Funny Photos

Anyone want to ride a pig?

Not sure what this statue stands for but I thought it was funny.

Billy in a hair net.

Yard art. This would make my mom proud.

This bread has the same name as my mom. I had to capture a picture since I had only heard stories of its existence.

Billy getting ready for our trip to Vietnam. He wants to know if it is okay to double fist?

Do we make a cute couple?

Mobile's Lunch Stop

On our way from Tallahassee we stopped in Mobile, AL for lunch. This stop came highly recommended from Aunt Pam as one of the best oyster po-boys and a real local's joint. I should back up a second and say the real reason I am posting is so that Billy can gloat about his second "star" sighting. Upon arrival at Wintzell's we notice lots of large football player looking men in the restaurant. It turns out that Mobile is hosting Senior Day which is the time when NFL scouts examine prospective prospects from college. It is at Senior Day that they see players run their 40 yd dash, catch, pass, and do whatever it is men do to impress other men. Anyway, we were seated in a back room of the restaurant with multiple recruiting teams. The Atlanta Falcons, Seattle Seahawks, Miami Dolphins, and an unknown (they had their badges turned around). Sitting at the table next to us was none other than Pete Carroll, the new Seattle Seahawk coach and previous coach of USC. He was the only coach at the restaurant that Billy recognized since scouting isn't typically something a head coach does, at least according to Billy. Billy played it cool, we enjoyed a fantastic lunch, and left with our second sighting.

My only question was when do I get to see someone I recognize as famous??? The last time I was excited about something it was the NPR Story Corp trailer in San Antonio and half the people I told had no clue what it was. Maybe along the way I will see a politician (and not my mom) or a quilter.

Tallahassee

There isn't much to post with regards to Tallahassee mainly because we wanted to relax. We stayed with Billy's Aunt Pam and her husband Dan in a REAL home, not just a HOJO or Quality Inn. His cousin Ben was also there during our visit so the two had a great time catching up.

Tallahassee is home to about 250,000 citizens and the capitol of Florida. The seven hills of Tallahassee were incredible and just the trees and neighborhoods reminded both of us of Savannah. We were both pleasantly surprised by the city and its small town feel.

The one full day we had in town we spent touring the new capitol, old capitol, Lake Jackson, Indian mounds, and drove around FSU.

The new capitol building looks like a large jail and was the ugliest of capitols we had seen on our journey (sorry Florida). The old capitol was pretty but with the candy stripe awnings it would have been hard to take any legislature seriously.

After lunch Dan took Billy and I to see Lake Jackson and the surrounding Indian mounds. Lake Jackson has an interesting story that Billy and I thought was too good to be true. About every 25 years the two sink holes in the lake open up and all the water drains outinto the aquafir. Billy's aunt saw it the last time it happened and walked out on the lake bottom. Dan told us that it is just now starting to restore itself to original levels.

Later that afternoon we drove around FSU, took a few photos, and then went home for a wonderful home cooked meal.
FSU Stadium from the observation deck of the new capital building.

Lady & Sons Restuarant

This restaurant deserves its own post. Lady & Sons is the restaurant started by food maven Paula Deen and her sons. Lets just say after eating dinner here that Billy and I were in a butter induced coma. The food was OUT OF THIS WORLD! We both had the buffet which featured fried chicken, pot roast, collard greens, corn bread, mashed potatoes, candied yams, mac & cheese, okra, cheese biscuits, and hoe cakes. It may not sound fancy but the food melted in your mouth, fell off the bone, and oozed southern goodness. Some websites say it isn't worth the hype but we both felt otherwise. I am at a loss for words about how to describe the tastes experienced last night, so when in Savannah make a reservation to have lunch or dinner. As a safety net make sure you stay nearby so you can collapse into your own butter coma.


Eating chocolate butter cake for desert.

Savannah

Our Savannah experience started with Blue Moon Brewing Company in downtown. It was highly praised, but ended up just a brew pub with so-so food. Just like New Orleans they let you carry your beer in the streets in plastic cups, so Billy was at home. This seemed like a good idea until 3am when the sounds of cars and commotion woke him up. I of course slept through everything but I usually do.


The morning was chilly with a slight wind so walking along the water even with a scarf and gloves wasn't enjoyable. We splurged and bought tickets to the trolley tour which had 15 stops around the city. Savannah has a rich and long history so having a tour guide was the best way to see the city. I had wanted an architectural walking and history tour but the goose bumps and blue lips were a sign that today wasn't our day to spend 3 hours walking.

