Low Country

This spring break we took on the vacation endeavor of seeing some highlights of low country. We stayed at a house on the marsh in Beaufort, SC courtesy of Alaina's cousins (And that is pronounced like the word "beauty" not "bow"). This put us 2.5 hours out from Jekyll Island, 1.5 hours out from Charleston and just over an hour to Savannah, out low country targets. We planned one destination per day, and while there was an unfortunate amount of time spent in the car, it was nice to come back to a real house each night with plenty of space, rather than jamming into a hotel while traversing the coast.
We arrived in Beaufort around 4:00. It was "only" a 5ish hour drive, but we didn't leave until after Stephanie's basketball game (they won!). We had enough time to stop at the house to situate a bit and then headed right to church. We ended up stopping after church at the Dockside restaurant close to historic Beaufort, and the same man that sat next to us at church was at the bar. We fairly quickly decided on take out, so we hung out with him at the bar. He was in town for a triathlon, and we enjoyed chatting with him. We grabbed our food, enjoyed it at home and settled in for an extended adventure for the following few days.

It was the last game of the tournament- they won as conference champions and tournament champions.

First stop- Jekyll Island. I first learned about Jekyll Island in a cultural geography class in college, and I then put it on my list of places I wanted to see. When we were planning this trip, Alaina informed me that she had read a blog about a beach covered in driftwood that she would love to go to for photos, and that beach was on Jekyll Island. So done, and done! To get to the island, it cost $6, but the parking was free and ample. We started at the Sea Turtle Rescue, which had very reasonable admissions, and all of the money goes to support the rescue efforts. They also had a great gift shop, and my kids managed to convince me to spend far more on souvenirs than I ever generally would, but Stephanie got a super cute earring set that she will enjoy for a long time and Gwen got a moderately overpriced sand toy that made her tremendously happy. Also, Gwen was not budging on that sand toy, which is a new one for us, so we didn't really know what to make of it. Apparently, when push comes to shove, we give in. Who knew? But, as I said, the profit goes to the sea turtles, so as far as souvenirs go, it felt like a good choice. After our turtles, we went on a tram tour of Jekyll, and learned about its very interesting history of being am exclusive and $$$ vacation club for the ultra rich from the 1890's to 1940's. We were able to tour two homes on the island, as well as a church adorned with a Tiffany window, one of five that he installed himself. We finally landed at Driftwood beach, which did not disappoint. We had dinner at Tortuga Jack's on the ocean. With patio heaters and an extra layer, we were able to dine outside. Other than the overly loud cover band, and somewhat subpar happy hour margaritas, it was a nice choice to end the day. 

This is the original clubhouse- which is currently a hotel. And apparently, croquet on the lawn is still a thing. This pleased me a great deal.

Our second day was spent in Charleston, and it was very cold.  We started at the college to enjoy a rather nice natural history museum.  At one point, it was pouring down rain, and we were trapped in the city market. Most of us enjoyed it well enough, Kevin and Gwen less so. But eventually the rain let up and we dodged for the car and relocated closer to Rainbow Row. We walked the Row, stuck our heads out near the windy shores of Cooper River just long enough to see it, and then spent the rest of the afternoon at the Dungeon and Provost Museum. Regular admission was not cheap, but there were a lot of discounts, and the woman quizzed us heartily to get us all of the discounts- they didn't actually discount for brown hair and walking upright with opposable thumbs, but it felt like they would have. After that, we trekked quickly to a restaurant called Fleet Landing, that we were pretty sure we would need a reservation for, but didn't have. We thought we would hit happy hour and head to another recommended restaurant, but instead showed up at 4:30 and put our names in with a 30 minute wait. Kevin scurried back to the car to move it from the pay garage to the free Fleet Landing parking lot (which was only moderately flooded). I was happy to save a few bucks at the time, but when we left in the bitter wind and cold, I was mostly happy for the close vehicle. We were able to sit on the heated (and enclosed with zippered plastic) porch, which overlooked the water. It was a lovely evening under all that heat, and we got to see a rainbow and dolphins jumping in the river and a man riding a unicorn. Okay, we only saw two of those, but we assume the third was inevitable, so let's go ahead and say we saw it.

Last big destination: Savannah. We cruised in, and like a car full of good Catholics, hit the St. John Cathedral first. It was lovely and amazing. We then headed to Forsyth Park, scored some free parking and gave the kids playground time. Parking is interesting in Savannah- street meters were pricey, but all day city parking is very reasonable, and a good bit of street parking is free. We then took the free bus system down to the River, and hit the City Market for a carriage tour. We scored SUPER big on this one, as she scheduled us on the next available tour, which was a private, princess looking carriage complete with cozy warm blankets. We had the tour guide all to ourselves and got to hear about Savannah in style. Unfortunately, we ended up with only mediocre pictures of a great moment (thank you 50mm+ lenses we had with us and the chronic problem we have of leaving our group photos in the hands of someone that has never used a DSLR). We then walked up the street to the famous Leopold Ice Cream shop, which was delicious. The line was long, but moved fast, and it was worth it... especially if you were me and were starting to feel a touch shaky because food was needed. We caught the bus back to the park, headed to the Bonaventure Cemetery (former home of the bird girl statue made famous by the Midnight of the Garden of Good and Evil). This is where I got some of my most treasured pictures, which I feel a tad bad about. On the other hand, Alaina decided that maybe she would like to be buried in a famous cemetery where she could be visited by lots of people, so that made me feel less bad about using burial grounds for family photography. Our last stop- Bier House. Our carriage tour guide had recommended against it, but we are hard to dissuade from German food. The schnitzel was not the best ever but very acceptable, the sausage was excellent and the beer was as one would expect in a German restaurant. It was also very reasonably priced as German food goes, so I would not recommend against it.

Fountains were dyed green in anticipation of St. Patrick's Day

I did manage this fun window reflection photo

And to the cemetery...

For our last day, we needed to wrap up cleaning up the house, and only went about 30 minutes up the road to the state park beach on Hunting Island. This is where I got to put a big check mark on my bucket list- climbing a light house! I forgot that I was a smidge afraid of heights, but remembered on my way up. I persisted, and it was worth it. Gwen was too little to climb, so I stayed with her initially. When the others returned, Stephanie went back up with me. We also hung out on the very cold beach, which had a respectable driftwood area. We also went to the nature center, petted a baby alligator and saw lots of turtles and snakes. We headed back, wrapped up house duties, had a lunch of compiled leftovers and headed out. We got home just after 9pm, and Kevin and Stephanie launched back into their normal weeks, while the rest of us have the rest of the week off to readjust. It was a busy, heavy travel vacation, but we saw a lot and enjoyed a lot. The unanimous favorite, in case you are wondering... Jekyll Island!