Live your BEST life. — Camp Buy Me Love

NP Roadtrip – Savannah, Charleston, and Ripon/Sacramento – Days 74 – 84

As we left Florida we had heavy hearts, not because we were leaving Florida, but because we had made arrangements to fly to California to be with G’s family so we could all mourn the loss of our beloved Jules. Nothing can prepare you for the heartache of seeing the ones you love in their time of sorrow, so we instead tried to focus on the things that we could prepare for. Like making hotel reservations, booking rental cars, figuring out where we can leave our trailer for a week, and also finding someone who can watch our dogs.

Since it was Easter weekend we had a very difficult time finding a reservation for our trailer for an entire week, but we were finally able to secure one at Savannah Oaks RV Park about 25 minutes outside of Savannah. We used Rover.com to secure a sitter for our dogs. We found a great gal named Hope to watch them. She sent us TONS of pictures of how much fun our dogs were having and how much they felt at home. I would recommend her in a heartbeat, and I would recommend Rover for ease of use. Once we dropped the dogs and trailer off, we fulfilled a pre-made reservation at The Olde Pink House in downtown Savannah. The building dates to 1771, but has also been a home to a few prominent Savannah families, a bank, and also served as headquarters for a union general. We enjoyed our meal, but weren’t exactly saying “Wow”. I did, however, love my cocktail and I thought the flounder dish was great! We had a 4:30 a.m. wakeup call, so we called it an early night and went to bed.

I won’t go into detail about our trip to California as it was a private time of mourning, but I will tell you about some of the places we visited, of note. The first is Pizza Plus. It’s a standard stop when we come to town and one you should consider if you’re in an area where one is located. The second is some of the wineries we visited with our dear friends in Sacramento. Our friend’s mother offered to be our designated driver and babysitter, so two couples, mom, and pint sized newborn Beth hopped in the car and ventured to Plymouth. We visited 4 wineries total, but the most noteworthy of all stops was Renwood Winery. Full disclosure, the stepmom of our friend works at Renwood, but I think we would have we received the VIP treatment regardless of that fact. We had a fantastic tasting of anything we wanted to try, enjoyed a charcuterie plate, and purchased a few bottles of wine to-go. I feel like, even though this was our first stop, this is where the events of later in the night, directly relate to the choices made earlier in the afternoon. This is that moment. Ugh. Let’s just say that we had a great time, enjoyed the company of a cute little newborn baby and 2 very spoiled doggies, and woke up with cottonmouth. Thank you friends for the break from reality and a reminder of why we don’t day drink in our late 30s.

We drove to San Francisco from the central valley of California ready to see our little doggies and also face the rest of our trip with a renewed zest for living life to its absolute fullest. Life is very short ladies and gentlemen, and we will never ever regret dropping everything to explore the country we call home. Along with a few other decisions, it’s one of the single most important decisions I’ve ever made in my life. Life is an adventure. Try to make sure you live it that way, because that’s the way she would want it.

Our long travel day back to Savannah was boring and uneventful, thankfully. We collected our happy dogs at Hope’s house and picked up the trailer. Come to find out our Savannah Oaks RV Resort neighbors were worried about us while we were gone. They were fairly relieved that we were ok and had planned our absence from the trailer. They were very nice folks, though we only returned to pick up the trailer from storage. Savannah Oaks RV Resort was a fine place to leave the trailer for a week, but we ached for a more secluded and private experience. We said our goodbyes and went over to Skidaway State Park. It’s a little closer to Savannah, which means it’s a little closer to our planned activities.

After traveling all day, moving our trailer, dealing with the logistics of the dogs, a new spot, etc., we didn’t wake up the next morning until 10:15 a.m. This is a record! Wow! I haven’t slept until after 10 since college. And G? Probably not since grade school. The upside of a late wake up is that breakfast is like lunch and you get to places before they get busy. We thought there was no way we’d get into Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room with less than an hour wait, but we did! Mrs. Wilkes is a Savannah tradition. Three dining tables filled with 10 strangers and a whole mess of food in a medium-ish sized basement room. On the table is fried chicken, mashed potatoes, black eyed peas, butter beans, corn stuffing, cucumbers, red rice, white rice, gravy, beef stew, corn muffins, buttermilk biscuits, rutabaga, macaroni and cheese, candied yams, cole slaw, okra and tomatoes, and green beans. And I might have forgotten a side or 3! The service, while brisk, was friendly. But when you were done, you were done. No need to dilly dally. It was time to leave so they could get ready for their next service. We find out, way too late in the game though, that it’s cash only. I sat patiently and chatted with the host while G got cash so he could get us out of hock. In fact, the host was so chatty that I met the owner and filled both in on our awesome adventure to all the National Parks. What a charming place with tons of character.

