2012 Travel and year in review

Here is my annual travel/year in review.

In 2012 I traveled to Boston (3 weeks), Kentucky Derby (18^th year in a row), Smokey Mountains, Savannah, Myrtle Beach, D.C., NYC, Higgins Lake, Midland (for you Nicole, I missed this last year) and countless times to Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, U.P., and most of all this year my home away from home was lovely Green Bay! I missed not going out west and to Key West. I have plans to do both in 2013 plus my first trip to New Orleans.

The best times of 2012 were with my fantastic family and friends. I’m lucky enough to have Diane and Jasmine in my life. I had my first photography Gallery show, which was amazing, THANKS everyone that came out and supported me, it was one of the best nights of my life and I hope to see you all at my 2^nd show June 8^th, 2013

All of this is only possible because I was sober for another Calendar year (As long as I make it the next 14 hours!)

So here is to 2013, let’s see what it brings! 

Right to Work Protest

I haven’t really been anywhere I don’t go all the time lately so I haven’t had a blog entry in a while. I worked in Green Bay and Milwaukee in the last couple weeks, so of course I stopped in Chicago and captured a few shots.

Tuesday I decided to head downtown Lansing to the Capitol to capture some of the Right To Work Bill protest. I arrived around 8am and stayed until 10am. When I arrived people were just getting to the Capitol. There were probably a couple hundred people at the time.

I started walking around to see what I could find. This was one of the first people I saw. She was standing silent, alone on the Capital steps, and it really stuck out to me.

About 20 minutes later the crowd started to get bigger by the minute. I would say by 8:30 there were a couple thousand people outside and from what I heard there were a few thousand inside as well.

Most of the people I saw seemed to be UAW members, but I know there were a lot of teachers there as well.  As the crowd got bigger they started yelling, “Who’s house – our house” over and over amongst other chants. There was a guy in the middle of the Capitol steps with a red megaphone with a lot of UAW members surrounding him.

I then noticed a few people that were for the bill (I will call them Pro-Bill) at the bottom of the steps. I saw them walk up to the UAW members and start yelling, then the Union members started yelling back calling them scabs and a lot worse. This exchange went on for about ten minutes until the Pro-Bill people finally walked away. I saw this same scene play out several times in the time I was there. You could tell it was going to get a lot more heated as the day continued, and from all reports it sure did.

I then decided to walk around and capture some faces in the crowd.

After about two hours I had enough. I decided I would head home and edit some photos. I then uploaded them to CNN.com and did a couple IReports (One currently has over 17,000 views and the other has 4,000+) which started some heated discussions online.  As soon as I uploaded them, one of the producers called me to vet the story; then, about a half hour later, another producer called me from CNN’s sister company, HLN. She asked if I would like to be on the show “Making It in America”. I said sure. She said it would be a phone interview with the host, Susan. They called me about 3:55 and I was on the air at 4. The whole story lasted about two minutes and I was probably on the air for 30-45 seconds. I prefer to be behind the camera or in this case behind the scene, but it was an experience, and I was glad I did it.

It ended up being a lot busier day than what I expected when I woke up!

NYC Day 1 - Diane's Birthday

For the past couple months I have been wondering what I was going to do for Diane’s 50^th birthday. I had mentioned going to New York to her a few months back and she liked the idea but then we backed off after our trip through the south at the end of July. Then about 3 weeks before her birthday she texted me and said," How about going to NYC for my birthday?" I said, “That’s a great idea, let me look into flights”. I had already been looking at them about once a week just in case. I found some reasonable flights and booked them. I also had priority points built up from working in Green Bay, so I used those for 2 free nights at the Holiday Inn Wall St.

We flew out from Detroit, Saturday at 6 a.m. and arrived at LaGuardia about 7:30 a.m.. When we got to the airport exit we bought MTA (Subway and Bus) tickets. We bought the 7 day unlimited pass for $29. Even though we would only be there for 2.5 days, it would still work out if we used them a lot (and we did). We hopped on the M60 bus and transferred to the downtown N train. I had my camera bag, Diane had a big bag, plus we had one carry-on. We probably could have gotten away without the carry-on, but we decided to just go ahead and take it this time. We got off one stop too early (Canal St.) but should have gotten off at Wall St. When I looked at the map it seemed like our hotel was closer to the Canal stop, but I was wrong (it happens ever once in a while haha). So we had a little bit of a walk. It wouldn't have been that bad if we didn't have the carry-on, but we made it.

