Day 24 - Noon in the Garden of Hot and Sweaty

Twice today, I found myself laughing at how good the food was that I was eating.

Monday began on the outskirts of Savannah. The address said I was in the city, but this area looked whole lot more like Idaho and a whole lot less like anything from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

After getting directions to find the pretty, and with many tour brochures in hand, I headed into town. Several of the tour companies offer free parking while you visit and I took them up on the offer. I chose Old Savannah Tours -- voted the best tour every year since 2003.

I was blessedly fortunate that the trolley that was ready to go when I was was also the only air conditioned tour bus in the city.

I don't think I really understood sweat before I took this trip. I mean, I understood that hard work and exercise produced the substance, but I was unaware that temperature alone could create the type of sweat standing still that made it seem like you'd just run a marathon being chased by a back of rabid monkeys. It's very unsettling (and slippery).

Our tour guide's name name was Bucky and was born and reared in Savannah. He went through the rules of the trolley, but because he doesn't like rules, we were to think of them as "good time guidelines."

According to Bucky, Savannah was America's first pre-planned city. General James Oglethorpe designed a the city without ever actually seeing the land. When he arrived, he checked with the people who would implement his plan and got the thumbs up that his plan would work.

Bucky told us that Oglethorpe had three conditions for his city:

1. No lawyers
2. No liquor (but beer and wine were cool)
3. No slavery (this lasted until the city hit hard economic times and then decided slavery was permissible -- but they did have a system that allowed slaves to work themselves out of slavery)

Downtown Savannah is built around 22 block-sized parks. One of the first we encountered was next to a church. Bucky said we should all recognize at least the steeple of the church as it was passed by the falling feather in the movie Forrest Gump.

The park nearby was where Forrest sat on a park bench and told much of his story while waiting for the bus.

The exact bench is now in a museum, but the other benches looked pretty similar.

We turned the corner and stopped at the oldest operating theater in America because another person wanted to get on.

But ultimately, he decided it would be faster to run.

Another one of the parks is built around a statue of Casimir Pulaski. The East is crazy about Casimir Pulaski. Including statues, roads, days, and songs all dedicated to him. It turns out he was very helpful to the city of Savannah . . . before he was killed there.

Another turn took us by Congregation Mickve Israel, the third oldest synagogue in America.

When my mom and I were visiting undergraduate colleges, we happened by the oldest synagogue in America -- Touro Synagogue in Newport, RI. Now I just need to see the second oldest synagogue (which seems to be in Charleston, SC) to get the hat trick.

A few more turns took us past the previous home of the Mary Telfair Hospital for Women. It opened in 1886 and was stipulated to be run by women for women (they eventually trained their own doctors and nurses). Bucky had a few condescending words about the hospital and its mission. He ended by saying that Mary Telfair is likely spinning in her grave right now as the building now houses a home for aged men.

Our next stop was Forsyth Park. The land for the 20-acre park was donated on the condition that the park be open 24/7, 365 days a year, for anyone who sought to use it, and that any event taking place in the park be free of cost.

At one point, Bucky said something was done "assiduously" which was a word he'd just learned. I smiled because it was a word I learned last year for the GRE. (My clue for myself was "like a deciduous tree" meaning "diligent and hard working.")

Then Bucky taught me a word when he explained that a "sawyer" refers to someone who works, and that Tom Sawyer was an example of word play because he is someone who doesn't work.

We drove by the Pirate House restaurant (which used to be inhabited by actual pirates) and by the home of Juliette Gordon Low (we have her to thank for the Girl Scouts and their cookies). Savannah is also the hometown of the laconic Justice Clarence Thomas (he was a terrible second baseman according to Bucky).

We have Savannah to thank for giving my dad something to do on Sundays as it was home to the first American Sunday school. It also gave us the gloriously nondenominational winter song "Jingle Bells."

Bucky taught us that if we want to fit in, we need to ask for "pea-can" pie not "puh-cawn" pie or they wouldn't know what we were talking about.

I spent a few extra dollars for the ability to hop off and on the trolley and I took the opportunity at the last stop before we returned to the station.

I had seen a place during the ride that I wanted to return to: The Lady and Sons, the landmark restaurant of Ms. Paula Deen.

There was a sign outside the hostess stand letting potential diners know that they were all booked up for "supper." I asked if it was possible to eat there today at all and was told I could place an order to-go.

She sent me around to corner and after walking in and through one crowd of people, a staff member asked if she could help me. When I told her what I was after, she led me through several rooms and several more crowds to a nearly empty room in the back where catering is arranged. A gentleman and a lady were working and the lady asked if I would like a menu, but I knew what I wanted. One slice of pea-can pie please!

