New Orleans Museum of Art

Friday, June 8 - Sandy made a visit to the NOMA Sculpture Garden.  Some very cool art!

Sightseeing around NOLA

Friday, June 8 - We had a great day exploring New Orleans.  Some highlights:

We took the streetcar to the Garden District.  This streetcar line is the oldest continuously operated street railway line in the world, since 1835.

Most houses in the Garden District have light blue ceilings on their porches.  

It supposedly is a deterrent for bugs to nest there.

We explored Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 in the Garden District, 

which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

We had an impromptu tour from a caretaker of the cemetery.

We had lunch at the Camellia Grill at the other end of the Garden District.  

Recommended by Sandy's neighbors, Terry and Marty.  Lots of entertaining local color!

A new take on Spanish moss -- Mardi Gras beads!

Mobile and USS Alabama

Thursday, June 7 - Before heading back on the road, we took in a few sights in Mobile, Alabama.  First, we walked around historic downtown, which is pretty sleepy, but has some beautiful architecture and has some signs of urban renewal.  There's a beautiful cathedral down Dauphin Street.

Next, we stopped at Battleship Memorial Park and toured the USS Alabama, which saw action in WWII.  We went through all of the decks below to see how the sailors lived when at sea.  It was like a little city down there - with post office, store, doctors, dentists, laundry, uniform pressing and even a soda fountain, where they went through 100 gallons of ice cream every day!

Florida State Capitol

Wednesday, June 6 - This morning we hit our fourth and final state capitol here in Florida.  A few interesting things about it:  The old State Capitol was almost torn down in the 1970s when they built the new high-rise capitol behind it.  Preservationists prevailed, and they restored the building to it's 1902 configuration shortly after.

Also interestingly, we keep encountering commemorations of the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts.  They had an entire exhibit in the Capitol dedicated to the history of Girl Scouts in Florida.  Sandy was in seventh heaven.

Entering Georgia (again) and Jekyll Island

Monday, June 4 – Since we had that disappointing Georgia sign experience when we entered the state while going east in Week 1, we were looking forward to entering again as we came down the Atlantic Coast.  This sign along I-95, while maybe not the most beautiful, certainly gave us a good welcome.

Since we were literally just passing through the state en route to Amelia Island, Florida, we did want to make a brief stop along the Golden Isles of Georgia.  We took a detour over to Jekyll Island, not only to take a look at the historic Jekyll Island Club, but also because my aunt has a winter home here. 

The Queen-Anne style Jekyll Island Club Hotel, founded in 1886, did not disappoint.  It was created as a private, exclusive winter retreat for some of the world’s wealthiest people (like J.P. Morgan), some of which built mansion-sized “cottages” surrounding the main Club building.  Interestingly, we learned that the first transcontinental telephone call took place at the Jekyll Island Club between Alexander Graham Bell in New York, his assistant Thomas Watson in San Francisco, President Woodrow Wilson in Washington, DC, and Theodore Vail, president of AT&T in Jekyll Island.  Mr. Vail, a member of the Jekyll Island Club, was there recuperating from a leg injury, and was unable to be in New York.

Another interesting point of history: the first meeting that led to the creation of the Federal Reserve System was also held at the Jekyll Island Club. 

OK, enough history for now.

Drayton Hall plantation

Sunday, June 3 – After sadly packing up and leaving Charleston – such a great city – we headed up the Ashley River a bit to check out Drayton Hall plantation, another recommended stop by my friend Greg.  I feel like we had pretty much figured out the plantation drill on this trip, since we’ve been to quite a few, but this one was surprisingly different.  What makes it so, is that it has NEVER been “restored.”  It is still in original condition. That's right, original.  The current main house was built in 1738, and was kept in the Drayton family until 1975, when it became a property of the National Historic Trust for Historic Preservation.

We had a great tour guide Amanda, who was an historic preservation major, who told us how the family knew that they had a treasure in this property, and thus didn’t do any 20^th century modernization to the house.  They never even installed electricity or running water, or installed modern kitchen appliances, even though it was still being used as a home.  There is very little modern paint in the house, and much of the carved plaster ceilings are amazingly still intact.  There is no furniture in the house, because there will be no attempt to renovate it to look like it did during any certain period.  Instead, they only conduct preservation efforts to maintain the house in it’s current condition, which they say is constantly ongoing.  They also continue to embark on archeology projects on the property to continue to research the history of the plantation as new tidbits of information are revealed.  Really amazing.  You get a very good sense for what life was like in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, and it is unbelievable to know that you're looking at the same untouched craftsmanship that was done hundreds of years ago. 

This is a “must do” for anyone visiting Charleston for anyone who has any interest in history and historic architecture.

Girl Scout Mecca

Friday, June 1 – As a former girl scout, Sandy was pretty jazzed when she passed by the birthplace of the founder of the Girl Scouts in the Savannah historic district on her morning walk.  It must have been her inner Girl Scout that navigated her unknowingly down that street.  This year is the 100^th anniversary of the Girl Scouts, and if Sandy had known that scouts from all over were making the pilgrimage to Savannah this year, she’d have brought her sash.

SCAD Animation Graduation Show

Thursday, May 31 – The Savannah College of Arts and Design (SCAD), has a large presence throughout Savannah.  We saw SCAD buildings all over as we walked around town.  There is an old restored movie theater, the Lucas Theater, a block from our hotel, The Planters Inn.  We saw that they were doing a screening, plus an awards ceremony, there for the best animated short films from this year’s SCAD graduating class.  So, we stopped by and caught about 10 or so of them.  Really amazing work!  We loved them. 

Around the corner they also had their annual SCADemy Awards as part of graduation weekend.  These kids are ready for the big time.

Dinner at Local 11 Ten

Thursday, May 31 – We had a fantastic dinner at Local 11 Ten, a restaurant on the other side of Forsythe Park. It had great reviews and is a foodie favorite serving new Southern cuisine.  Because we were walking in without a reservation, we weren’t sure if we’d get a seat.  While they didn’t have any seats available in the dining room, because we got there early, we were able to get two prime seats at the bar – right on the corner.  Perfect!  I had the "daily boat catch," which was a pan seared grouper today.  Dessert = strawberry rhubarb pie.  Fantastic.  

We love sitting at the bar to talk to the bartenders and the other people at the bar to get more information about what’s going on in town.  We sat next to Rich, who was in town on business and works for a major hotel chain.  Thanks for the great conversation, Rich!