We couldn't check in until 3 p.m., so we dropped off the bags and decided to head to the Staten Island Ferry. I had been on it a couple years ago, so I knew it gives you a great view of the city and Statue of Liberty for free. Neither one of us cared about going to the Statue, plus I don’t think you can go inside right now, I've heard it’s closed for repair.

It’s a half hour ride each way. We got lucky and caught the ferry back to Manhattan as soon as we arrived in Staten Island (the last time I was there we had to wait a half hour for the next one).

Once back in Manhattan we decided we were both hungry so we took the 1 train to Times Square and get a couple slices of pizza at Ray’s and relaxed for a bit.

After lunch we walked around Times Square, took some photos, and did some people watching. By this time we were able to check into our hotel, so we headed back downtown and got checked in.

We originally planned on going to Maze (Gordon Ramsey) restaurant. I had made 5:15 reservations, but once we both took our shoes off and hit the bed it was very apparent neither one of us wanted to jump in the shower, get ready to just head straight back uptown. We decided to rest for a little while and then go to Central Park for sunset.

We took the train to 86th Street. As we walked the couple blocks to the park, we crossed Park Ave when two cars almost hit each other at the corner. One guy got out of the car and started yelling at the other car (Cab) and then started to kick the door. It was pretty entertaining.

We entered the park at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, and strolled the south end of the water. That took us across the park, and then we continued through most of the park heading towards 59^th street, stopping at various points to take in the sights.

Then we walked the 10 blocks to Times Square, got a quick bite and got Diane a piece of Strawberry Cheesecake for her birthday, before spending some more time in Times Square people watching. There really is nothing like seeing it at night, especially on a Saturday night.

After that long day that started at 2:30 a.m. driving to Detroit to catch the flight, we decided to call it a night. We got a Town Car to drive us downtown back to our hotel and got those shoes off again! 

Autumn in Michigan 10.1.12

Here we go again, I’m back in Green Bay (GB) this week. As it looks (as of now) this is the only week I will be here this month, so I can handle that.

I have been fighting off a cold the last couple weeks and wasn’t feeling that great Monday, but I knew if I wanted to capture some of the Autumn colors I better head through the UP on my way to GB. I’m glad I did. The trees are just about at full peak. I would say in about a week they will be at full peak.

I started the day early. I woke up about 6:45 jumped in the shower and was out the door about 7:15. As I headed up 127 the sun started to rise. I drive by these trees all the time around St Johns that lean towards the north. As I approached them the sun just started to peak up over the horizon. I pulled over and decided to capture a panoramic shot. The clouds were nice and the sun rising behind the trees created a nice silhouette for the trees.

I then continued north, wondering if the clouds would cooperate with me in the UP. As I got closer to the Bridge I saw a line of clouds forming. When I came around the curve that opens up to the Bridge I saw they were running right along the Bridge skyline. I stopped on the Mackinaw City side and captured this Panoramic.

After that I started my trek west on Highway 2. The sun was high in the sky, so I couldn’t really get any shots to the south (Lake Michigan) because the sky would have just been washed out. So I decided to hit a few back roads and see what I could capture.

After that I decided I wanted to start making some better time. I wasn’t feeling great, so I powered through the next 4 hours and made it to GB about 5:30, got checked into my room and relaxed.  

MSU vs. ND & Tigers vs. Sox

It’s been nice to be back in Michigan for the past few weeks. That’s coming to an end again. I will be in Green Bay this upcoming week and Milwaukee the following two weeks. It won’t be too bad though. The first week in Milwaukee is only going to be a couple days; the following week will be a full week.

I had a great weekend. Diane and I had our friends Andy and Nicole down from Midland. They had not been to our new place yet and I got sideline press passes to take photos of the MSU vs. Notre Dame game.

They arrived in town a little after 5 and we went to Jersey Giant for dinner before the game. We stopped by my parents' house and my Mom drove us on campus and dropped us off. We went to our friends' Woody and Mandi’s tailgate. Andy and Nicole stayed there for the first half and Diane and I went into the game.

We had a great time on the sidelines and I got some nice panoramic shots of the stadium. State wasn’t playing very well, and the game was kind of uneventful. Nicole joined me for the 3rd quarter and Andy for the fourth.

Even though the Spartans didn’t win and really looked pretty bad all around, it is always a good time on the sidelines, and being able to capture the game is always great.

After the game we came back to our place, ordered some pizza and just took it easy.

