Savannah

What a dilemma? Food or location, both wonderful. Oh let’s do food first. Anna Lee asked the man at the end of the line how long he had been waiting and he responded, “What day is this?” The hour long line stretched from a small door at Mrs. Wilkes Diningroom to the corner and told us this was a place we had to visit.

Twenty soup bowls brimming with wonderful Southern foods sat on our table for eight. We joined “our new best friends” of one hour who came from Florida and a couple from Ventura, CA and two women from Indianapolis. What was in those twenty bowls? The best sweet potatoes ever, stuffing, cucumbers, okra, mashed potatoes and gravy, mac and cheese, beans (brown and green), beef stew, pulled pork, biscuits, turnips, and more. Then came the amazing Southern fried chicken, more finger munching than licking. Even the iced tea was wonderful. The peach cobbler and banana bread pudding were anti-climatic. What we said about going to Leantha’s earlier, we now amend to if you are in or near a Southern state stop eating until you get to Mrs. Wilkes. Now owned by the fourth generation, it is worth the wait and the weight.

Back to location. Because of the size of our motorhome, we fit into few of the really lovely state or national parks. Skidaway State Park is an exception. We sat under live oaks their branches dangling Spanish moss and next to palmettos with their sharp spike fronds and breathed in the clean wonderful air. Our 7K walk along the trails took us over marshes teaming with fiddler crabs, under osprey nests, and through forests.

In between the eating and the campground, we enjoyed Savannah. It is another walking city, though there are multiple choices for tram, carriage and bus rides. Our 10K zigzagged back and forth through the old town taking us past antebellum mansions and post bellum homes (does anyone know the term for after the war architecture?). We saw many historic churches and the second oldest synagogue in America.

Factor’s Walk along the river is a small Southern version of Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. Every few blocks, we wandered through a park with its statue to someone from the Revolutionary or Civil War. The memorial to Confederate soldiers was hewn in Canada and shipped to Savannah bypassing Union soil.

Worn out from walking we visited a trio of buildings that included the Owens-Thomas House, Telfair Museum and Jepsen Center for the Arts. William Jay, the British architect for the house was given free reign in his first colonial home. In keeping with trends in England, everything was in balance, to such a degree as putting in a fake door on one side to balance the real one on the other. Faux was all the rage, so plain pine is painted to look like mahogany and marble. One ceiling, though flat, looked domed. Well positioned windows cast glowing sunlight on a fireplace. In a separate building and in the basement are remnants of the slave quarters with some of the original haint blue paint used to keep out evil spirits. Our photo fingers itched to take pictures but they were forbidden.

Telfair, also by Jay, was a family home then art gallery given to the state. It contains a fine collection of German and Dutch impressionists. It also has Bird Girl, the statue made famous in the book and movie, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. The Jepsen is home to modern installations.

All is not beauty and food, sometimes it’s entertainment. We enjoyed Southern Nights, at the Old Savannah Theater, a revue of southern humor, country music, gospel, Broadway and patriotic music. Johnny Mercer watches over diners along a lane. Pride in history is the recurring theme in this old town.

The tribute to favorite native son Johnny Mercer was wonderful, especially Moon River, the river we crossed to get back to Skidaway Island and the river that reflected the full moon shining over our last evening in Savannah.