15 more things to do in Savannah

 WHEN, not if I return to Savannah there are several places I will undoubtedly revisit and even though we certainly made the most of our two days in Savannah there is still plenty to do!


1. Take ghost story tour in a hearse

2. Eat dinner at the Pirate House (technically we did eat there but did not get to complete the experience)

3. Take a riverboat cruise

4. Actually get to drive down the 'Oak Avenue' and tour the grounds at Wormsloe

5. Take a 'Slow Ride'

6.Tour the Bonaventure Cemetery- we went but it was closed

7. Tour the house of Juliette Gordon Lowe (founder of the Girl Scouts)

8. Footprints of Savannah Walking Tours

9. Pirate Ship Cruise

10. Take a carriage ride- actually we did do this too....a really short one

11. Eat Ice Cream at Leopold's (we did...but I never found out why)

12. Savannah Rambles- I'm really getting into Architecture and this is an Architectural Walking Tour

13. Have a drink at the Six Pence Pub (saw it but it wasn't open)

14. Eat a fried green tomato

15. Tour the Mercer-Williams house

Either before or after (I choose the latter) your trip to Savannah you have to watch the following movies so you can locate all of the famous landmarks from each film.

1. Forest Gump
2. Something to Talk About
3. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
4. Bagger Vance

Be sure to check out 7 staples of your trip to Savannah 

7 things to do while in Savannah

1. Stay at the charming Bed & Breakfast The Inn at 909 Lincoln 

2. Eat a southern style dinner at Paula Dean's restaurant The Lady and Sons

3. Take a ride in a Pedicab with Savannah Pedicab 

4. Get a Georgia Peach Sangria 'to go' in City Market 

5. See Savannah by Trolley with Old Savannah Tours 

6. Drive down 'Oak Avenue' at the Wormsloe Plantation/ Historic site

7. Spend time in Historic Savannah 

Click on each link to read more!

The Ultimate Life List is now on facbook....please mozey on over and LIKE it!

LIFE LIST: RIDE A TROLLEY

Where: Old Savannah Tours

When: August 2013

Cost: For $22/per person (our 2 year old daughter was free) we could take the ninety minute tour...for $4 more per person we could take the tour on that Friday, then the next day could ride the trolley all day, hop on and off whenever we wanted AND they picked us up at our B&B and dropped us off afterwards. I probably would have said no to that, but luckily it was my husband who purchased the tickets and I'm glad he did. Having access to the trolley for the entire next day was highly beneficial.

Why this is on my list: I've always wanted to ride a trolley, though I was leaning more towards riding a trolley through the streets of San Francisco, but when I found a Trolley ride through St Louis, I thought 'what the heck, let's do it now!' I was so glad we did, it was such a great way to see parts of the city that I would have missed on foot and it was an ideal place to gather travel info. Now that I know what a veritable fountain of knowledge taking a tour can be, sign me up anywhere and when I saw it in Savannah it was added to my list! I'm thinking of adding that onto my LIFE LIST- take a trolley ride in every major U.S. city.

I love the legend this statue represents! That's so something I would do!

Something I'd recommend? Definitely. For some travelers I know this sort of thing seems 'too touristy', my thoughts on that are.... if you're looking for something 'non touristy'...go to Guam. Taking this Trolley tour really enhanced our trip, there were many sites we saw that we would not have been the wiser had we not been on this tour. For instance, several POI's from the movie Forest Gump were pointed out and scenes from the movie Julia Roberts stared in called 'Something To Talk About' were also filmed in Savannah.The major historical points were explained either by the driver or a theatrical host who hopped on at one of our stops. Our time spent on the Old Savannah Tours stayed with us throughout our entire trip and even made our long drive home from Florida to Michigan enjoyable.
 One of the many benefits to purchasing the 'on and off' pass was that we were able to have a different experience with each driver. Most of them were likable, one we found distasteful, but one...Chris, who happened to be our very last driver was so funny and so charming with his thick Savannahian (?) drawl that we spent our 2 day drive back to Michigan quoting the hilarious things he said in our impressive southern accents....and 3 weeks later he still has us rolling! This was easily the most fun we had while in Savannah.

The above location was named one of the most haunted homes in the US.

Will I do it again? Actually we were going to do it again the next day! We had taken the 90 minute tour the day before but we were having so much fun on Chris's tour that we were going to stay on for the entire 90 minute tour again, but it was his last of the day so that's when we decided to hop off and try to make it to Wormsloe Plantation. This was an excellent way to see Savannah and one of our favorite aspects of our trip.

Some of the things we saw on the tour.......

No biggie...just the 'hanging square'. 

The square where Tom Hanks infamously sat on a bench waiting for a bus in 'Forest Gump'.

This beautifully detailed building used to be a FORD dealership!

Julia Roberts filmed a scene at this pub for the movie 'Something to Talk About' 

Related Posts

The most impressive B&B in Savannah

A bicycle ride without the work

Georgia Peach Sangria...to go

The loveliest of all the cities in the U.S.

Paula Dean's southern cookin'

Wormsloe....be still my beating heart

Shorter than usual but bigger than the rest 

LIFE LIST: WORMSLOE PLANTATION

Where: Wormsloe Plantation and Historic Site-8 miles from Savannah's city center/historic district.