Today I was just sitting around after dinner and a friend of mine texted me (who I was going to meet for lunch tomorrow in Chicago) and invited me to the Tiger vs. Sox game in Chicago. It’s a makeup game for a rain out a few days ago. I’m always up for a game and haven’t seen the Sox in Cellular Field in a long time. I have been to Wrigley a few times the last couple years, but I don’t spend much time on the Southside.

It’s a good start to the week, it works out perfectly that I will be driving though Chicago right when the game will start and it’s only a 3.5 hour drive from there to Green Bay, so I will still get into town at a decent hour, to start work the following day.

Birthday and Ballgame last week

On last Friday I turned 38. In general I don’t really care too much about celebrating my birthday but I like to celebrate other people's. This isn’t because I’m worried about getting older, at least not much more than most. I’m fine with turning 38 and if I say that enough times maybe you will believe me and maybe most importantly I will talk myself into believing that! Now talk to me in two years when I turn 40 and maybe it will be a different story.

One memory I have when I was younger was of my Mom and Dad turning 40. I was 13 at the time and I remember going to Spenser gifts in the Lansing Mall with my Mom and buying my Dad a bunch of over the hill gifts. A coffee mug, balloons, and cards. At that time I thought 40 was really old. Of course in the last several years I have had many friends turn 40 (Bought some of them the same gifts) and now I’m on that doorstep myself.

I had a great day on Friday. I started by waking up in my own bed. I had just gotten back from another week in Green Bay about 1am. I ran over to my parents (a nice 5 minute drive now that I live back in East Lansing.) I saw them and my Grandma for an hour or so. I then spent a lot of the day running around getting caught up on some errands.   

When Diane got out of work she stopped and got us a pizza, cake and ice cream. Diane, Jasmine and I ate, watched movies and took it easy. It was the perfect way to spend my birthday. I heard from people on Facebook I haven’t talked to in along time and called it a night.

Saturday the only thing I had on my schedule was a family photo shoot in Okemos that took about an hour to shoot and a couple hours to edit.

Sunday we were off to the Tiger game. Diane and I picked up our friends Beth and Inna then we were off to meet other friends, Andy, Nicole, Shana, Larry and Ashley at Lafayette Coney a few blocks away from Comerica Park.

We all got some Coneys, then it was time for the game. We got bleacher tickets but for the most part just stood in right field or walked around the Park.

The weather was perfect and the Tigers won, but really the best part about the game was just being with great friends and enjoying a day at the Park.

Back to Green Bay

So a few weeks ago I thought (or had hopes) I was done with Green Bay, but nope here I am again. I have decided I need to have a better attitude about this town. The reason I haven’t enjoyed myself here is simply because I have spent way too much time here. A couple years ago when I switched to this new position with my company I trained here in G.B. and then worked the location for 5 weeks, having about a year break before finding myself covering the location again for several weeks, and that brings me to now. I have been here 5 weeks in the last couple months.

I can usually find something to shoot no matter where I end up, but I have struggled here in G.B. I have talked about this before on my FaceBook Post’s, but I just can’t find anything appealing that I want to capture around here. There is Lambeau Field but when you have been to places like Wrigley (Chicago), ATT Park (San Fran), Madison Square Garden (NYC), or the Boston Garden, it just doesn't compare. It's just a stadium in the middle of a parking lot. At least from the outside, I’m sure when you are there on a game day and see thousands of cheese heads going crazy, it’s a different story.

The drive through Chicago at least breaks up the 7 hour trip. I love the feel of Chicago (My favorite big city), I always have. Right after High School several of my friends moved there, so I spent a lot of my free time doing things like seeing Junior Wells play at a small blues bar on W Armitage called Rosa’s Lounge, listening to Koko Taylor on N Halsted at Kingston Mines and then heading across the street to La Bamba for a burrito as big as your head. Or back in my drinking days head over to O’Malley’s for a little taste of home with some Green and White décor, or head to The Billy Goat for a double-double no fries, no Pepsi, or on this trip stop at Mr. Beef at 666 N Orleans for an Italian Beef combo and some fries. I have been trying to eat healthy as of late but when you know all you have to do is get off at Ohio St and you can have the below photo in your belly, the car just kind of drove itself there!

It was an overcast day so I decided I wasn't going to shot anything in Chicago. I would continue north and stop in Milwaukee. A couple hours later when I arrived it was still overcast, I thought I would drive around to scout out some locations, possibly for another day. I came across a bridge with 2 lighthouses, (image below) you will notice how the sky is gray and there is no depth to the photo, this is a throw away shot, and I knew it when I took it. I was just getting an idea of the area, so next time I'm in Milwaukee and the weather is more appealing, I can get a better image.

