Spring 2023: Savannah

 Sunday 5/7:  82 miles and parked at CreekFire RV Resort, Savannah, Georgia

CreekFire RV Resort, site 119.

We had the shortest drive of the trip today at only 2 hours and checked in at Creekfire about 1:00.  We have stayed at this resort before, and it is excellent.  Large manicured sites and lots of area to walk the dogs.  Parker met another new friend.  Our neighbors in the motorhome had 2 retrievers.  Maggie Mae is a female puppy 2 weeks younger than Parker and Molly is her 3 year old mother.  Parker and Maggie played for about 10 minutes and went crazy.  Unfortunately they are only staying one night.

Long time friends Robert Trithart and Charlotte Landon, who live in Savannah and are transplanted Northern New Yorkers, brought pizza for dinner at the camper.  Charlotte and I taught together at Potsdam High School back in the day.  Char had scheduled a glass blowing class for us at Hostess City Hot Glass at 7:30 this evening, and wow, did we ever have a great time!!

Ron, the owner of the shop was our teacher, and he was great.  He had a bubbling Type A personality and was full of enthusiasm.  We each got to make an implosion bowl, and he let us do 80% of the work.  He was careful, but trusting and encouraged each one of us, even if we made a slight mistake.  He obviously loves his craft and is a great teacher.  We, to put it simply, took a ball of hot glass, rolled it in colored glass chips, blew air into the hollow tube holding the glass to create a balloon, and then sucked air out to cause the bottom of the balloon to collapse, thus creating a bowl.  Trust me, the process actually works!!!

Adding color to the molten glass ball.

Shaping the molten ball.

Blowing air into the ball to create the balloon.

Sucking air out to collapse the ball into a bowl.

A final blast of heat.

Adding the bowl to molten glass to create a base.

Group photo with Ron and Chris.

Robert and Charlotte with the team.

On Monday we met Robert and Char at their house, and they drove to downtown Savannah in the Historic District.  We spent the afternoon walking along the riverfront, exploring the repurposed original power plant that is now a shopping center and event venue.  We did some shopping along the riverfront, and had an early dinner at the River House.  Robert ordered some fried green tomatoes to share.  Judy and I had fish tacos, and I just had to try the lobster crab bisque, which was excellent!

Stairs of Death

We were back to the camper by 7:30 to walk the dogs and spend a quiet evening.

Parker wanting his share of attention.

Tuesday morning we met Char and Robert at the nearby Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens.  The gardens are run by the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension.  We spent a wonderful 2 hours walking around the various theme gardens.

We also took a stroll through the orchid house.  What a collection of shapes and colors!

We happened to get lucky and see a rare occurrence.  The Agave americana,  commonly called, misleading, the century plant.  This reference in Wikipedia explains how the plant generally only lives to be 10 to 30 years old.  It produces a tall flowered stem just before it dies.  The plant reproduces by producing adventitious shoots from the base. 

Today is the last day of our 36 day string of camping on or near the ocean and fresh seafood.  So to celebrate, and say goodbye,  Robert prepared his homemade shrimp and cheesy grits for dinner, and it was excellent and on par with some of the best I've had.  After dinner we went to Hostess City Hot Glass and picked up our glass blowing projects.  They turned out amazing.  We have had such a grand time with Char and Robert.  Lots of learning, lots of laughs, and lots of memories.

Well, it's finally time to wind up our southern trip this year.  As we make the 6 day run home, we'll have stops in Charlotte, NC and Wytheville, VA.  We will spend the weekend in West Virginia with son Matt and family, and on to home by Tuesday.