I remembered at the last minute to ask if there was any reason the pie might not be vegetarian. The gentleman said it was safe -- as you know she's all about the butter. I learned my lesson the Thanksgiving my mother tried to feed me lard. Note: Leaf lard does not come from leaves.)

As I was waiting, I took a picture of the scenery.

When my pie was ready, I asked if there was someplace out of the way I could eat it and the lady graciously allowed me to hang out and eat it there.

This was the first time I laughed. The pie was so tasty! I mean, it tasted like so much! I stood there giggling and eating when I was joined by the group from the tour entirely devoted to Ms. Deen. They each got a cup and attacked the lunch buffet, returning to join me in a chorus of "Mmmm," "Oh yeah," and "Sweet Jebus that's good!"

When every crumb of my pie was gone, I did a bit more exploring on my own.

 

The city is truly quite beautiful. It's a fantastic mix of little shops and restaurants that maintains a classy charm without feeling overly touristy.

While we were passing the building below, Bucky told us that they're filming another movie in town. This one is called CBGB and stars the motley crew of Johnny Galecki, Alan Rickman, Rupert Grint, Freddy Rodriguez, and Donal Logue among others.

I have no idea whether this corner has anything to do with the movie, but I thought I'd get a picture of it just in case.

The temperature was well into the 90s and had I been a much smaller and younger person, I would absolutely have joined these kidlets in the fountain.

After a bit more walking, I surrendered to the heat and went back to the trolley stop to wait for the next one on its way back to the station.

Here I am next to a bush:

After the next trolley picked me up and dropped me off, I spotted this:

It's appropriately located next to train tracks and across the way is a building that used to be used by the railroad, but was remodeled by the Savannah College of Art and Design (or SCAD) into classrooms.

Savannah is a city I'd love to spend more time in, but I had to get to Atlanta.

I arrived in time for dinner and stopped at HD-1, a hot dog restaurant owned by Richard Blais.

I sat at the bar and the bartender helped me with everything I might need.

I ordered a Grape Nehi to drink (I'd never had one and only heard of it because of a Games Magazine puzzle) as Richard Blais makes a point of offering "natural sugar" sodas.

For dinner, I had many choices as HD-1 offers two different types of veggie dogs and tons of different toppings. I decided to go with the Garden Chili, "a Fieldroast veggie frank, veggie chili, walnut mayo, and fried shallot rings."

The bartender convinced me that I should have some waffle fries to accompany my dinner and suggested that with my waffle fries, I should try their maple-oy dipping sauce. She was not wrong.

The serving sizes were perfect and I had enough room for dessert.

I was so excited when I saw it on the menu, I had to try the salted watermelon soft serve.

This was the second time I laughed.

I discovered the beauty of fresh watermelon and salt and the Watermelon Thump in Luling, TX, but I had no idea the taste could get any better.

The soft serve was icy cold and tasted juicy like watermelon. Plus, there were surprise salt crystals sprinkled throughout the ice cream. Again I say, if you have not tried salted watermelon yet, please do so immediately. (Phyllis, you're exempt.)

I could barely put down my spoon to answer the bartender when she asked how I was enjoying it.

We got to chatting and it turns out that she's in school getting her graduate degree in applied linguistics (the second person I've met on this trip with that specialty!). When I mentioned I was only passing through, she asked where I was coming from, and it turns out she's from Tualatin, OR -- a small city about 20 minutes from Portland.

I left so full and so happy. Let's hope the trend continues tomorrow as I have a whole day in Atlanta!


Odometer Start: 39617
Odometer End: 39907
Miles Driven Today: 290
Miles Driven Total: 6069
Today In/Around: Savannah, GA and Atlanta, GA
Tomorrow: Atlanta, GA again
States Visited: 13 (Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia)
Confederate Flag Count: 12

Day 23 - Leftovers

Today I took the left turn that will take me up the other coast to my final destination. In honor of my left turn, I thought I would write about some leftover stories that didn't make it to earlier posts.


Austin

• I thought deals were good in New Jersey where you can find "Buy 1 get 3 free!" but Texas has "Buy 1 get 11 free!"
  
  
• The nicknack shop, Prima Dona, that is next door to and sells souvenirs for the Magnolia Cafe along with Austin postcards, coasters, t-shirts, etc. also has a corner where it sells Tempur-Pedic mattresses.
   
• The same way it seems like everyone has the same car when you buy a new car, I may just be sensitive to coincidence, but I was surprised to happen across this article about a woman in Seattle who won the right to swim topless at public pools after a double mastectomy. Strangely, the article uses Austin as a counterpoint. It just confirmed for me that if you have to be in Texas, Austin is the place to be!

New Orleans

• While walking around the French Quarter, I passed several psychic and palm reading establishments. As it seemed like the best place to purchase those services if I was ever going to purchase those services, I stopped in at one that said they took credit cards and asked about the prices.
  