On days like this I try to frame out the sky as much as possible. In the first image below I used a longer lens to fill the frame with the bridge and sign, trying to only capture a little bit of the sky in the top right corner. The second and third shots I couldn't help but get a little more of the sky in the frame, but it's not part of the main focal point.

I then ventured over to Marquette University on the other side of town. By then it started to rain, but once again I thought I would scout the area for another day. I capture these few shots.

After Marquette I finished up the couple hour drive to G.B., checked into my room and watched TV for a few hours before calling it a night.

A different kind of road

When naming this Blog series, I thought about how it feels like I'm always on the road. Diane and I were talking about the original name, Travel with John McGraw, but as we were driving through the beautiful state of North Carolina on part of our 8-day adventure, we came up with “The Road to Somewhere”.

This week we moved to East Lansing. I had been living on the south side of Lansing and Diane and her daughter Jasmine were in Eaton Rapids. I grew up in East Lansing and it’s good to be back. That being said it’s not like I was really gone, I have been living in Lansing, so one place was 2 minutes from EL and the other was 20 minutes. The last place like I said was on the south side of town, and most of the things I do are in EL or the east part of Lansing, so I will save a lot of money on gas now that I’m right in this area. Plus my parents still live in EL and my brother and his family moved here about a year ago.

I decided to pay movers this time. Between Diane and my place I didn’t think it would take them that long, but figured it would be worth saving our backs, to spend our energy on getting the place the way we want it. It took them 4 hours, it would have taken us all day if not two, plus plenty of trips back and forth, with the price of renting a truck and gas, it just didn't seem worth it.

As I type this we have about ¾ of the place the way we want it. There are still boxes in the dinning room, with plenty of little things to put away. We have been shopping a couple times to get things you always need when you move but it’s starting to feel like home. It was one of the easiest moves I have ever been a part of, and well worth a few hundred bucks, to be able to enjoy the experience.

I have not been on the road the last couple weeks, and it was a well-needed break. That’s about to end. I have to go back to Green Bay. I was just there for 4 out of 5 weeks before vacation, and was hoping I saw it in my rearview mirror for the last time.  That’s not the case; it looks like I will be there the next two weeks, coming back on weekends. As some of you know I have grown to hate Green Bay. I normally can find things to do in almost every town I go to, but this city really doesn’t have anything for me.

I haven’t checked yet, but I’m going to look at the schedules for the Cubs and Brewers to see if maybe one of them are in town as I drive back and forth, possibly catch a game and take some photos. This will help break up the boredom of the same old road. So let’s see where this road takes me…

Washington D.C. and Home

Washington D.C. and Home

We only had an hour and a half ride from just north of Richmond to D.C., one of our shortest drives of the trip. We drove into the mall and found a parking spot right in the middle, near the Smithsonian’s that Diane wanted to visit.

I original wasn’t going to shoot many photos in D.C. but the clouds were perfect and Diane didn’t mind. She enjoys taking her time in the Museums and I kind of cruise through them, so it worked out nicely.

I started by heading straight down the mall towards the Washington monument, the mall can be very deceiving, it can look like the Monuments are not that far away, until you start walking towards them, especially in 93 degree weather. I set up for this panoramic shot first.

I then continued to the monument. I have shot here many times, and knew I wanted to capture a panoramic from close up of the flags and monument. I forgot that the monument was closed but you could still get pretty close. I had to work around a fence that they have to keep people out.

While I was there I also captured this shot of the sunlight shining in-between two flags.

After spending a couple hours here I had to put some money in the meter, and met Diane for lunch. We then both went through one of the Smithsonian’s together. Diane wanted to go to a couple more, so I went to the capital to shoot for a couple hours.

While there I captured this photo of the reflecting pound in front of the capital.

Also this panoramic photo of flowers with the Capital in the background.

After shooting there I waited for Diane to finish up at the Museum, then picked her up, drove her around to see a couple of the monuments, then we were off to see some friends in Maryland.

It was only 13 miles, it took 45 minutes and we were almost in about 10 accidents. I have been to D.C. many times and I have been all over the country, and by far the D.C. drivers are the worst. They just don’t care where they are going or if you are in their way. We made it to our destination. We had a great time visiting with our friends Dena and Aaron Katz, we went and ate some Thai food and caught up for a while. They have a young son that went to bed early plus Diane and I were exhausted, so we called it a night after dinner.