We ventured over to the City Market downtown Savannah. I’ve said this before, but I love public markets and little small town grocery stores, co-ops, farmers markets, and unique foodie markets. City Market in Savannah is NOT any of those things. The only thing of use at City Market was the fact that it’s where all the horse drawn carriage rides start. We organized our carriage tour and waited for the ride to start. This is a really fantastic way to see the city, and the route can be altered to fulfill anything you absolutely didn’t want to miss. For me, that was seeing Juliette Gordon Low’s house and the first headquarters for the Girl Scouts. I’m a girl scout dropout, but I have many girl scout family members, including my awesome niece. My cousins used to work for the Girl Scouts, my aunt was a leader and my sister is a current leader. Getting to see the place where it all started, was absolutely amazing. I love this quote, describing Ms. Low, on the Girl Scout website, “An ardent believer in the potential of all girls and the importance of fostering their individual growth, character, and self-sufficiency, Juliette is credited with establishing and nurturing a global movement that has changed the world.” Changed. The. World. What an amazing woman!

After our awesome carriage tour, we made a few quick stops at Jen & Friends (100s of flavors of martinis) and the Crystal Beer Hall (old timey tavern with a decent tap list) then headed to the grocery store to get groceries for the next few days. Our fridge isn’t tiny, but it isn’t huge either. We need to plan very well in order to not have excess food that we end up throwing away. I know I’ve said this, but we don’t throw food away. At. All. We make it work, no matter what, unless something got lost at the back and it’s growing fluorescent colored things. Then we throw that away. Eeew.

For dinner, we grilled lamb burgers and served them on garlic naan, which were awesome. You can access the recipe here:

http://www.campbuymelove.com/recipes/2017/5/21/grilled-lamb-burgers-on-naan

That same night I also pre-made some brine for pork and marinated chicken for the next two nights. The following morning, we woke up early and headed over to Wormsloe Historic Site. I swear there are signs pointing in every direction on the roads around here for Wormsloe, and google and BMW navi also led us astray. Fortunately, we stopped for gas and I happened to see another Wormsloe sign that actually led us in the right direction. All I have to say is wow! You pay handsomely to see this site and drive down the iconic oak tree lined lane, but it’s worth it. It’s absolutely stunning. We got out at the visitor center and walked the dogs down the path to see the ruins, went back down the iconic tree lined path, and headed to Tybee Island. I didn’t really NEED to see Tybee, but there was a lunch spot that got pretty decent reviews and Fort Pulaski National Monument was on the way. I’ll be the first to admit that we are getting a little jaded by all the forts on the Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina coasts at this point. We even have a saying, “if you’ve seen one fort, you’ve seen ‘em all.” Which isn’t really true, it’s just that we were getting a little sick of getting out to tour them. If you had to pick one, go to Fort Jefferson out at Dry Tortugas. That’s the most unique fort in the most unique setting. Just so you know, we said the same thing about the pueblo ruins. “You’ve seen one pueblo, you’ve seen ‘em all.” While cool, they do get a little old after a while.

We made a quick stop at Fort Pulaski, but didn’t allow a whole lot of time to explore there (G didn’t even get out of the car). We then headed back into town to catch a tour of the Mercer House, otherwise known as the Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil House. The house is pretty, the art, furnishings, and décor really gawdy, and the tour focuses a lot on the art, rather than on the man himself. I left there committing to watch the movie or read the book again so I can brush up on my local Savannah flavor. I truly think this book secured Savannah as a quirky tourist destination, and it’s a great story! I only wish the tour had provided some more detail about the story since it had been so long since I’d seen it.

