Day Three ~ Aquarium and a Concert

We woke up in Atlanta and had to hurry to get to our ticket entry time at the Georgia Aquarium. This was our third time at this aquarium, but it had been many years since the last time. We were disappointed at how crowded it was. In fact, they are supposedly controlling the size of the crowd, but it was more crowded than we had ever seen it. There was no social distancing or mask wearing in most  of the crowd, and kids were pushing all around us. We did see all of the exhibits but decided to skip the shows. We spent much less time in the aquarium than we expected to, and it was by far the most uncomfortable place that we visited on this vacation. It was so bad from a COVID standpoint that I actually left a bad Google review, which I have never done before. I discovered that they had over a 1,000 negative reviews in the last few months for the same reason. I wish I had checked the reviews before going. Shame on them for suggesting that they are taking COVID precautions. 

The jellyfish were so beautiful and peaceful. We went through the exhibit twice. After the aquarium, we walked about a half mile away from the museum complex to make sure we escaped the crowds and then found lunch at Mellow Mushroom Pizza. Our plan worked as we had the entire restaurant to ourselves. We walked around a bit more before heading headed back to the hotel to get ready for the main event. 

We had purchased three tickets for the Hella Mega tour just over two years ago. Elijah didn't want to go two years ago, and I was relieved that he didn't regret his decision after all of this time. Tim has been a huge fan of Green Day since he was a young teen. He started trying to convert his siblings when they were barely out of preschool. He succeeded in converting Rebekah, who now knows more songs by heart than he does. So, they started dreaming about seeing a Green Day concert someday. Two years ago, the Hella Mega tour was announced, with not one but four bands touring (The Interrupters, Fall Out Boy, Weezer and Green Day), and they were coming within driving range. We snapped up three tickets. Then COVID struck and it was postponed. But finally the night arrived and we were able to finally see them. Some may think we were crazy to go during COVID times, especially with Tim's medical fragile status, but I disagree. It has been a tremendous balance to keep Timothy healthy and alive (especially in his early years) AND living a complete life filled with adventure. Sometimes you have to take a risk. So we took our fully vaccinated selves to that outdoor concert and Tim got to live his best life. A dream fulfilled. Hope those vaccines stick!

It was a six hour concert and worth every penny that we paid for it. I am so glad we were able to go. When we got back to the hotel, Elijah and Dad had watched television shows, and Elijah had painted his figurines. 

The next morning I gave Elijah the opportunity to do one more activity if he wished, but he declined. Between the outdoor choices being too hot, indoor choices too concerning after our aquarium experience and knowing that he had three days of full-time shifts starting the next morning at Target, he opted to just go home. 

It was a great vacation.

Blessings, Dawn 

Day 2 ~ Savannah, Georgia

We spent the day in Savannah, Georgia for our second day of vacation. We woke up to rain and felt very blessed that our beach day  had been on day one.  We tried to kill a bit of time and let the storms pass by visiting the local mall. Elijah got his souvenir at the mall (a new pair of pants).

When I think of Savannah, I think of southern live oak trees dripping with Spanish moss from their branches. The historic district did not disappoint. We stopped at the visitor's center and got a map of the historic district and advice for where to have lunch. Then we headed off on our two mile or so walk. We walked under dozens of live oak trees and past lovely old homes. Savannah was the first planned city in the United States and its historic district was set up in a grid pattern around beautiful park like squares. We walked through a half a dozen of the squares. 

Forsyth Fountain is a famous landmark in Savannah.

This British phone booth was outside an English Pub.

The squares were all so beautiful.

Once we made it to the waterfront, we decided to have lunch at Tubby's Seafood Restaurant. Elijah was so impressed with the food and said it might be the best he had ever had! It was especially good. I had a fried green tomato chef salad. Elijah had a Philly Cheese Steak. Honestly, I don't remember what everyone else had because I didn't take photos of theirs. 

 Fried dill pickles 

These fried dill pickles were so good that I barely got a photo of them before they were all gone. The plate was heaping when it came out for us to share. I could have eaten the entire plate all by myself. 

Once again, the heat proved to be too much for us, and we started the walk back to the visitor's center after lunch. I would  have been happy to wander the riverfront and look inside some of the little stores, but I have learned to go much more with the flow over the years rather than with my planned itinerary. It is much more peaceful that way, and when it is peaceful, I am the happiest. So we didn't do lots of things that I had researched to do in Savannah. But it was really just a side trip. The real reason we were in Georgia was coming on day three of our vacation. 

