Savannah Georgia

We went to Savanna with our neighbors Dick and Jane, we left Panama City and we are going to spend the night in Valdosta, never been there so I am going to look up some interesting tidbit about Valdosta! 

Valdosta is a city located on the southern border of Georgia, and is the 14th largest city in Georgia, wow who knew that? It is called the Azalea City, as the azalea plant grow very well there along with cotton and tobacco because it has virtually a flat landscape. Valdosta is also called the "Naval Stores Capital of the World" because it supplies 80% of the world demand for naval stores. When we got there the car would start so we had to work on that most of the afternoon so we didn't go see any of Valdosta...oh well...onward  to Savannah! 

valdosta

evening in Valdosda

Savannah is just loaded with history, it was one of the original 13 colony's and it is the oldest city in Georgia. Since it is perched right on the Savannah River this made it a very strategic seaport durning the American Revolution and the Civil War. Today Savannah has a huge industrial center and it ranks as one of the top seaports in the United States. Savannah is also a big tourist attraction, attracting millions of visitors to its cobblestone streets, parks, and historic buildings.

Savannah's downtown area, which includes the Savannah Historic Districts , the Savannah Victorian District, they also have 22 parks and one of the largest National Historical Landmark Districts in the United States.

this is the park were Forest Gump was filmed

It is the birthplace of Juliette Low, the founder of the Girl Scouts, the Georgia Historical District (the oldest continually operating historical society in the South), theTelfair Academy of Arts and Sciences (one of the South's first public museums), and it also retains the original town plan determined by founder James Oglethorpe (a design now known as the Oglethorpe Plan). Savannah was also the host city for the sailing competitions in the 1996 summer Olympics held in Atlanta becouse of this the city of Savannah was awarded a bronze statue, that sits in the Waving Girl Park, next to the river. 

The Waving Girl (Florence Marcus) was one of my favorite stories, she was a young girl that lived on Elba Island with her brother, the light house keeper. She kept house for her brother and one day while shaking the rugs she was greeted with waves and calls from a passing ship, that started a 44 year of waving, white handkerchief by day and lanterns by night to passing ships! The sailors would tell tales of her at different ports around the world and she became a beacon of hope for many sea-wary travelers. James Mack Adams, writing for the Savannah Morning News in 1998, believed that she was a reminder of what awaited many seamen when they finally returned to shore:

Lonely sailors strained their eyes to look for her. They called her the ‘sweetheart of seafaring men of the world.’ She represented the wives and sweethearts they had left on distant shores. Sweet..Right!  

Tybee Island is a barrier island off the coast of Savannah, it is known for it wide sandy beaches and is a popular tourist site for people looking for some fun in the sun. It has a still functioning 18th century Lighthouse!

Did you know that Tybee Island is one of the few locations where the Air Force dropped an atomic bomb...by accident..(it happened during a training exercise that went bad) although the bomb did not detonate, they never found the Mark 15 nuclear bomb! Ummm...

We took a day out and drove over to the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge..that place is LOADED with alligators!

enjoying the rays 

Not to far away is South Carolina, as the Savannah River is the border between Georgia and South Carolina, so of course we had to go to Hilton Head. Hilton Head is an island named after Captain William Hilton, who in 1663 found the island, which he named "Hilton's Head" after himself. The island features miles of Atlantic Ocean beachfront and it is a popular vacation destination, along with great golf courses. Here's a fun little fact.....it is known to have the worlds most aggressive great white shark population!

going into Hilton Head

Savannah also has a beautiful botanical garden..Coastal Georgia Botanical Garden..Miles and miles of gardens, they have a bamboo maze, a orchid greenhouse garden, so we wandered around and enjoyed some beautiful gardens and tons of wildlife!

bamboo

wildlife!

  

We stayed at a fun RV park in Rincon... about 10 minutes out of Savannah, they had a small man-made tank on the property. Navi had a great time with the ducks that lived there, we went out every morning and evening to see them and feed them some bread. They soon found out what RV we were coming from and they were waiting in front of the rv each morning and evening!  

bottoms up!

Canadian Geese

Navi watching the ducks and geese

We're home now...new travels to come!