After the tour, we took the dogs over to Treylor Park, a restaurant in downtown Savannah. Treylor Park is just our style, with the theme, “Home is where you park it.” They allow dogs in the cute back patio and serve dishes such as “Fried Bologna Classic” and “Chicken and Pancake Tacos”. Now is the time where G wants to eat here, instead of our own trailer. And I don’t blame him one bit, but we marinated chicken and had to cook it, otherwise I would have pulled the plug and devoured their awesome looking food. If you’re in the Savannah area, please go here and report back to us on what we missed out on!

From Savannah, we had a quick drive over to Charleston, which was our next stop. It’s funny, now having been to both towns, I would have chosen to stay for 3 nights in Charleston (instead of 2) and 2 nights in Savannah (rather than 3). It’s ok though. I’m sure I would have left Charleston with both cheeks stuffed with mac & cheese given one more day to gorge on all the awesome food! We packed a bunch of stops in 1.5 days starting with Fiery Ron’s Homeplate BBQ on Sullivan’s Island. This place was awesome! They had the best damn BBQ burrito I’ve ever had, not to mention their chili, ribs, baked beans, and potato salad. We boxed some leftovers up to use in breakfast burritos the next morning. Yummmmmy!!!

We decided after lunch that we wanted to chill out with the dogs at our campsite, rather than going into Charleston. We were at the Mt. Pleasant KOA, which is about 25 minutes to downtown on a good day, so we didn’t want to brave afternoon traffic. We relaxed, cleaned the trailer, and had an awesome meal of Maple Brined Pork Chops and Potatoes Au Gratin. Check out the recipe for the meal here http://www.campbuymelove.com/recipes/2017/5/21/ox-maple-brined-pork-chops-with-potatoes-au-gratin.

By the next morning, we were well rested and ready to explore Charleston. I should note that this is the morning we saw a man walking his dog from a golf cart. You can check out the not-so-great photo below. The KOA in Mt. Pleasant happens to be right down the street from Boone Hall Plantation, made famous from being a filming location in The Notebook, so we started there. It’s one of the most popular tourist destinations in Charleston. We completed a tour of the home, but were somewhat disappointed to find out it was built over 20 years after our own home in Portland. For those interested in old-ish homes or are The Notebook superfans, we would recommend, otherwise, I would try to find a more authentic plantation experience in the area. Finally, after a morning of touring Boone Hall, we ventured into Charleston where we decided to grab a bite to eat. A quick Yelp search produced Husk as “the place” we wanted to be. It has garnered itself quite the reputation being such a young restaurant. We waited nearly 45 minutes for our table, but were rewarded with a 2nd story balcony table. It was a lovely day outside, as long as you were in the shade, so this table was the perfect spot for us – shaded, but still had great people watching from our perch. We had some misses, but mostly hits during the relaxing lunch. The highlight were the drinks..

After lunch, we opted to walk off the calories with a long stroll through downtown and along the waterfront. Like I said, you were comfortable if you were in the shade but not the sun, so after all that walking, it was awesome to have the waterfront fountains to play in. G took his shoes off so he could cool his feet, and then we went on our merry way. We dropped in at the City Market, and although better than Savannah’s, there still wasn’t that “public market” feel with fresh veggie sellers, flowers, and homemade goods. Our last stop of the day was the Palace Hotel. This dive bar is owned by one of the reality tv folks from Southern Charm. I can count how many times I’ve seen this show on one hand, but I do know that the guy who owns this spot, is my favorite character and I wanted to see his bar. We walk in, take a seat, and are given free boiled Cajun peanuts. And they are absolutely incredible…addictive really. There is great 90s rap playing loudly in the background, and they have a laid back, funky atmosphere. I would live in this dive bar if we lived down the street. Mainly because dogs are allowed inside the bar and there is a regular dog customer who parks next to the door while his owner feeds him hot dogs. And their beer/wine selection ain’t bad either. We didn’t want to leave, we were having too much fun! But we had to leave Charleston the next morning, so pulled the plug pretty quickly. Overall, I would say Charleston oozes weirdness and funk with a little bit of Southern flash. I loved it so much and we will definitely be back to visit for a longer period of time.