Sweet, Soft Savannah

Sorry, I'm tardy! This blog entry is a day late because I just got back from a mother/daughter trip to Savannah, GA. My mom and her sister, my Aunt Nancy, cooked up a great idea: take their daughters on a girls-only trip. Aunt Nancy and Uncle Barry had visited Savannah previously, but guys hate old house tours and fancy gardens and antiques and shopping, so he said to come back and bring some girls. Boy, did we have a blast!

I am so grateful to my mom for the opportunity to go to this beautiful and historic Southern city. Savannah is bursting with charm, stately homes, well-preserved history and citizens with impeccable manners. The climate was humid, but in a coastal sort of way, with plenty of cool breezes and warm sunshine. I marveled at city squares filled with live oaks loaded down with Spanish moss. (Which by the way is neither Spanish nor moss. It is from the pineapple family and filled with chiggers.) The parks and gardens were awash with the bright colors of spring flowers.

The food was plentiful, well-varied and all delicious. And, believe me, I tried it all! We had shrimp, oysters, salmon, low country boil, jambalaya and grits with it all, of course. We tried fresh pralines and salt water taffy and stracciatella gelato. We ate Southern food, Italian food and seafood.

Because of this epic journey, I got to cross a number of items off my "bucket list." You know, those things you want to do or see before you call it a life. I saw a lighthouse, dipped my toes in the Atlantic Ocean, saw a jellyfish, took a horse-drawn carriage ride and rode a trolley car. Doing all these things with some of my favorite people on earth made it that much sweeter.

My mom and I are two peas in a pod and we always have a good time together, whatever we are doing. To be able to hang out with my Aunt Nancy and cousin Cheryl was really special. We laughed and talked and swapped crazy stories about husbands and kids and life. We also teased and flirted with waiters and received preferential treatment wherever we went. If heaven is anything like Savannah, I highly recommend it.

(Pictured above is my cousin, Cheryl, Aunt Nancy, Mom and me, sitting on Forrest Gump's bus bench with a box of chocolates.)

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Momala's Book Club Pick: I finished "Travels With Charley" and started John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." It takes just a little while to get into it, because of the Old English, but I am merely a quarter of the way through and really enjoying. This is one of those books I've always meant to read and never got around to.

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Female in Motion Exercise Update: I did three aerobic workouts last week before leaving for my trip and walked my legs off during. Hopefully, the extra restaurant calories won't be a big problem.

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Notable Quote:

"Anything that comes out of the South is going to be called grotesque by the Northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in which case it is going to be called realistic."--Flannery O'Connor, author and native Savannian (I saw her house!)