Savannah, Georgia

 Savannah is a city of full of preserved history as well as southern beauty.  We began our visit with a tour on a Hop On Hop Off bus that gave us an overlook of the historical part of the city as well as useful information of what we were seeing as we weaved through its streets and squares.  The city is divided into 22 squares-each one unique with statues and fountains among their huge beautiful trees.

Lafayette Square

Chippewa Square was in the movie Forrest Gump.  The bench Tom Hanks sat on as he told his story has been moved to the Savannah Museum.

           

    Forsyth Park 

fountains

You could easily spend all day walking from square to square.  Thank goodness for Hop On Hop Off tour buses!

We had a delicious lunch at the Pirates House that contains the oldest house in Georgia.  The restaurant is made up of 15 small dining rooms in this 1700's building.  Legends tell of how tunnels underneath of what was then a saloon were used to shanghai drunk sailors that later woke up on pirate ships going out to sea.  

We enjoyed shopping at City Market and listening to the live music outside in the center of the market as we watched people and their dogs out enjoying the day.  Savannah is a very pet friendly city.
 

We stayed at the Cotton Sail Hotel, an old cotton warehouse made into a boutique hotel.  The entrance to the hotel was on Bay Street facing the historic part of Savannah. 



 
The back of the hotel faced the Savannah River where you could watch the huge cargo ships go up and down the river from your window or balcony.

 


There was a rooftop lounge at the hotel that was my favorite place to take in the view of the Savannah River and bridge. 

From the bottom floor of the Cotton Sail Hotel you could enter River Street which was lined with shops and restaurants and pubs in the old buildings of the riverfront.  Our favorites were the praline and pecan stores which gave out generous delicious samples! 

Lots of interesting things to see and do in Savannah.

Jekyll Island

For such a small island we found Jekyll Island to have lots of variety.  Besides the expected beaches there are marshlands and mangroves covering much of the island.  The Historic District consists of a hotel and cottages of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century surrounded by huge beautiful Live Oak trees covered with Spanish Moss.  The island has twenty miles of biking and hiking trails.  

 

Our favorite part of the island was Driftwood Beach.  We visited it at low tide and high tide and enjoyed taking pictures of this very unusual place.   

High tide in the early morning was great for pictures.  Sunset would have been even better but I was too chicken to be out there at dark when everything would have really looked like ghosts!

 

The other side of Jekyll Island looked completely the opposite of Driftwood Beach.  The Historic District had a lush landscape of flowers and huge trees surrounding the hotel and cottages.  

 


 Jekyll Island was a very interesting place to visit.

My Last Pictures of Chimney Tops - Early October 2016

 I have always loved to see the Chimney Tops on our way to my most favorite place- the trail head to the Chimney Tops trail.  Over the last 45 years my husband and I have enjoyed its peaceful beauty at every season of the year.  My kids have teased me for always taking so many pictures of the same place each visit.  But I am glad I did.  These are my last ones.

The following  are some of my favorite pictures that have been taken at different times in my life. 

Some with the old bridge.  Some with the new bridge.

 

Spring

Summer

Fall

                                          

 

 Waterfalls
roaring.

 

 

Rocks to climb.

We will miss our favorite place.

Alaskan Cruise - Ketchikan

Our best weather of the cruise occurred in Ketchikan which brags about being the wettest city in the world! They call it liquid sunshine.  It was a beautiful day of blue skies, perfect for what we had planned for our last day in Alaska. 

Even before the ship docked we had lots to watch from our balcony.  There were floatplanes zipping by and giant cruise ships as well as kayaks.

We were greeted at the dock by an interesting bronze monument of seven life-size figures of Ketchikan's past called "The Rock".

 

There were lots of places nearby to shop with the most interesting shops in an area called Creek Street that was built on stilts hanging over the creek. 

 

After exploring the town and doing a little shopping it was time for our excursion, the Maginificent Misty Fjords by Floatplane trip over the Tongass National Forest. We didn't realize it but we had saved the best for last.

We boarded our floatplane with four other passengers in a surprisingly roomy plane with a window area for each person.  After a smooth take-off we glided over majestic fjords, waterfalls, mountains, granite cliffs, and alpine lakes.
  

 










 
The colors were stunning.   

I didn't want the flight to stop.  But we did stop after about 30 minutes of flying by landing on a lake and getting out of the plane to stand on the planes pontoons.  It was awesome!

After 15 minutes on the water our pilot took off again for another 30 minutes of sightseeing.

All our excursions had been outstanding but the floatplane experience was at the top.
   
It is hard to believe we have been on our cruise seven days.  Time to head back to Vancouver.