Abercorn! We walked for a very long time until finally reaching the Cafe. We walked in and met the hostess. She told us it would be a while and we could wait outside until a table opened up. As soon as we sat down to wait, the woman came outside and said she had a table ready... awesome! We ordered regular breakfast food: bacon, biscuits, hash browns, ect. Everything was wonderful, until... the power went out. It had started raining once we had a seat inside and the next thing we knew, we were sitting in darkness.  Luckily we had our food by then and were just waiting for the check. The check never came. Thirty minutes later our waitress came by and asked if we were paying with cash or card. We said card and then she took off. Another few minutes went by and she then said we could pay at the front. The lady at the front wrote down our information (since there was still no power), promised to shred it the moment the power came back on, and then sent us on our way. The poor lady announced that she had forgotten to write down what type of card everyone was paying with (visa, mastercard, etc). Luckily she wrote ours down, but she spelled my name wrong. Jason said he wouldn't be surprised if they never charged the card (because of how many things went weirdly that day)... we were charged. Oh well! This is a picture of Clary's Cafe.

Because it was a rainy day, we decided walking wouldn't be the best idea. Therefore, we decided to pay for a trolley ride tour. I love these things! They're a fun way to see a city! We purchased two tickets at the Riverstreet shop and then waited for the bus. We were able to get two really good seats in the back. We had a lovely British "chap" named Michael. I was super happy because A) I love British people and B) British people have an awesome sense of humor. We had a wonderful time! He drove around and around each Savannah square and told us a bunch of historical facts about the place. We saw where Tom Hanks sat in the movie Forrest Gump; where the girl scouts began; the "pink" house (no matter how many different colors they try to paint it... it always ends up pink); and the house where Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil took place. There was also a statue of John Wesley that we saw. However, underneath the statue there was something more entertaining to me... a middle-aged man with golden hair, a giant mustache, a cane, and a very, very white suit. He looked like he was from the late 1800s. As Jason and I passed the man, we said in our most southern Michael Scott accent "I do declare!!!! My little heart could barely take it no more!" Gotta love the office :^) Almost every time we passed something that was interesting or heard someone very southern, Jason and I would announce "I do declare!"

After a while, Jason and I went back to the hotel to rest some and get out of the rain. We turned on the tv only to discover that Savannah does not understand good television. Everything we saw was either fishing, news, or food related.... where's the Office, Walking Dead, or Dr. Who when you need it! We then snuck down to the Marriott store and bought ice creams. We decided to browse the shops on Riverstreet after a while. As we walked by the River, we came across a very creepy cat. This cat looked super thin, meowed a ton, and wouldn't stop following me... I seriously was terrified of this cat! I kept thinking it was going to attack me. Jason apparently thought this was funny. I did not. After a great deal of browsing, walking, and sight-seeing, we decided we should eat dinner. We picked the Cotton Exchange. Best tea ever!!!! They put honey in it . . . Mmmmmmm. Here are a few pictures of it/us:

Part of the reason we have weird facial expressions is probably because of the Hashers... ugh. Right across from us sat a group of Hashers... these are people who go from city to city running races. They were very loud, extremely drunk, and incredibly rude. We didn't get a picture, but imagine a man with a horrible coyboy hat, no shirt, and two to three other females who probably needed more clothing as well. The guy kept staring out the window next to him, screaming at passersby. At one point, probably after his 200th beer, he decided to inform the girl next to him that she has amazing boobs... the whole restaurant could probably hear that. She didn't seemed bothered at all. In fact, she then complemented the girl across from her on her boobs, too. Actually, they did more than just complement each other.. they decided to show each other how great their boobs were. Holy crap! Jason and I have learned that all of our friends who liked Savannah, surely must have been drunk while there... No one else has stories like this but us. We were sober.

After the cotton exchange, we then headed back to the Riverstreet bus stop to wait for the ghost tour. Here is a picture of our ghost bus...

The girl who led the tour was crazy!! Very VERY southern accent. Extremely dramatic. And completely gullible apparently. We began our tour with a man in a car yelling at us... scared the shit out of me! Once we started the tour, we learned a great deal about how Savannah is truly the most haunted place ever... NOT! The first story we heard was about a man who was on the river. Apparently, the man's hand was chopped off and trapped in a random door which overlooked the river. The man made it out alive; however, his hand continues to knock on the door, desperately trying to find it's master... OOOooooooo! I sorry... the man is alive but his hand is a ghost? That's totally legit...

