Girls Weekend
Last night I got home from a "girls weekend" in Savannah, GA. The girls of which I speak were my girlfriends, Jennifer, Karen, Kim and Kate. It was awesome!
Since we arrived home late in the evening (after 9), Brock had kept Leda awake to welcome me home. I told Leda I brought her a gift from my trip and she looked at me with all seriousness and said, "you brought me donuts?" I kid you not!
Needless to say, I did NOT bring her donuts, but a t-shirt from Savannah. She was as excited about the t-shirt as she might have been about donuts, which was good, because there were no donuts!
We had an awesome time! Jennifer, Kate and I flew down on Friday and arrived in the afternoon in Savannah where Kim and Karen picked us up (Karen had flown down the night before and stayed with Kim). We headed into Savannah, got a little lost, but found our way pretty quickly to the Westin which was our home for the weekend. Lovely hotel, across the river from River Street. There was a free ferry that you could take back and forth, which was nice.
This was my first visit to Savannah - not for lack of trying - I've been in love with the city since I read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and have been wanting to go spend some time there. One awesome thing about Savannah - no open container law, so if you haven't finished your drink before you are ready to leave the bar, you can take it with you! How awesome is that?
So after we checked into the hotel, we headed downstairs for a drink to start off the weekend and make a few plans for the evening. Shortly after that we headed over on the ferry to stroll up and down River Street, checking out the stores and the restaurants. We ended up at the Boar's Head Grill and Tavern and boy what an awesome pick we made - the food was AWESOME! I believe we pretty much all had some beef of some sort (I had one of the best Filets I've had in a long time!) and the desserts were pretty good too!
We headed off to have a few drinks, did a little walking around town and headed back to the hotel for the night. Saturday was a lazy day morning. We ended up watching a Hindu/Indian wedding ceremony outside the hotel which was pretty interesting to watch. The wedding participants, both men and women, were so beautifully dressed. After we watched the wedding, we decided what we wanted to do in the evening - a nice dinner and a ghost tour - we decided on the Haunted Pub Crawl! Does that sound cool or what? And everyone we met highly recommended it!
We headed back over to front street for some lunch and a little shopping. We did get back to the hotel for a little pool side relaxing and then we got ourselves ready for our night out in Savannah. We ended up going to the Olde Pink House. If you are ever in Savannah, book a dinner at the Olde Pink House. It was awesome! The she-crab soup was awesome, the shrimp and scallop fettuccine I had was awesome, the desserts - to die for! The rest of the girls LOVED their dinners as well. We really enjoyed the restaurant and the wait staff was just the best.
After dinner, we headed off to see if we could get a carriage ride before our pub crawl (which didn't start until 9, so we had time to kill). We weren't able to get a carriage ride, so we took a walk up toward the meeting place for the pub crawl, getting ourselves a drink along the way.
The Haunted Pub Crawl was awesome! Three hours of strolling around Savannah, being told ghost stories and just when your glass is empty, hey, look at that, another pub! That had to be the best tour I've ever been on and I highly suggest it...if you are ever in Savannah, call these guys and go on a tour. Wear sensible shoes!
The tour was awesome. Our guide, Robby, was pretty cool too! He took us to 3 or 4 bars, showed us some of the 'spooky' places in Savannah, like the Colonial Park Cemetery and Warren Square where they used to hang people. I took my camera and took pictures wondering if I would get 'orbs' - what ghost hunters think are spirits manifesting themselves in photos. I wasn't sure if it would happen, and if it did, if I would believe it or not. But hey, I was on a ghost tour and I was going to see what happened!
So we are at Warren Square, this is where they used to hang people, and Robby is pointing out the tree that was used. And the branch from which the hangings took place. And I took a picture. And I saw something in my picture. And I got goose bumps....really, I did! It was a little creepy! Thank goodness I was with 25 other people!
I showed Robby and he immediately asked me to email it to him, he thought I got something there...I was sure I had to...but when I saw it on the computer, in bigger format, I was amazed:
Just in the bend of the branch coming out of the tree is the first orb I saw. If you click on the picture and view it in large size, you will be able to see a large orb above the branch. Cool! I took a picture before and after this one, from pretty much exactly the same spot and there is nothing like this in the picture! It's pretty neat! I have to say, this square did creep me out just a little bit.
Another place that gave me goosebumps was Johnson Square, which was the main square just in front of City Hall. This was a square where they also executed prisoners (which we subsequently learned had been housed in the prison, across the river, about where the Westin sits today! Oh goodie!) Robby explained about the possible haunting of the square by a purportedly innocent woman who was hung there centuries ago. She was so mad, she would throw any Spanish moss growing in the square out into the streets. And, if you look around that square today, there is not one bit of Spanish moss growing! Robby explained that if we took a good look at Warren square earlier, there is no Spanish moss growing there either. I got chills!
