A Fortress and a Light

Before leaving the area, we took a drive out towards the coast.  Our first stop was on Cockspur Island at Fort Pulaski National Monument...

This fort was really cool.  It had a moat filled with water going around it and little wooden bridges that you had to cross to get inside...

Once inside, we got situated to watch the cannon demonstrations.  The guys shooting the guns were great with kids, they invited them out onto the grass to get an up close look and ask any questions they might have (they always have questions ;) ).

I don't know where they all came from, but a large crowd gathered as the demonstrations began.  It was really interesting (and REALLY LOUD :)!)...

When the smoke had cleared, we wandered off to see the rest of the fort...

The second level was a little different than what I've seen before.  There were NO sides towards the interior!  Gah!  It made me a lil bit nervous to be up there with energetic boys that were all amped up from the gun show...

I tried my best to keep their attention focused towards the outside of the fort, aka the part with sides on it ;)...

damage from Union fire during the Civil War...Fort Pulaski was under Confederate control

Back down and ever so glad :)!...

Just as we were coming out of a room in one corner, the kids noticed something different about the bricks on the wall.  Signatures were carved into the brick, dating back to 1861.  Wow...

We finished up our tour with a stop in the main gift shop and then it was time for the kids to turn their Jr. Ranger books in for review.  Badges in hand, we headed off to our second destination...Tybee Island.

Tybee Island was slam packed with people.  Not my idea of a good time at the beach.  So, we checked out the lighthouse and then got back on the road towards...South Carolina :)!

Savannah, Georgia

So Southern...

So charming...

So much fun :)!

Savannah has long been on my wish list of places to visit.  I don't know why it has taken me until now to get there...

We got up early to beat the traffic and hopefully find decent parking.  It wasn't necessary...the streets were pretty empty and parking was a breeze.  We left our car at the Savannah Visitor Center on MLK Jr. Blvd. with plans to catch the dot.  That worked out well until we were a few blocks from Forsyth Park and then traffic came to a complete stop.  Many of the roads were blocked for a race that was going on that morning, so our bus driver offered to let us off with directions on how to get to the park on foot.  No problem, Savannah is best seen by foot anyway :)...

We got to the park, hoping to have it halfway to ourselves since it was so early in the morning.  SO didn't happen!  That race that was rerouting all the traffic?  Well, it was a Color Run and the finish line was smack dab in the center of Forsyth Park.  Oy...

that, my friends, is a color cloud...

Oh well, it just added another layer to the experience :).  We dodged color splattered racers and made our way to the famous fountain.  After obliging several racers and taking photos of them with their cameras, I lined my bunch up for a photo of our own :)...

rainbow!

The park was very full and very beautiful.  We walked from one end of it to the other...

...and discovered a Farmers Market!  Yay!  Farmers Markets are (one of) my favorite :)...

Farmer Joe :)!

i wish :)

Next we decided to walk towards the part of town with all the wonderful shops.  Admiring the architecture along the way...

The Paris Market drew us in with the little peeks of fabulous we could see from the street.  Inside?  Wow...

Not too far away was The Lady and Sons restaurant.  We had reservations for lunch, so we headed on over to check in.  While we were waiting, we popped in the adjoining store for a look around...

Time to eat!  The food was really heavy, but oh so good.  I don't think a single one of us had seconds, though.  That giant glass of sweet tea was a meal in itself :)...

cornbread, cheddar biscuit, and the BEST sweet tea evah!

As tempting as it was to linger at our table and watch the world go by, we didn't.  It took a minute, but we managed to waddle ourselves back out the door ;), hehehe...

We certainly needed to walk now, so we continued on towards the river...

River Street runs right along the Savannah River.  There are shops, restaurants, sculptures, all kinds of things to see and do...

After we had our fill of exploring the city, we turned around and headed back towards the VC where our car was parked... 

jasmine...mmm :)

The building was open when we got there, so we checked out the museum and grabbed some drinks.  Wondering why we were so tired, we added it up and realized that we had walked a total of almost 7 miles.  That'll do for PE, dontcha think ;)?