The Great Road Trip Day 6 - Savannah, GA

This morning started out different from all the other mornings of this trip: 1) we woke up in a hotel room, and 2) we made a conscious decision to exercise! It was a bit rainy outside, so we didn't do anything crazy. We ran around the hotel building once, did 25 push ups, ran around the building again, did 25 squats, ran again, did 25 jumping jacks, ran one more time and did 25 mountain-climbers. We weren't very tired after doing all that, so we ran around the building five more times. Like I said...not anything crazy, but it was more than we had done during the past few days, which was nothing.

After cleaning up and checking out, we went right next door to Shoney's for breakfast. I remember when Shoney's used to be in Maryland, but they've long since pulled out of there. We all made decisions to cut back on the amount of food we'd been eating, so we all didn't have that much for breakfast (let me add..."that much" was relative to each of us. Watch it...I know some of you want to make a joke about how much I eat. Well keep it to yourself! :) ). After we ate, we sat around for a bit reading our bibles. We witnessed something really cute: a group of elderly ladies threw a surprise birthday party for one of their friends, another elderly lady. They had balloons and even sang "happy birthday!" I promised Nick I'd throw him a birthday party like that when he turned 70. We'd even come back to the exact same Shoney's and re-create the entire experience we were having now. ;)


After finishing reading, we hit the road for Savannah. We didn't know anyone down there, so we weren't meeting anyone and weren't staying at anybody's house. Just a straight-up sight-seeing stop. We were told by the front desk man at the hotel we just left that we should check out River Street in Savannah; that was where all the bars, pups and shops were, he said. Aside from that, we didn't really plan to see anything else in Savannah, so River Street was our main destination. We got there, parked, and walked around. The buildings in downtown Savannah were very old-timey; the city did a really good job of preserving the historic architecture of the area. River Street was aptly named because it runs parallel to a river whose name escapes me. Tour boats were lined all up and down the river, ready to take tourists out to see the sights. Trolley cars were also moving slowly up River Street, showing their passengers what there was to see. What our hotel desk man failed to mention was that River Street was also a major tourist trap. Every store eventually started to look the same, and there really wasn't that much to do down there. We saw a stature dedicated to Florence Margaret Martus. According to history, "Martus was famous in the early 1900s for waving to all shipping traffic sailing into and out of Savannah. Waving for nearly 40 years at passing ships, the legend contends she was trying to locate the love of her life -- who was a sailor." We saw Ms. Martus, took some pictures and video, then moved on.

After some debate as to what we should do next, we ultimately decided to head out of Savannah and start heading towards Jacksonville. But before we left, I had to get something of critical importance: a haircut! I couldn't go down to Jax looking all jacked up, could I? After asking around, I heard about a place called the "Boys to Men Barber Shop." I instantly knew that would be the place to be. Let's face it...I needed to go to a black barbershop, and say what you want about race, but you KNOW that a shop called "Boys to Men" is a black-owned barber shop!

We found the shop, and after a few minutes of magic, I left with a fresh cut. The guy who did my hair even offered to give Nick and Minh hair cuts! They politely declined...now THAT would have been priceless to see!

After heading south of Savannah for about an hour, we stopped in Brunswick, GA to find a hotel. We did some hotel comparisons and finally decided on a place called Guest Cottage Rooms and Suites. They offered us a suite with a king-sized bed, a fold-out couch and separate kitchen for only $10 more than what we paid for the hotel in South Carolina! We were definitely happy with that deal.


After chilling for a bit, we headed out for some food. We had a cheap but tasty dinner at Chick-Fil-A, stopped by a book store to browse for a bit, then ended the night with some bowling. As we walked into the bowling alley, the place was totally packed with some kind of kid's bowling league or church league or something. Whoever they were, they took virtually every lane. We managed to snag the final open lane. We played three games, with yours truly winning two of the three games! Nick totally dominated the third game and Minh and I battled for second place. In the final frame, all Minh had to do was knock over one pin on his last roll to secure second place for himself, but he threw a gutter ball! Woohoo!!! A tie is not last!

After the games, we headed home and wound down for the evening. I talked to Dee for a while and the guys watched more "Battlestar Galactica." Tomorrow...Florida!!!