  One of the women explained that it was $20 for both palms and that went out a year, tarot readings were $45 but she'd be willing to do it for me for $30 and that went out three years, five year readings were usually $75 but she'd do it for $50, and whole life readings were $120 but she's do one for $90. She also mentioned that it would have to be cash only because their credit card machine was broken.
  
  I told her I'd think about it and continued down the block. I didn't have enough cash for the five year to life readings, but I was considering the tarot reading as it would cover my time in graduate school and that was what I was interested in asking about.
  
  But I realized I'm kind of locked in at this point -- and happily so. If she said anything was going to go wrong, it would just make me nervous and anxious about my impending doom. If she said only good things were going to happen, then she'd just be spoiling the surprise.
  
  Several times I thought about turning back, but ultimately I didn't.
  
  I just couldn't get over the fact that she should have seen the credit card machine problem coming.

Tallahassee

• Do you remember one of the first screensavers that looked like you you were hurdling through space with stars coming at you?
  
  
  
  
  I can't think of a better way of explaining what it's like to drive through Florida at night. Except instead of stars, they're bugs. And instead of flying past you, they hit your windshield. (It sounded like rain!)
  
  
• Lastly, should you be a farmer looking for love, be sure to check out FarmersOnly.com. Because city folks just don't get it. (I saw a TV commercial featuring a bunch of overall-wearing, wheat-gnawing farmers and had to find out if it is real. It is.)

Tomorrow, I tour the town of Savannah and then I'm off to Hotlanta!


Odometer Start: 39340
Odometer End: 39617
Miles Driven Today: 277
Miles Driven Total: 5779
Today In/Around: Savannah, GA
Tomorrow: Atlanta, GA
States Visited: 13 (Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia)
Anti-Choice Billboard Count: 9

Day 22 - For Your Amusement

On Thursday, I decided to spend the day at Universal Studios Orlando.

 
Clearly I was not the only person who had that idea.

As a kid, my parents took me to Universal Studios in LA and, again, I was too young to appreciate it. I remember sitting on props from the Incredible Shrinking Woman, not understanding the jokes about the Psycho house, and being scared by the flood and the supposedly rickety bridge, but that's about it.

What I know I would have appreciated as a kid was a trip to Universal Studios Orlando as it was home to Nickelodeon Studios. I so longed to see the set of Double Dare, be part of a the audience for the filming of Clarissa Explains It All, and experience every kid's dream of getting slimed. I lobbied pretty hard, which went something like this:

. . . but to no avail. (I guess my nagging wasn't naggy enough.)

And now, twenty years later, I am seven years too late. In 2005, Nickelodeon Studios closed and the Blue Man Group took over the space. Tobias Fünke is probably pretty happy, but I'm ticked.

Fortunately, there were many other sights that helped to make up for it.

One of the strangest sights I encountered first. A gaggle of Easter themed characters (possibly from a movie called HOP) were dancing in the middle of the street. My favorite was this little guy:

It was a stiflingly hot day, and I can't even imagine what kind of commitment to character this chickadee possessed to keep dancing in that heat.

My last trip to an amusement park was in 1999 and I'm pretty sure I was the designated purse holder. I'm not much for rides (scary or not) but I wanted to make sure I made the most of this experience.

I started with the Simpsons ride which I thought would be tame enough.

It turns out that rides have progressed quite a bit from the time of the teacups and a popular set-up involves projecting a video in front of the rider while the car the rider is strapped into bucks and lurches and plummets and crashes without actually going anywhere. It's a nice compromise for those of us who don't even want to take the chance of their cause of death being listed as "roller coaster."

After successfully surviving, I went to the Kwik-E-Mart to reward myself with a souvenir.

I picked out the surliest of their Surly bottle openers and approached the counter, making note of the new Squishy flavor.

As I was getting out my credit card, the saleslady asked if she saw a AAA card in my card case. What she saw was the business card of the most wonderful AAA representative, Val, who has helped immensely to make this adventure a success. But I told her I did have a print out of my card in my purse. In a hushed voice she informed me that AAA members get a discount on almost everything at the park, but they'd prefer employees don't tell customers about the discount. I promised that I wouldn't reveal my source and went off to save a little bit as I spent. (Seriously, AAA provides fantastic service and is an amazing deal!)

I went on the Men in Black ride and followed that up with the animal actor stage show, featuring Frank the pug from Men in Black.

My next stop was the one feature I remember from Universal Studios in LA, and I was stunned to see it still around and still attracting plenty of people.

The I Love Lucy exhibit:

 

On my way to the next attraction, I passed a few interesting vehicles along the way.

And:

Aw, they're bringing Blinky!

My next stop was Disaster: A Motion Picture Ride . . . Starring You. The wait was over an hour, but they do a nice job of keeping people cool, even while waiting in long lines outside.