We moved onto Moon River Brewing Company, which is in the building that used to be the old City Hotel. This was our last stop. We proceeded downstairs into this cool brick set of rooms and heard some more stories from Robby. I took a few pictures, one of which I saw an orb in after I took it. Turns out there were A LOT of orbs in it...
I was getting chills when we were down in this room the whole time. Now I know why!
Anyway, whether you believe it or not, it was kinda fun, and taking a look at the pictures when I got home was fun - it's kinda neat thinking there were a lot of other people in that room with us, we just couldn't see them!
We ended up taking a taxi back to the Westin that night because it was well after midnight before the tour finished. Sunday morning we were up, packed and off for a nice breakfast at the Westin's resort club house. Then we checked out and took a drive over to the city to take a look at the Juliette Low house - she started the Girl Scouts and since we had all been a Girl Scout at some point, it seemed like a good idea. But alas, we didn't have time to go on the tour, so we took a look in the gift shop and then took a quick drive up to Forsyth Park and then headed back to the airport.
It was an awesome weekend. It has been decided that there will be more Girl Weekends such as this (maybe with an extra day or two thrown in for good measure). It was nice to spend time with the girls and just relax and have some fun. Can't wait until the next trip!
More pictures of the ghost tour (with more orbs). Other pictures coming soon!
Oh, and a little 'ghost story' of my own to tell. Very early on Saturday morning (maybe 4 or 5 am), I felt someone sit on the end of my bed. I didn't bother to look up or open my eyes or anything, I thought it was Kate, looking for something near the desk in our room. I didn't bother to even think about it, didn't even bother to ask her about it. And I know it happened, it wasn't something that I dreamt (I mean, I guess it could have been, but it felt really real).
Anyway, after all the ghost stories on Saturday night, as I was going to bed (oh, and yes, after reading some more ghost stories in my Haunted Savannah book) I thought about the incident, thought to ask Kate about it, but didn't. Then, around 4 or 5 in the morning, I woke up (as I am apt to do) and in the process of trying to get back to sleep (which really didn't work), I got to thinking about the 'person' who sat on the end of my bed, and what Robby had said about the old prison being where the Westin is now - oh, and yes, gave myself a little freak out! When Kate woke up in the morning, I asked her if she had sat on the end of my bed, but she hadn't. So now, I wonder, who did. Apparently no one menacing, because I am here to tell the tale! Beware of room 1133 at the Westin in Savannah GA! hehehe
Since we arrived home late in the evening (after 9), Brock had kept Leda awake to welcome me home. I told Leda I brought her a gift from my trip and she looked at me with all seriousness and said, "you brought me donuts?" I kid you not!
Needless to say, I did NOT bring her donuts, but a t-shirt from Savannah. She was as excited about the t-shirt as she might have been about donuts, which was good, because there were no donuts!
We had an awesome time! Jennifer, Kate and I flew down on Friday and arrived in the afternoon in Savannah where Kim and Karen picked us up (Karen had flown down the night before and stayed with Kim). We headed into Savannah, got a little lost, but found our way pretty quickly to the Westin which was our home for the weekend. Lovely hotel, across the river from River Street. There was a free ferry that you could take back and forth, which was nice.
This was my first visit to Savannah - not for lack of trying - I've been in love with the city since I read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and have been wanting to go spend some time there. One awesome thing about Savannah - no open container law, so if you haven't finished your drink before you are ready to leave the bar, you can take it with you! How awesome is that?
So after we checked into the hotel, we headed downstairs for a drink to start off the weekend and make a few plans for the evening. Shortly after that we headed over on the ferry to stroll up and down River Street, checking out the stores and the restaurants. We ended up at the Boar's Head Grill and Tavern and boy what an awesome pick we made - the food was AWESOME! I believe we pretty much all had some beef of some sort (I had one of the best Filets I've had in a long time!) and the desserts were pretty good too!
We headed off to have a few drinks, did a little walking around town and headed back to the hotel for the night. Saturday was a lazy day morning. We ended up watching a Hindu/Indian wedding ceremony outside the hotel which was pretty interesting to watch. The wedding participants, both men and women, were so beautifully dressed. After we watched the wedding, we decided what we wanted to do in the evening - a nice dinner and a ghost tour - we decided on the Haunted Pub Crawl! Does that sound cool or what? And everyone we met highly recommended it!
We headed back over to front street for some lunch and a little shopping. We did get back to the hotel for a little pool side relaxing and then we got ourselves ready for our night out in Savannah. We ended up going to the Olde Pink House. If you are ever in Savannah, book a dinner at the Olde Pink House. It was awesome! The she-crab soup was awesome, the shrimp and scallop fettuccine I had was awesome, the desserts - to die for! The rest of the girls LOVED their dinners as well. We really enjoyed the restaurant and the wait staff was just the best.
