On The Road Again - Day 10

Today we explored Savannah! We woke up and booked a tour on a trolley.  We were picked up at our hotel and traveled around the historic district.

This was a great way to see the city! ...but exploring on foot is always a bit more personal! We took Simon down to River street...

Then we continued on our tour.  After we completed the tour loop, we decided to hop off the trolley and explore some areas by foot. 

Forsyth park was a great spot where Logan (and Simon) could run around and play in the playground.

We toured inside the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist.

Made a stop at one of the many town squares.  This one (Chippewa Square) might look familiar.  Just in front of that cement wall once stood a park bench.  This is where Forrest Gump told us about how life is like a box of chocolates! 

This steeple is across the street....the feather in the opening credits was dropped from here!

We detoured through the Colonial Park cemetery (said to be haunted!)   

Before returning to our hotel to get ready for dinner.  Simon and I decided to go back to a stop we learned about on our trolley tour for a ghost tour in the evening.   So we grabbed a (huge) pizza from Vinny Van Gogos in the city market for a quick bite. 

We made our way to one of the most haunted buildings in Savannah...the Sorrel-Weed house (known as the pumpkin house).  It has a wicked past and has been featured on a number of ghost hunter shows.  We got EMF detectors, and did some hunting of our own! It was lots of fun! 

...we finished the night with another cone from Leopold's...delish! 

On The Road Again - Day 9

We were back on the road again today, as we made our way to Savannah, GA. As we headed out of Charleston, we did a drive by a pretty street called "Rainbow Row."

(I have to add a picture here!) 

Our first stop on our drive was the Angel Oak.  

This oak tree is said to be the oldest living thing east of the Mississippi.  There's evidence that it is 600-700 years old, with the possibility that it could be even 1000 years old! 

We continued on our drive, through swamp land...

...and took a scenic drive through a wildlife refuge.  We bumped into a few alligators!! 

Continuing on, we made our way into Savannah!

After settling into our hotel, we went for a walk along river street which had cute shops! Our favourite was this candy shop. 

We had a little snack at Leopold's ice cream, which was delishious! It's a family owned old fashioned soda fountain, with homemade ice cream.  One of the brothers who owns the store happens to be a Hollywood big wig and the store acts as a mini museum.  

Tomorrow we will tour and explore Savannah! 

On The Road Again - Day 8

Today was a full day! We saw that there was rain in the forecast, so we decided to head straight over to Palmetto Tour company first thing this morning.  We hopped on a mule powered carriage for a tour of the historic district. 

After seeing the town, we took a short drive over the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge. 

We did a quick drive to tour an old plantation home.  Boon Plantation left me with mixed emotions. The drive up

To the big house is gorgeous! It's lined with 300 year old oak trees, covered in Spanish moss.

This "Alley of the Oaks" was used as inspiration in gone with the wind, and might look familiar if you're a fan of The Notebook movie (Noah drives up this roadway - the house was the Hamilton family beach house). 

You can't drive up without noticing the slave shacks along the way.

We toured inside the shacks and learned a bit about slave life, and life on this plantation. 

After touring the big plantation house, we hopped on a cart for a tour of the grounds.  It's still in operation today, but not in the same capacity as the past.  Here's a small crop of cotton. 

After touring and stretching our legs, we made our way back into the historic district.

After a bit of a rest, and some dinner, we headed out to explore some of the spooky sights in Charleston.  We joined a  tour of the old jail.  

The jail is built on top of a potters field and has a cruel and scary history.  This building is said to be haunted, and has been featured on many popular ghost hunter TV shows. 

It was quite spooky in the dark!

After our tour we took a walk to the waterfront park to sit and enjoy the sea breeze (and an ice cream cone).  Tomorrow we head to Savannah, GA. 

On The Road Again - Day 7

Today was a looooong driving day! We left our hotel knowing that we didn't have much to do between Virginia Beach and Charleston. We crossed the boarder into North Carolina...

...and found a botanical gardens.  These gardens were home to

A children's "Secret Garden".  It was pretty fun with a shrub maze, instruments, a slide built into the hill and a little waterfall.  

After having a picnic lunch, we headed back on the road.  Immediately over the boarder in South Carolina, we found the biggest tourist trap ever! 

This kitchy stop is called "South of the Border" and is Mexican themed.  There was a reptile zoo, small amusement park, shops, restaurants and tons of statues! 

We ate our dinner here, and then continued making our way to Charleston, SC.  

We are looking firward to touring the Old South starting tomorrow! 

On The Road Again - Day 6

Virginia Beach is awesome! We would definitely like to come back here.  The beach is really nice and the boardwalk is really fun.  It reminded me a lot of Surfer's Paradise in Australia! There were even surfers in the ocean.  

We had dinner on the boardwalk and then decided to go for a little drive to the Chesapeake Bay bridge.  The bridge is considered one of the 7 structural engineering wonders of the world and is 17.6 miles long.  It was super cool to dive out and feel like we were in the middle of the ocean! We missed the sunset, but it was still worth it! 

Tomorrow is a long driving day as we head to Charleston,SC.