Road Trip Recap, Part 2: Savannah!

After we said our goodbyes to Louise and Zingrin, Ben and I hopped back in the car and took off for Savanna, Georgia! Savannah has been near the top of my list of places to visit ever since I read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil about 10 years ago, so when our friend Nick moved there to attend a grad program at Savannah College of Art and Design this spring, we knew it was only a matter of time before we found an excuse to get down there.

The drive from Knoxville to Savannah was absolutely stunning... the Smoky Mountains are beautiful and everything is so green and lush (please ignore the bug-spattered windshield in this photo...don't let it ruin anything for ya... :) ). A quick aside - one of my biggest road trip pet peeves is finding good (i.e. healthy-ish) places to eat... this proved especially true in the south. Any area of the country that would name a restaurant chain "Fatz" is ...yeah. Special.

We arrived in Savannah in the early afternoon, and were greeted by Nick, who had to attend a lecture for school...so after giving us the basic lay of the land, our gracious host went off to get edumacated and Ben and I took some time to explore the city.

Savannah is really a beautiful city - filled with flowers, serene little parks, and trees covered in spanish moss. The arcitechture is also beautiful - I wanted to buy every single one of these houses... someday...when I have millions of dollars to spare...? We stopped in the few of the parks, and I got sassed by this lion:

the little dude clearly has some attitude. So I gave him some attitude right back. Take that, lion statue!

After wandering for a couple of hours we met up with Nick for some sushi!!

The sushi was fan-tastic. I should just mention that we did not eat typical "southern food" once while we were down here - no shrimp, no grits, no biscuts and gravy. And no, we did not go to Paula Deen's restaurant... we heard mixed things about it and decided to stick with places we knew would be excellent.

We spent some more time wandering the lovely streets of Savannah....

Admiring the sunsets...

And of course, eating great food! Ben and I set aside one night for a romantic date at the Local Eleven 10, a restaurant that features local and seasonal ingredients.

Above is a pic of me holding their Lemon Rosemary martini - mixed drinks are super hit-and-miss for me, but this was honestly one of the best drinks I've ever had. Delicious!

...this one I took partly as an excuse to get a shot of Ben looking all James Bond-esque with his martini, and partly to capture this lady behind him who is inexplicably wearing a wedding gown and veil, and who looked like she did not want to be there at ALL. I really want to know what the story is there...

Our entree was a porkchop with apricot chutney and sides of greens and asparagus. Yum! After our fancy dinner we walked over to the local legion to meet Nick for a couple of drinks and pool. $2 happy hours can't be beat!

...wine from a plastic cup. Surely nothing is classier than this.

My favorite lunch spot by far was the Sentient Bean, a coffee shop and cafe that served all number of awesome vegetarian, organic and hippie-ish food. It seemed like a popular local hangout for SCAD students, and was right next to the city's only (from what I could tell) organic foods store.

I ordered a BBQ tofu wrap, which was to die for.

... below, one of the more interesting food combos I've seen. Fried chicken and chinese food? Really???

Ben and I in our favorite park.

For our last night, we went to Leopold's Ice Cream shop...a Savannah institution and another of Nicks favorite places.

Aren't these two adorable?! My favorite thing about their friendship is that occasionally they will start speaking to each other in random accents like it is totally normal, and just go on like that for several minutes while I shake my head in wonderment.

...my cone: lavender ice cream with sprinkles! I'm a sucker for strange and unique ice cream flavors, and also for sprinkles...this was the ideal combination of the two.

Back tomorrow with our most exciting road trip day of ALL TIME... get excited people!!!