After dinner, we headed off to see if we could get a carriage ride before our pub crawl (which didn't start until 9, so we had time to kill). We weren't able to get a carriage ride, so we took a walk up toward the meeting place for the pub crawl, getting ourselves a drink along the way.
The Haunted Pub Crawl was awesome! Three hours of strolling around Savannah, being told ghost stories and just when your glass is empty, hey, look at that, another pub! That had to be the best tour I've ever been on and I highly suggest it...if you are ever in Savannah, call these guys and go on a tour. Wear sensible shoes!
The tour was awesome. Our guide, Robby, was pretty cool too! He took us to 3 or 4 bars, showed us some of the 'spooky' places in Savannah, like the Colonial Park Cemetery and Warren Square where they used to hang people. I took my camera and took pictures wondering if I would get 'orbs' - what ghost hunters think are spirits manifesting themselves in photos. I wasn't sure if it would happen, and if it did, if I would believe it or not. But hey, I was on a ghost tour and I was going to see what happened!
So we are at Warren Square, this is where they used to hang people, and Robby is pointing out the tree that was used. And the branch from which the hangings took place. And I took a picture. And I saw something in my picture. And I got goose bumps....really, I did! It was a little creepy! Thank goodness I was with 25 other people!
I showed Robby and he immediately asked me to email it to him, he thought I got something there...I was sure I had to...but when I saw it on the computer, in bigger format, I was amazed:
Just in the bend of the branch coming out of the tree is the first orb I saw. If you click on the picture and view it in large size, you will be able to see a large orb above the branch. Cool! I took a picture before and after this one, from pretty much exactly the same spot and there is nothing like this in the picture! It's pretty neat! I have to say, this square did creep me out just a little bit.
Another place that gave me goosebumps was Johnson Square, which was the main square just in front of City Hall. This was a square where they also executed prisoners (which we subsequently learned had been housed in the prison, across the river, about where the Westin sits today! Oh goodie!) Robby explained about the possible haunting of the square by a purportedly innocent woman who was hung there centuries ago. She was so mad, she would throw any Spanish moss growing in the square out into the streets. And, if you look around that square today, there is not one bit of Spanish moss growing! Robby explained that if we took a good look at Warren square earlier, there is no Spanish moss growing there either. I got chills!
We moved onto Moon River Brewing Company, which is in the building that used to be the old City Hotel. This was our last stop. We proceeded downstairs into this cool brick set of rooms and heard some more stories from Robby. I took a few pictures, one of which I saw an orb in after I took it. Turns out there were A LOT of orbs in it...
I was getting chills when we were down in this room the whole time. Now I know why!
Anyway, whether you believe it or not, it was kinda fun, and taking a look at the pictures when I got home was fun - it's kinda neat thinking there were a lot of other people in that room with us, we just couldn't see them!
We ended up taking a taxi back to the Westin that night because it was well after midnight before the tour finished. Sunday morning we were up, packed and off for a nice breakfast at the Westin's resort club house. Then we checked out and took a drive over to the city to take a look at the Juliette Low house - she started the Girl Scouts and since we had all been a Girl Scout at some point, it seemed like a good idea. But alas, we didn't have time to go on the tour, so we took a look in the gift shop and then took a quick drive up to Forsyth Park and then headed back to the airport.
It was an awesome weekend. It has been decided that there will be more Girl Weekends such as this (maybe with an extra day or two thrown in for good measure). It was nice to spend time with the girls and just relax and have some fun. Can't wait until the next trip!
More pictures of the ghost tour (with more orbs). Other pictures coming soon!
Oh, and a little 'ghost story' of my own to tell. Very early on Saturday morning (maybe 4 or 5 am), I felt someone sit on the end of my bed. I didn't bother to look up or open my eyes or anything, I thought it was Kate, looking for something near the desk in our room. I didn't bother to even think about it, didn't even bother to ask her about it. And I know it happened, it wasn't something that I dreamt (I mean, I guess it could have been, but it felt really real).
Anyway, after all the ghost stories on Saturday night, as I was going to bed (oh, and yes, after reading some more ghost stories in my Haunted Savannah book) I thought about the incident, thought to ask Kate about it, but didn't. Then, around 4 or 5 in the morning, I woke up (as I am apt to do) and in the process of trying to get back to sleep (which really didn't work), I got to thinking about the 'person' who sat on the end of my bed, and what Robby had said about the old prison being where the Westin is now - oh, and yes, gave myself a little freak out! When Kate woke up in the morning, I asked her if she had sat on the end of my bed, but she hadn't. So now, I wonder, who did. Apparently no one menacing, because I am here to tell the tale! Beware of room 1133 at the Westin in Savannah GA! hehehe
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