In the morning we started our drive home. It’s about a 9-hour drive, but we had a couple things we wanted to do in Akron that took us a couple extra hours and then next stop was home sweet home!

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Wow, what an amazing trip. I couldn't ask for a better partner in general and on this adventure. Diane and I had such a great trip around the southeast part of the country.

10 States, 8 days, 2825 miles. We went out of our way a couple times, but they were well worth it. One was to see one of my best friends that I had not seen in years, the other to Myrtle Beach, how can you go wrong going out of your way to hit the beach for a couple hours.

We ate some great food, BBQ in N.C., Seafood in S.C. served by one of the nicest straight out of a book/movie southern lady, and Thai food in D.C. with great friends just to name a few.

We had beach time in two states, sat in the middle of a river in the Smokey Mountains, and walked down one of the nicest tree lines (Wormsloe) you could ever ask for.

We stayed in a great B/Bin Savannah and a nice little cabin in the Smokeys.

We saw wild Elk starting their day, a peach stand salesman start his day, a street artist drew a photo of Diane, and I don’t think I mentioned this before, but had another street artist make a rose out of leaves for Diane in Savannah.

I’m sure I’m leaving things out, but one thing I know is that it was a fantastic trip that I will never forget. I love getting out and seeing the country, making memories, and we were lucky enough to do just that.

I don’t know where the next road will take me, but for now this is all I have, so until the next adventure, I'm out!

Myrtle Beach - Richmond

Myrtle Beach – North of Richmond 7.26.12.

Well our time in Savannah has come to an end and we had a wonderful time. I’m glad the city grew on me and I can’t wait to get back. It was 95 – 99 everyday and very muggy but well worth dealing with. I recommend the Marshall House if you ever want to stay in a B/B there.

The road this day would take us from Savannah to just north of Richmond with a stop in Myrtle Beach (M.B.) but on the way out of town we decided to stop at the peach stand that I mentioned in an earlier post. The first one out of town was closed, when we went by the second one, we saw he was just getting set up. We stopped, he was a very sweaty unshaved man, Diane got out, he asked if we had any matches so he could light his cigarette, and we had plenty from the cabin a few nights before, so we gave him some books. Diane then came back to the car with 6 peaches for $10. Now I love to bargain with people, so I gave her a little grief when she told me how much they were. I’m not cheap by any means, but I just know to never pay asking price at a stand like this. He had told her some sad story about the drought and the farmer he buys from upped the price, I don’t but it, haha. We easily could have got them for $6. They were pretty good, so as we drove away we ate one and put the others in the cooler.

We decided we wanted some more beach time, looking at the map we decided to stop at Myrtle Beach. It would be about 2 hours out of the way, but we didn’t have anything planned that day, so why not. After getting off 95 you drive on a two-lane road for a little over an hour, you go through tons of S.C. small towns. When we finally arrived in M.B. I had to stop and buy some new flip-flops, mine had broke the day before at Hilton Head, and we stopped at a Wal-Mart. They were out, so I bought some water shoes. Next stop was the beach.

We pulled right up to the public beach and found a parking spot about 3 cars from the beach, got our beach gear together and headed toward the water. There is a street with every kind of beach shops you could ever want, little arcades, and a Ferris wheel. As we arrived at the beach we noticed there were chairs and umbrellas set up just like at Hilton Head, I went up to the lifeguard and rented a set. Straight into the water was our next stop. Just as we walked into the water the lifeguard heightened the warning, but the waves didn’t seem that bad. They were bigger and rougher than Hilton Head, but really not that rough.  The water was not as warm as HH but was plenty warm. We stayed for about an hour and a half, and then decided it was time to head north, but not before stopping and getting a foot long hot dog. I’m a sucker for those, as a kid my Grandparents used to take me to the county fair every year, and my Grandpa and I would always get a foot long. So whenever I’m at a fair, or a beach like this I think about him, and have to get one!

I put D.C. in my GPS and off we went, we didn’t need gas at the time, but we saw it as low as $3.04 just outside of town, that’s the cheapest we saw on the drive. Diane and I joked about gas prices often on the trip, my parents are always commenting on gas prices when I travel with them, so we would make comments if we bought it and then down the road it was a little cheaper.