These fans also spray a light mist of water,
it feels a little like being cauliflower in the produce aisle

 While waiting, I reminisced a little via the t-shirts around me:

I wasn't sure what to expect with this ride, but once I saw this picture, I knew I was going to be okay:

You can't go wrong with Christopher Walken

The gist of the ride is that Christopher Walken is a director (who appears via hologram) filming a movie that has just started casting. Some of us were chosen to be actors and given specific roles and the rest of us were extras.

Once specific shots were filmed, we got in subway cars and went through a disaster scenario that included fire, falling rocks, and a flood (I think I remember this from Universal Studios LA, but it was in a different context). We were told to act super scared.

At the end, they play back the movie we made, including the parts the actors played and our scared reactions. Finally, I was in a movie! (That will be erased after five minutes so the next group can go.)

I was saving my appetite for later in the day, but I noticed something at one of the food stands by the Simpsons ride that I thought was a joke. After seeing it in several other locations, I realized it wasn't.

Mmm, nothing like walking around an amusement park in the Florida heat gnawing on a turkey leg. But people did. I saw it more than once.

Next, I went over to the other park, Islands of Adventure.

There was only one attraction I really wanted to see there, but on the way I passed by Dr. Seuss Land.

Look! A moose (juice)!

What I came to see was beyond this sign:

Harry Potter Land!

The tops of the shops in Hogsmead

The enchanted Ford Anglia that crashed in the forest

Inside Honeydukes (which is attached to Zonko's)

 I was saving my appetite to try the Harry Potter treats, including butterbeer:

And pumpkin juice:

The butterbeer comes in two varieties, carbonated or frozen. I took the recommendation of the bartender at the Hog's Head Tavern and chose the frozen kind. He filled the mug with the slush and then added a creamy top from another dispenser. It is served with a Slurpee straw.

The pumpkin juice is sold from ice filled buckets and has a removable pumpkin on top. 

I took my beverages and sat down at a table to give them a taste.

I thought the butterbeer was pretty darn delicious -- a light butterscotch flavor with a marshmallowy cream on the top. It sounds like it would be unbearably sweet, but it was surprisingly understated. It is described as a combination of butterscotch and shortbread in flavor and now that I read it, that sounds about right.

The pumpkin juice tastes like October. It's like someone juiced some apples and a pumpkin pie. Very cidery and pumpkiny without being thick. (The main ingredients are apple juice, pumpkin juice, and apricot juice.)

Fully hydrated, I stood in line for the Harry Potter: Forbidden Journey ride. It was the longest line I stood in, twisting and winding all over outside before zig-zagging inside the castle. Thankfully, the line moved fairly quickly and they offer a special line for single riders (or people who don't care who they sit by). The woman who sorted me into a group said standing in that line cut my wait time in half. While we waited, the portraits prepared us for what we should expect and the sorting hat gave us a safety talk.

This was another ride like the Simpsons. Although, this one did go somewhere between video scenes. We were rocked and jostled and tilted all the way back and forward as we followed Harry Potter and friends through the skies of England and back to Hogwarts.

All in all, I'm glad I went on these rides. But in the future, I'd be totally happy to resume my role as purse holder.

The ride funnels us into one of the gift shops where I searched for Ravenclaw paraphernalia. Ultimately, I could not justify paying $26 for a blue tank top, but I figure that's okay because Ravenclaws are supposed to be the smart ones.

My last stop in Hogsmead was a trip to Olivander's wand shop.

It's a brilliant scheme they having going, selling tons of wands (read: sticks) for $35 a piece!

These are European men bothering a duck

At that point, the park was minutes from closing. I headed back to Universal Studios because they have one last show after the sun sets.

This is the 100th Anniversary of the studio and they created a commemorative show for their century of cinema.

While we waited for darkness to fall, we gathered around the lagoon at the center of the park. A translucent screen gave us a flowing light show as we waited for the main attraction to begin.

When it was dark enough, the fountains lit, the pictures filled the screen, and the voice of Morgan Freeman filled our ears (so you know it was going to be good). 

In several sections, we celebrated the best movies have offered us.  

Horror

Comedy

Explosions!

The night ended in an extravagant show of fireworks. 

And I waved goodbye to Universal Studios Orlando. It was a very good day.

On Friday, I'll have Georgia on my mind.


Odometer Start: 39330
Odometer End: 39340
Miles Driven Today: 10
Miles Driven Total: 5502
Today In/Around: Orlando, FL
Tomorrow: Savannah, GA
States Visited: 12 (Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida)
Geckos Encountered Along the Way: 8 (That reminds me, I need to renew my car insurance.)
Times I've Listened to Clem Snide's "Made for TV Movie" Today: 4