Rain Won't Stop Us Now!

Thursday, March 24th – Savannah, Georgia – Day 45 

 We had a slow start in the morning. It had been raining all night and it was still overcast and raining. Laundry was done. After getting breakfast started and the girls starting to connect, John and I went to a snake feeding at the park’s nature centre. They had multiple species of snake and an aquarium of turtles. The feeding was interesting. One red snake went to town eating a mouse and John loved it. The turtles were enthusiasticly swimming around eating their salmon. Interesting fact, snakes can only eat something up to 1.5x the size of their body. The other interesting tidbit was that they had a skeleton of a giant sloth displayed that was found in the park. 

 When we got back to the trailer, everyone was disappointed because it was raining, the girls couldn’t get onto their class and we had not adequately planned to go to the snake feeding so they had all been sitting around waiting for John and I. A slight scent of FOMO was in the air. So we went back to the nature centre and John showed everyone the snakes and turtles. Unfortunately, the mouse was only a slight bulge in the snake’s body at that point. 

 The next stop was Forsyth park, the central park in Savannah, and one we had visited when we were in Florida last. We were racing back after finding out about COVID but we stopped for a brief break in this park. The rain was falling but the kids still raced towards the play structure and got themselves soaked. Mary entered the Mansion on Forsyth Park, a stunning, and probably stunningly expensive hotel. After the kids got soaked and we took a quick look around we were ready to go but Mary had ordered a burger and was having a glass of wine at the beautiful restaurant bar so we told her we would be back. 

 Google turned up the Savannah African Art Museum as close and free. It sounded interesting so we raced over for the next tour. The tour guide was funny, charming and informative. The kids were fascinated. Aisling and Charlotte asked more questions during the art tour then in most other nature centres and museums. We saw giant masks, clothing, currency, weapons and art. The museum was a real gem. After exploring the rooms from each area of Africa we returned to pick Mary up. 

 Gen found an ad in the Savannah tourist magazine for McDonough pub on McDonough street so off we went. After parking, we took a tour through Chippewa square. The square was commemorating “the valour of American arms in the battle of Chippewa, Canada 1813”. Interesting. As soon as we walked into the McDonough pub, Mary told them that she was a McDonough, and the waitress came over to us and said “We are a bit of a dive bar”. Gen and Mary fell in love for the name, I fell in love with the dive bar. It was happy hour, so we had buffalo shrimp, nachos and a few cheap drinks. It was getting late and we decided not to stick around for karaoke night. 

We walked along a few streets and through a square or two. Savannah is known for their layout with a ridiculous number of squares each with its own statue. Back in the car and we drove along River street. A cobblestone road that looked out over the Savannah river with old buildings filled with shops, and restaurants lining one side. We stopped long enough to fulfil our shopping needs and purchase a colour changing ring for each of the kids. Then back to the park and bed.