As our tour continued, we learned that it is apparently possible for this to happen: two little girls grew up in a house where lots of parties were thrown. As kids, they would sneak downstairs regularly to play with a ball while their parents threw numerous parties. They grew up and eventually left the house; however, sometimes people say they can still hear children playing ball when a party is being thrown there..... Again, how is it possible for a Ghost to show up when the kids moved out and were alive?

Let's just say there were more stories like this, and we believed none of them. Jason would like me to write about the very end of our tour, however. Unexpectedly, our tour guide told us to get out of the trolley at a random stop by the river. I was not happy. In fact, I told Jason I really really didn't want to do a tour unless I could be in a safe place with wheels or a horse attached. I don't do well with getting freaked out, and tours like this like taking cheap shots. Jerkfaces. Anyway... we went into this broken down building to hear a story. I went to the left. I've learned that most people go to their right when entering a store or a building. Therefore, I figured whatever was scary would be at the right. So, I went to the left and stood in a corner so I could see the room. Our tour guide enters and stands in the center of the room. She begins telling us of a story about a little girl who died at sea and was placed in a coffin. She then said her coffin was moved to this building. She then points directly at me and says "and there's the coffin!" Dammit!!! I specifically tried to avoid this! I turn around and right behind me is the coffin. I'm so glad they didn't have someone's hand come out of it and try and get me... jerks! Jason laughed a lot at me and I have now vowed never to return to a ghost tour again. Well... it's not over. After we finished the coffin story, our tour guide said we were going to the back room. I'm sorry... I know what happens in back rooms and I don't do that. "Back room" is code for the place you are going to die! Me, another girl, and a seven year old refused to go into the back room. My husband, the other girl's guy, and the little girl's parents convinced us to go. Dammit. We take a seat on random boxes in the room as our tour guide stands at the front. She says "Everyone comfy? Good..." Then she walks to the door and slams it shut with a loud bang! Then the lights go out and my first thought is "This is exactly why you do NOT EVER go into a "back room" willingly!! The little girl next to me screams and then cries for the remainder of the tour. I kept my eyes closed for the remainder of the story-telling. I don't like cheap scares. I have no clue what the scary story was... all I remember was there was an old hag, rain, and somehow Hagrid from Harry Potter showed up. Jason said I heard it wrong and he said "hag ridden." He's wrong. Hagrid was totally there. After a man randomly showed up to tell us about Hags and a Hagrid, the lights went out and a loud bang occurred right behind me... I, of course, picked the seat with a surprise door right behind it... always carry a flashlight people! Lesson learned. Luckily the door was stuck and our tour guide couldn't scare me by jumping through it... she just made a bunch of noise and then swore because it didn't open.

I have to say though, if you like stuff like this... this would be a good tour for you. During part of the story telling in the back room, they mentioned that it was "a rainy night" and then all of a sudden I start feeling raindrops on my head. They were good with detail. Still jerks but they were good with details.

Moral of the story: do not go in "back rooms," always have a flashlight, and never EVER stand by a coffin. Also... drinking may help when visiting Savannah. The end of day two.

Midnight in the garden of Drunkards and oddballs...

October 7, 2012

October 9, 2011 was my one year wedding anniversary to the most amazing man I've ever known. The past year has been filled with many changes: both of us began new jobs/careers; we moved into a house, we've adjusted to waking up at 4:30 (5:30 for Jason); and, the most wonderful change of all, getting used to the fact that I get to come home to the man I love. It's been a very stressful year, but one that I wouldn't trade for anything. I've heard most people say that the first year is the hardest. If that's true... Jason and I are going to have a great life together. With all the changes, stress, and difficulty that occurred this year... In the midst of all the chaos, I knew Jason would be there. We rarely argued or fought. One of my favorite things about Jason is how he fights... quietly and with an open ear. This year has been a hard year, but not at all because we were adjusting to married life. I've never adjusted to anything easier. Of all the things I've ever been proud of, I take the most pride in knowing Jason and I have a very strong and loving marriage. I look forward to many years of laughing, quiet fighting, sock races, fall days, weird accents, random songs, walks in the park, and candlelit dinners.

Having said all I loved about this past year, I would like to write how we celebrated our first year of marriage together. On October 7th, 2011 we planned to leave for Savannah, Ga to spend our anniversary at the Marriott Riverfront.  The night before we left, we spent a great deal of time baking a cake to take with us. Jason's mom makes the best coconut cream cake I've ever had. Jason and I loved it so much, we asked his mom to bake it for our wedding cake. The first thing we ever bought for our wedding, was the cake topper. It was Linus holding his blue blanket and Sally kissing him on the cheek (Charlie brown characters, if you didn't know). Well, I left the cake topper at our apartment and we were unable to use it at our wedding. Therefore, Jason and I decided to bake our wedding cake and place Linus and Sally on it for our one year anniversary. Well... that was the plan anyway. Although we wrote out the recipe, followed the instructions, and baked it to the best of our ability... the cake still collapsed and tasted nothing like it did the day we were married. I'm still not quite sure what on earth we did to it. After realizing the cake wasn't going to come with us, we decided to just buy a cake once we arrived in Savannah. Unfortunately... I forgot Linus and Sally again. For someone who loves Charlie Brown as much as I do, I certainly have a hard time remembering the Charlie Brown cake topper. Oh well! 

