Out of Our Rut: Savannah Wandering

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Leaving the campground at Poinsett State Park was only slightly less nerve racking than the drive in. In tight conditions like this campground, I often wonder if I was driving a 42 or 45 footer instead of a 38 footer, would I have made that last turn or clipped that tree overhanging the road? I can’t be sure a bigger rig would have fit, but I was glad to be in our size motorhome. The good news was nobody was coming the other direction on our drive out plus we didn’t hitch up the Jeep until we got just outside the park. The most direct route to I-95 was along South Carolina 261 but we had driven it the other day and knew the railroad crossing in the town of Pinewood wasn’t going to work. It was raised above the road with a very short run up. There are warning signs as you approach about long vehicles bottoming out but it was reassuring to discover that our Garmin RV760 GPSr also knew that was a bad situation and found an alternative route when we put in our next destination.

The drive down I-95 was pretty easy, although along a lengthy stretch of the expressway, the hurricane damage was fairly obvious. The median looked more like a timber harvest and a clear cut one at that. There were lots of piles of timber just waiting to be picked up by logging trucks. Other areas had heavy equipment chipping smaller trees and limbs and big excavators with massive grinders dealing with the stumps. Our destination in Savannah is Skidaway Island State Park. We had reserved a 50 amp, full hookup site for 8 nights. The place is pretty nice with a large sitting area that had such nicely raked gravel, with patterns you might see in some Zen garden. Obviously the staff on hand has time to take care of things. After getting situated, we did a walk out on one of the nearby nature trails in the park.

Boardwalk on Nature Trail

Dry Area at Low Tide

Marshy

The following day was a rainy one, but at least I managed to get the Jeep in for an oil change and tire rotation. We have definitely gotten away from the cold weather. In fact, we have now hit nearly 90 degrees and high humidity - time for the air conditioning again. With the rain gone the next day, we headed nearby to Moon River Trail. There are a series of geocaches which was our clue the trail even existed. There were a few cars parked at the trailhead and based on the bike racks, I think there are a handful of cyclists on the trail this morning. It was a pretty walk with a pond on the inland side of the trail and on the opposite side the Wilmington River as it dumps into the Atlantic Ocean. We didn’t have too much difficulty with the geocaches except for one that was a tree climb on a tree hanging out over the water. Well it would have been over the water if the tide wasn’t out so it was really over some nasty looking mud. Let’s just say, I’m glad I didn’t slip off the tree and fall the 8 feet to the mud!

Green Pond

Interesting Mushroom

Muck During Low Tide

After lunch we drove into Savannah proper. We wanted to visit Bonaventure Cemetery. We had stopped in Savannah two years ago on our way to Florida and attempted to visit this place. Of course, that time was just a few weeks after Hurricane Matthew had come through and had really devastated the area. We were able to peak through the fence then and recognized it was going to require a great deal of effort to clean of the place. When we arrived this time, there were lots of cars in the parking lot. As we started to walk around the cemetery, we were astounded at how we couldn’t see any real indication of the damage we had seen two years earlier. We expected most of the massive oak trees to be gone but that was far from the case. We could tell where huge limbs had been trimmed from the trees but for the most part the past damage was invisible.

Gracie

Columned Monument

Ornate Monument

Tall Monument

Moss Covered Oak and Monument

Fenced in Plots

Detailed Monument

It’s a very big cemetery. We spent the most of our time in the older section with all the ornate statues and arches. Since our last attempt to visit, Chris has read the book “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story”. A now somewhat famous book which features Bonaventure Cemetery. For the most part the cemetery plots are well maintained. Many in the older section are larger rectangular plots with a fence around the perimeter and are the resting place for many deceased family members. There are a few plots that have small signs marked “Do not service”. It’s not clear to us what these “residents” had done to earn the signs but we could tell that the work crew does follow the instructions. We spent a couple hours wandering around more or less aimlessly. Maybe we should have checked into the tours that are given to get a better understanding of the history. Maybe next time?

Majestic Oak Still Standing

Watched Over by an Angel

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Morgan's Angel

Do Not Service

Arch Dwarfed by Oak

The next day was to become rainy by afternoon. We headed into downtown Savannah early to walk around some of the 20’ish squares situated throughout the historic district. The squares are are situated every few blocks in a grid pattern. Some are large with elaborate fountains. While others have statues of famous people. Still others are just a small park like area with the classic huge mossy covered oak trees and a few benches. We stopped for a nice lunch along the river only to be greeted with light rain when we were finished. Before the rain really started, we did get to see an incredibly big container ship pass by on the river heading to the ocean. There was a tug boat tethered to the back of the ship which seemed a bit odd. It wasn’t like the tug boat could possibly do anything to slow down the ship if something went amiss. I subsequently found out that a river pilot will navigate the ships through the narrow Savannah River between the port and the ocean. The tug is simply the pilot’s return ride.

