Georgia’s Coastal Cities
Vacations are a great way to reset and clear your mind from the daily grind of work or your home life. Kris and I took a vacation last week and it was much needed. The last time I took time off and away from home was in March when we went to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Just like then, I was in dire need of a change of scenery. We decided to plan our trip for Thursday through Sunday and took off Monday as well just to have some time to prepare before jumping into the upcoming week of work.
Thursday Recap
On Thursday, we were able to sleep in until 8 since we had no intention of leaving super early in the morning. We only had a 4 hour drive down to Savannah, so we could afford to hang around the house for a little bit. Kris worked out while I cooked breakfast and did a little vacuuming downstairs. Once we were finished eating, we headed upstairs to get dressed and finish packing up.
Since the dogs always get so excited when they see us about to leave, Kris came up with a great idea to distract them. While he loaded the suitcase into the car, I took them outside and brushed the loose fur off of them. It worked like a charm. While they still were a little excited, they didn’t get as worked up as they normally do.
I drove the first leg of the trip, as usual. I prefer driving first when I’m well energized and excited. That way, by the time I’m really tired, I can rest in the passenger seat after my turn is over. Usually we’ll switch after about 2 hours or so when we stop for food or gas. We made pretty decent time and thankfully didn’t run into any traffic along the way.
After our car ride, the first stop we made was at the Lexus dealership in Hilton Head to pick up some brown floor mats for Kris’ car. While their website said they were in stock, unfortunately for us, they were actually out of stock. Thankfully we were able to just order them and get them shipped right to our house.
For dinner that night, we went to eat at a black owned restaurant named Ruby Lee’s. Kris was super excited to try it since they had amazing reviews on Google. Their normal business hours are only 5 to 11 PM so we wanted to get there as quickly as we could to prevent them from getting too busy. The outside looked like a normal restaurant, but the inside was set up like a 5-star eatery. There were cloth napkins, wine glasses for water, and fresh flowers at each table. I was incredibly impressed. And the food was delicious! 5/5 would recommend and go back if I’m in the area again.
After dinner, we stopped at Publix to grab some water and some Pringles in case we got hungry later in the evening and then checked into our hotel. We stayed at The Westin in Savannah and it was pretty okay except for the fact that they sold out of the room we reserved months in advance. Instead of the typical king size bed, we had a double room. Since it was only for one night, we made it work. In my opinion, I’d rank it a pretty average hotel. There was nothing spectacular or thrilling about it, but it was nicer than some hotels we’ve stayed in before. To end our night, I watched Kris play Batman on Xbox as a perfect dessert.
Friday Recap
We started our Friday off by checking out of our hotel and going to eat at a black owned restaurant named Kim’s Cafe. I enjoyed 3 pancakes, grits, and an order of bacon while Kris ate the chicken and waffles. We both drank some coffee and shared a glass of orange juice. When we finished eating, we walked around River Street to see the Savannah moss and find a souvenir.
After a while, we made our way down to Tybee Island. We walked around the beach, saw the pier, drove to see the lighthouse, and bought a souvenir. We also stopped to get a couple gallons of gas before we headed down to Jekyll Island to check into our hotel for the remainder of the trip.
We had never stayed in two different hotels for one trip before, but I’d definitely do it again. It’s an interesting change of pace going from one hotel in one city to a totally different one. We stayed at The Westin in Jekyll Island, and it was much nicer than the one in Savannah. We got the room we reserved, along with a bigger bathroom, and free parking. There was a restaurant right across the street from the hotel where we enjoyed our dinner. Then, we went back to our room and played Xbox games for the rest of the evening.
Saturday Recap
There were little to no options for breakfast by the time we got up and out on Saturday morning. Most of the restaurants in the area closed within 20 minutes so we grabbed some iced coffee from the Starbucks attached to our hotel, and then went to see the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. It was a really cool exhibit and we even got to see the morning feeding for one of the bigger turtles that was getting rehabilitated. We grabbed two souvenirs from the gift shop and then hit the road to go to St. Simons Island.
We started off exploring the island by eating breakfast at Waffle House. It always comes in clutch if there’s nothing else around. You can always count on the food tasting the same and the prices being reasonable no matter where you go. Then, we went to the pier to look at the ocean, walked around the area, and even sat in some rocking chairs to pass some time before we headed to Brunswick to watch the UGA football game.
Kris scoped out this black owned restaurant named Cravers Wings & Grill before our trip started. It was a sports bar that just so happened to be hosting a Georgia Florida tailgate event. We definitely didn't know it before we decided to watch the game there, but it made it so much better. There was a live DJ playing music, an excellent bartender, and attentive staff to make sure we were well taken care of. And to make things better, Georgia continued its win streak by beating Florida 43-20!
We got up on Sunday morning to make our way back to our reality. We made it home around 4 PM and didn’t run into any major traffic again. All in all, it was a super fun way to explore Georgia’s coastal cities.
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Signed,
Jessica Marie