The GPS took us a route I would have never taken, through a ton of little towns just like we drove through in S.C., but this time it was North Carolina. I had lived in N.C. back in 98, and had been to some of these same small towns, so it was really nice to get back through there. Not much has changed; most of them have a gas station and maybe a party store or ABC store as they call them. We then got back to 95 and headed north towards Richmond/D.C. 95 as many of you know is the main road up the east coast of the country, so there are a lot of semis and traffic, there are also a lot of billboards, so we saw everything from Christmas stores, to south of the boarder truck stop advertised every few miles for 130 miles.

After 8 hours in the car, broken up by a couple hours in the ocean we decided to stop in a small town just north of Richmond for the night, got a hotel and pizza then called it a night. 

Savannah Day 2

Savannah Day Two

As I mentioned briefly in yesterday’s blog, we were staying at the Marshall House right in the heart of the historic district. It was a hotel at the end of the Civil War and throughout the late 1800’s, for a while it was an office building and hotel, and then in 1999 they restored it to the hotel it is now. When you walk you feel like you stepped back into the 1800’s. The furniture and decor are amazing. We checked in and had our bags brought to our room that overlooks the center of the hotel. This is where breakfast is served. It’s a room with gaslights, old table and  chairs, and just an old southern feel to it.

Day 2 we woke up and decide to take the advice of the hotel concierge and head over to the Wormsloe Historical Site that was established in 1737 by Nobel Jones. When we arrived we pulled up to the gate, this wonderful arch and in the background was our first vision of the oak tree alley.

You pay $8 per person, and then you are free to venture through the grounds. You start by driving down the mile long lane of oaks and you are free to stop anywhere along them you like. The problem with trying to get a clear photo is that it’s a straight shot, so if anyone is driving down the lane, you will have a car right in the middle of your shot. We unfortunately had a girl trying to take her senior pictures that arrived at the same time as us. So I worked around it, and decided to walk around for a while before trying again, on the way out, I had some decent time to get my shots.

I tried to get several different angles. This one is of a fence line that I would not have seen if I wasn’t trying to kill some time waiting for the other photographer.

This shot is on the way back out and is a panoramic shot.

And finally this is a shot from the heart of the tree line.

You also like everywhere have these damn tourists that keep taking photos of themselves.

This was truly one of the most beautiful sights I have seen. It’s one of those things that photos just don’t do justice. When you are there and see the tree line going on for what seems forever and the light coming through and casting shadows along the dirt road, and then as a car passes the dirt goes flying into the air and the beams of light are revealed even more. This is one of those sights that I love and will never forget.

After this we needed some beach time. It was a cool 99 degrees. I had always heard how nice Hilton Head was; it’s about an hour drive from where we were, so off we went. We stopped at the welcome center and Diane went in and grabbed a map (As she loves to do) I like to use the GPS and sometimes that just isn’t enough, so I learned early on in this trip that she would like a map in her hand, it helps her get her bearings. In this case (as in many on this trip) it helped. I couldn’t find the public beaches on my phone, but within a minute she was out and had all the info we needed for the day. We were off to the beach.

When we got there, the lifeguards were renting chairs and umbrellas (This was a life saver) We got in the water and it was the warmest water either Diane or myself have ever been in. It really was like taking a salt-water bath. We stayed there for a couple hours and had a great time.

On the way back we stopped at a restaurant we noticed on the way there. It was called the Pink Pig, a little BBQ/Seafood joint. As we walked in there was an older lady with white hair the greeted us, “Sit wherever you like” the chairs where plastic, the table clothes where red and white checkers, and the silverware was plastic (I was right at home) Diane ordered a tea “sweet or un-sweet?” as you are always asked down south. She got un-sweet and I got sweet. The lady then told us a little about the place, and we checked out the menu. Diane got the shrimp and crab special, and I got the flounder special. Both were absolutely fabulous. The two best meals we had on the trip were, the BBQ place in Ashville and this little hole in the wall on the side of a two-lane highway. Halfway through the meal I asked for a little lemonade to be added to my tea, and the waitress goes (in her low southern voice) “you know we call that an Arnold Palmer don’t you?” I laughed and said, yes I drink them all the time. As I went to pay, she said we don’t take cards here only cash, I said no problem I just need to run out to my car. So I did, and it was well worth every penny!

That about wrapped up our night, we headed back to the hotel, Diane went for a walk after it cooled off, and we took it easy. At the end I fell in love with Savannah, I wish we had more time to explore it, but I'm glad I got past my first impressions and gave it a chance. We met some great people, great food, and good laughs!

Also here is a photo taken the first day of Diane having here picture drawn by a street artist.