We did hope to get ice cream at Leopold's. It is ranked as one of the best ice cream parlors in the country. However, the line was wrapped around the building and it felt like 98 degrees in the shade. We were not standing in that line. When we got back to the visitor's center we decided to sit in the air conditioning before starting the trek to Atlanta (a four hour drive). While everyone was resting, I went into the gift shop and guess what I found.

Yes, little cups of Leopold's ice cream in nine different flavors. I bought three and we got to taste test their ice cream after all. It was very good ice cream....but one of the top 10 in the nation? I am not sure about that. 

We were refreshed between the air conditioning and the ice cream, so we started our four hour journey to Atlanta. The trip took a bit longer because of storms. We stopped at Cracker Barrel for a breakfast dinner. That's my favorite kind of dinner, if I am being honest (just like my paternal grandfather). We finally arrived at out hotel and settled in for an evening of watching the Olympics. 

Blessings, Dawn

Vacation Day 1 ~ Tybee Island, Georgia

My sweet girl

We traveled to the outskirts of Tybee Island the night before so that we could wake up in the right area and be able to hit the beach early in the morning. The weather was perfect and the water temperature was great. The kids and husband played in the waves for several hours. I don't really like the sand, sun and creatures of the ocean very much, but was content to sit in my beach chair and enjoy the sound of the waves while watching my kids frolic. They got pretty good at body surfing.

I had a little friend for awhile.

For lunch, we went to an outdoor seating place that was well known for their fish meals. My lunch is pictured above and it was delicious. After lunch, we walked around the island a bit and up on to the pier boardwalk. We wrapped up our beach time with snow cones. Yum!

My crew are so tall

My family thinks they love the beach but never wants to stay more than a few hours. The sand and sun always gets to them pretty quickly. We always try to have other adventures when we visit the beach, since the actual ocean is a short-lived experience. 

We decided to visit Fort Pulaski National monument. Fort Pulaski was a brick fort used by the Confederacy during the Civil War. However, the Union army was able to use the newly invented rifled cannons (circa 1828) on the fort and quickly proved brick forts to be obsolete. The Union Army took over the fort in 1862, and it became a prisoner of war camp as well as extending protection to any run away slaves that could get to it.

There were lots of underground passages all around the fort, as well as a moat. We really found all of the tunnels to be fascinating. 

Enlisted men barracks

Mess hall

Commander's room

Vents in the ceiling to allow smoke to escape
from the cannons during combat

Damage done by the new rifled cannons

View of moat and damaged walls of the fort

I didn't get a photograph of the marvelous and huge fig tree. The figs were ripe and we were allowed to pick one fig each. They were delicious. It was a super hot day, and we got sunburned even with multiple applications of sunscreen. However, we had an excellent first day of vacation.

Blessings, Dawn

Congaree National Park

We went on a little day trip adventure to Congaree National Park over the weekend. It was very hot and muggy, but the shade of the very tall canopy made it tolerable. Congaree is protected because it holds the largest forest of  old growth bottomland hardwood trees in the country. We decided to do the 2.4 mile boardwalk trail. This national park is filled with poisonous bugs and snakes, not to mention the alligators, so staying on a somewhat elevated trail seemed wise.

Water Moccasins sunning on logs.

This park is actually not a swamp, but an old growth forest floodplain that floods about ten times a year. Most of it was dry while we were there.  We saw snakes, frogs,  a few birds and hundreds of spiders and bugs. We didn't see any of the larger mammals or reptiles since we were probably to loud for them to stick around.

Overall, it was a nice hike in a completely different environment than we usually visit. I will say that Grandma wasn't the hugest fan of the park and was pretty sure she was going to die from the heat or snakes ~ LOL. Dear husband stayed with her and they hiked at a slower pace and even found a short cut back to the car. 

We went into the city of Columbia, SC for lunch. We found a cool noodle shop and had a delightful lunch. We then visited the South Carolina State Museum which was pretty good. It is laid out in a way that didn't have the greatest flow and we felt like we missed some things, but it was large and had a little bit of something for everyone. They call themselves four museums in one. They have a natural science floor, cultural history floor, technology floor and a small art museum. I liked the face jugs and one room school house the best. Somehow, I missed getting pictures of either of those things. 

Of course, the skeleton and dinosaur room was a huge hit. Elijah spent a bit of time reading up in the science section. 

 We really did have a lovely day and enjoyed exploring a new place. More adventures await right around the corner. 

Blessings, Dawn