When: August 2013

Cost: $10/per person and $1 for children. Though we didn't pay since we arrived 10 minutes before close, the attendant was nice enough to let us in just inside the gates, but we didn't get a chance to drive down the 'oak avenue' or see the plantation ruins/museum.

Why this is on my list... This was the place I was most excited about when visiting Savannah so I was bummed that we didn't get the full experience. If this looks familiar to you, it should, this has been featured in several Hollywood films most notably in Forest Gump, when Jenny yells "Run Forest, Run!".

Something I'd recommend? Absolutely, if you have the chance to visit this most beautiful city, you must stop at Wormsloe. The history of this plantation includes a range of usages including cotton farming and growing food for silkworms in the hopes of turning Georgia into a large silk supplier.  The founder of this estate had a strong interest in horticulture which is what inspired him to plant these trees, 1.5 miles of live oaks hugging the avenue creating a draping canopy of Spanish moss. These trees are called 'live oaks' because they keep their leaves year round. Pictures do not do it justice enough though, it was devastatingly beautiful. We made a slight right hand turn and there it was...it was so magnificent that I could feel my heart swell up with excitement. I couldn't believe I was there. This picturesque scenery I've seen thousands of times in magazines and movies and I was there. I could have spent an entire day gazing at each of the 400 trees planted along the ally.

I have to say that I think this is the most beautiful place I've even seen in the continental US.

Will I do it again? YES! It wasn't due to poor planning that we arrived late, it's that everything seemed to close or halt at 5h so we had to cram in everything inside the city first because we knew we'd have to drive here and we had paid to use the Trolley around the city for the day. I actually feel really blessed to just have seen the entrance but what I really wanted to do was drive down the 1.5 mile path of these Antebellum Oaks. Of course I also would have appreciated seeing what was left the fortified plantation and learning more of the history behind this most enchanting place in the world.

Related posts:

1.To Go Cocktails
2.Eat at Paula Dean's Restaurant 
3.Stay at a charming B&B
4.Take a Pedicab Ride
5.Visit Savannah Georgia
6.Our wonderful 10 day vacation down south

The Ultimate Life List is on facebook....please 'LIKE' it to stay easily connected!

LIFE LIST: GET A COCKTAIL TO GO

Where: City Market in Savannah, beer and cocktails in 'to go' cups!

When: August 2013

Why this is on my list: Once again I have to extend the credit to Annette from My Bucket List Journey, if not for her Savannah travel tips I probably wouldn't have known about this little treasure.

Something I'd recommend? Yes. There's shopping, food, live free entertainment, a fountain for the kids to play in, you could partake in a game of giant chess...all while strolling around with a drink in hand!

Will I do it again? Oh, yes...but next time, I'll get more than 1!

LIFE LIST: EAT AT PAULA DEAN'S RESTAURANT

When: August 3rd, 2013

Where: Lady and Sons in Savannah Georgia 

Cost: We each got the buffet, it was $15/pp which was very reasonable and it included a desert.

Why this was on my list? While doing my travel research for the area, this was obviously a very popular attraction and so, it obviously went right on my LIST!

Something I'd recommend? It's a must when in Savannah! But let me tell you, YOU MUST MAKE A RESERVATION as far in advance as possible. What was a little aggravating was that even though I had made a reservation 6 weeks in advance we still had to wait about 30 minutes. I guess it wouldn't have been that big of a deal but our daughter was starving and she could see the buffet but naturally her 2 year old self did not understand why we just weren't feeding her 'there's the food, just put it in my mouth!'. Her distress quickly becomes our stress.
 The atmosphere in the restaurant was actually fairly simple and the exterior was also unassuming but nice looking. What I really enjoyed was the gift shop. I thought all the Paula Dean themed cutting boards and beer cozies were kitschy. I bought a few small things, but I'm not gonna lie-I would love a cooking apron and matching coffee mug with Paula Deans face on it. I do recommend having your picture taken with her cardboard cutout! It was funny to watch several couples engaging in the same conversation we were having about how do it quickly and discretely without looking ridiculous...it was totally embarrassing in a room filled with people but I had do it!
 In light of recent events involving Paula Dean I feel like it would be odd if I didn't mention it, so here are some of my brief thoughts-I don't support what she said and did though I am certainly empathetic towards Paula Dean. I cannot imagine if every terrible thing I've said and done was broadcast across the nation. I don't think it's our job to kick people when they're already down. It was a mistake, it's in the past and she's apologetic. There are a lot of really sick and evil people in the world, I prefer to focus my negative attention and thoughts towards them.

Will I do it again? I'm glad I ate there though I am not a fan of waiting for a table, again this is very much related to having a toddler so in my opinion I'd just rather eat somewhere else. If it wasn't for the wait I'd absolutely eat there again, the food was terrific, which I don't often say about buffet style dining. I guess I would go again because I didn't get a chance to try her 'fried green tomatoes' appetizer which have always intrigued me and there would be no better place than at Miss Paula Dean's in Savannah.

My daughter and Paula Dean share something in common...they both love butter, so it was very comical to watch my little one munching on a stick of butter in lieu of putting on her biscuit. 

"Life is too short to wonder where you hid your waffle maker" –Paula Dean

Related posts:
1. I'm back...I went...on a fabulous trip
2. visiting the most lovely city in America
3. the most unique ride I've taken
4. the best Inn in the world