The Riverwalk above is a nice stroll but commercialized with tourist restaurants and shops.

While on the tour we made a list of all the places we wanted to go back and visit and photograph while driving. I saw the birthplace of Juliet Gordon Lowe and where she founded the Girl Scouts of America.

The Girl Scouts were founded in the carriage house behind her home.

Her birthplace.

There was a home that was a Sears kit catalog house where the windows were supposedly put in upside down.


Florsyth park is in the Victorian part of town and has a beautiful fountain widely photographed. Savannah has three areas; historic, Victorian, and colonial.

Among our final stops were the Cathedral of St.John the Baptist, First African Baptist Church, and the famous waving girl statue. Florence Martus waved at the ships sailing in and out of Savannah for over 40 years in hopes of finding her lost love.


The rest of the afternoon was spent driving the streets and admiring the beautiful homes, lives oaks, and quintessential streets.



Before dinner we toured Bonaventure Cemetery. Many people will recognize this as the place where the cover for "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" was taken. The original sculpture is in the museum of art in Savannah but the cemetery was breathtaking. The live oaks, unpaved roads, algae growing on statues, and statues made it one of our favorite sites in the city. Next time I would have printed a map to the famous statues and graves.

Charleston

I found my second love, it's Charleston!

If I had to pick any city to move to after our journey the past two weeks this would be it. The people, architecture, walkability, food, abundance of design stores, and Southern charm were intoxicating.

Our drive from Charlotte was rainy so we decided to spend the first day in Charleston indoors, at least sort of, since Charleston is best experienced outdoors there isn't much actually indoors. Billy and I went to Patriots Point Naval Museum where we toured the retired USS Yorktown naval carrier and USS Clamagore, a submarine. The Yorktown was decommissioned in 1970 and and the Clamagore in 1975. Overall it was a so-so visit but the Yorktown didn't have many description cards when touring to know what we were looking at. A more enjoyable trip would have been to see an active naval carrier, but it worked for a rainy afternoon.

Captain Billy!

The sailors slept with their torpedoes. Talk about 1st class living.

The submarine hallways were one man wide.

It was a bit windy.

After visiting the naval ships we ate dinner at Sticky Fingers a local BBQ chain in Charleston. They had Memphis and Virginia style BBQ which Billy enjoyed. I thought the green beans were salty but being my mother's daughter, anything is salty if it contains salt. Even though the BBQ was great Billy said the chicken wings were the best.

The next day we toured Charleston without rain.

First thing was first in my book, and that was a visit to a local quilt shop. I made a small contribution to the local economy.

After the quilt store we walked the town from King Street to Rainbow Row and back. We stopped in a few shops, had great salads for lunch, and chatted up lots of locals. Along the way we feel in love with Charleston.
Rainbow Row

Our day concluded with a drive around the Citadel. During our visit to Annapolis we visited the Navel Academy where I found the scenery and location warm but the Citadel was cold and institutional.

Charlotte & Spartanburg

The day after finding out our car was good to go we thought we would spend it in automotive spirit. This was more Billy's day but I surprisingly liked the testosterone adventures he had planned.

The morning started with a tour of Charlotte Motor Speedway, formerly the Lowe's Motor Speedway. For $10 we rode with two other couples in a 15 passenger van around the Speedway and finished with a loop around the 1.5 mile 24 degree course. The speedway includes a drag strip, kart course, reverse eight course, and dirt track. Having never been to a race before this was a quiet way of experiencing the excitement.

In the winner's circle!

After our morning touring the speedway we visited the local Nascar racing teams of Hendrick Racing, Roush, and Joe Gibbs. None of the teams give tours but they do have windows in the lobby where you can view the garages. We also met Kyle Petty at Hendrick Motor Sports. It was media day there.

The afternoon was topped off by a tour of the BMW plant in Spartanburg. This BMW plant produces the X models including the X5, X6, and soon to be X3. There were no photos allowed in the plant was the hour tour was better than I expected. The body assembly process is all automated using robots who move with the gracefulness of a ballerina. The paint process is largely done by associates, at least the sanding and final finishing. BMW said that the computers don't have the human touch to detect all small imperfections and surface impurities. The final assembly process is all completed by hand as the car moves through the plant on a track. This is the only factory in the world that produces all X5's and X6's so many coming off the line had the stearing wheel on the "wrong" side.