Monterey Square Monument

Forsyth Square Fountain

Magic Bird

Confederate Monument

Art Over Savannah River

The Waving Girl

BIG SHIP

The rain continued well into the next day so we headed to the library. And basically took it easy for a day. The following day was Tuesday. Chris wanted to go see the Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens. When we arrive mid morning, there are cars parked everywhere and there is even a traffic cop. Chris hadn’t seen the sign that this was a polling station for the election and was astounded how many people were here to see the gardens on a Tuesday morning. I told her the line of nearly 100 people were here to vote, not attend the gardens. As we headed toward the building and the line, a woman coming out told us to expect to wait about 2 hours to vote! We asked the person directing traffic how to get into the gardens and he pointed us to the proper door. We still did need to squeeze our way past people lined up to get to the gate to the. The gardens were not very busy, maybe a dozen other people wandering around taking in the beautiful setting. The nice addition to the gardens was the fact that several geocaches are hidden within the grounds.

Interesting Flowers in Garden

Waterfall

Water Lily

We checked out about half of the place during the morning. The orchid room was pretty astounding or more specifically the wide variety of orchids. We spent a great deal of time in the hot, moist room while trying to take in all the flowers. The posted pictures are a small sampling of what was there. We had brought lunch and had plans for the afternoon at a different spot, but we still hadn’t seen everything here. So we worked our way through the still long line of voters and out to the car for lunch under a nearby shelter. Then back through the crowd to explore the rest of the gardens. In its past life, this garden had been a test bed for different types of bamboo. There is still a big area of the grounds dedicated to all sorts of bamboo. Each 15 by 15 foot patch is a different type. I’ll admit, I didn’t realize so many types of bamboo existed. There is another section dedicated to the camellia. There were a fair number of beautiful blooms here as well. Although this section is next to a very busy road so it’s not the most peaceful spot. The last section to check out was the bamboo maze. We only walked through a small section of the maze but did climb the tower to check out the maze from above. We ended up spending pretty much a full day exploring the place and fully enjoyed it.

Bamboo Patch

Beautiful Blue Flower

Butterfly Lands

Detailed Orchid

Colorful Orchid

Interesting Shape

Deep Pink

Odd Color Orchid

Orchid Room

Slender Orchid

Camellia

Bright Colors

Tower at Bamboo Maze

Inside Bamboo Maze

Parting Shot of Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens

The following day, we headed to J F Gregory City Park not far from the gardens. It was supposed to be our other stop the day before. The park has about a 3 mile walking trail around the perimeter of what used to be rice paddy test plots. We were expecting a typical dirt walking path but instead found a 10 foot wide, concrete path for the majority of the walk. I’m guessing they were part of its former use since it was definitely overkill for a walking path.

Crab at Low Tide

Crab Races

Crab Fight

Our last full day in Savannah happened to be Chris’ birthday. We headed back to downtown to see a couple more sites. The Owens-Thomas House was built in the early 1800’s and is a nice example of a fancy southern home. It’s $20 per person admission seems a bit high but does include admission to two other nearby museums for a 7 day period. Part of the admission price, includes a guided tour of the house. They have tours every 20 minutes so we didn’t need to wait too long for ours. The building on the backside of the house was the slaves quarters. It is here that the guide gives us the history of the house and how it has changed hands over the years. Our tour guide was rather animated and since there were only 4 of us for his tour, he seemed to have even more interaction with us. The main house is pretty fancy especially for the time it was built. Basically the original owner was just trying to show off how much money he had. The architect hired to design the house had never designed one before, so he pulled out all the stops. There is even a bridge on the upper floor.

Outdoor Garden at Owens-Thomas House

Small Fountain

Dining Room with Neat Window

Bridge

Outside of Owens-Thomas House

From here, we wandered around a few of the other squares and did a few geocaches before heading to the Jepson Center. This is a newer building that has quite a collection of modern art. They have a room full of paintings by French impressionists like Monet and Matisse. If that doesn’t do it for you, there are several other rooms with what seems like simply oddball “works of art”. Probably the most interesting room was the one with technology based art. There were some pretty creative uses of tablets and screens and even a video game projected on the floor where a pair of people need to destroy space invader-like things by moving within a 8 by 8 foot square. It was fun even if it did take us a couple minutes to figure out the rules. We decided to head back to camp but stopped at a nice outdoor bar/restaurant right on the water. The setting was great and the food was good although I wasn’t expecting my fish to be served with its eyes watching me.