How could I forget something this cute? I don't know. Oh well, moving on...

The next morning, October 7th, we left for Savannah. As we traveled, we listened to Beirut and 90s music. Amazingly, Jason had his Ipod and the same playlist he made for our wedding. We also had a bit of entertainment on the way there.... here are two picture that caused a great deal of laughter.

 I'm sorry... what kind of company calls themselves that?!? This one...

Never bored on road trips! Not with things like this near us :^) Hours later, after we stopped at Quiznos for lunch and drove many miles later, we arrived in Savannah. We knew immediately that this was going to be a very interesting place. As we were driving into downtown Savannah, we noticed a young man on a bike. "On" a bike... not riding a bike. I don't think there are any words to describe this guy. He rolled past our car, slammed sideways into a bus, pushed himself off and continued rolling. We never actually saw the guy try to use the bike pedals. It was as though he only knew how to make the bike go by pushing it off of something he eventually would crash into. Gee! It was as though a grown man was trying to learn how to ride a bike without training wheels for the first time. He would have been a lot wiser to have learned in a deserted area instead of in the middle of a busy intersection! 

Once having weaved in and out of traffic for a while, we made it to our hotel. The hotel was lovely! Right on the river and within walking distance of almost everything. We checked in and went up to our room and unpacked a little. If you were to look out our room's window, you would see the hotel lobby, the swimming pool, and all the balconies of everyone else's rooms. Jason and I began looking around and noticed something very strange. On the same floor, directly across from us were two or three rooms completely covered in white tarps/plastic. I don't know about anyone else, but my first thought was... does Dexter stay in Marriott hotels often? Very creepy. After seeing that, we decided to leave the hotel and explore the streets of Savannah a little. As we were leaving the room, a man in all black with headset wires running down his shirt came swiftly into view. He walked very quickly and headed to the side of the hotel with all the plastic... hmm. Jason said he thinks they were just remodeling and that guy was just a regular employee picking up room service or doing maintenance... I still suspect Dexter was in town.

Here are a few pictures from different places we explored for a few hours that day. It truly is a very beautiful place.  

After a few hours of walking, we decided to get dinner. We stumbled across Moon River Brewing Company and decided to try it out. They had really good hamburgers and, according to Jason, good beer. Speaking of beer... Jason and I have many weird, unforgettable stories from Savannah and I attribute most of that to the beer-drinking citizens. While walking around, Jason and I heard a very loud woman screaming, "There's beer over here!!! Beer over here!!" I don't think she needed any more beer, to be honest. On the same street to the left, we saw another intoxicated woman. She apparently had so much to drink that she decided she couldn't walk any more... she slowly began to sink toward the sidewalk floor. Luckily, her friends (also drunk) saw her and picked her up before she fully sat down on the busy sidewalk. Oh boy! A few streets up, we saw a man in a wheelchair pushing himself with his feet up the sidewalk... did I mention he pushed himself backwards up the sidewalk? Really man! What happened there? As we quickly moved away from all these fun people, we turned a corner to see a woman coming out of bank with a giant, round, cloth bag in one hand. I mean... if you were to draw a "$" symbol on it, it would have looked just like a cartoon money bag. Can you say "Rob me please!" All of this happened in about five minutes, by the way.

As we walked through Savannah, we finally arrived at the cemetery. Jason and I love cemeteries. We love how historical they are. I also love seeing the old dates and names of people from the past. Not to mention, cemeteries are usually very quite and peaceful . . . also, not a lot of loud, drunk people. We began wandering around the cemetery and came across a small family. We heard the man say the gate of the cemetery was locked. We began listening to them and realized that we might actually be locked inside the cemetery. Immediately we began looking at the exits... sure enough, almost every gate was locked. We told the family where we entered and then we all headed that way. Thank goodness we checked... it was the only door open. We were not locked in! How creepy would that have been! And, it wouldn't have been long before it was dark out, too. After a while, we decided to head back to the hotel and get some sleep. We hoped tomorrow would be free of drunk people and random Dexter-like scenes.