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IT’S UP TO YOU TO FLY AWAY! By John Bouck
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA!
After an unexpected, quick, trip to Florida, we decided to cruise back leisurely. Just take our time on the return flight. Visit a few places we hadn’t been to before, or stop at places we have been to, but really liked and wanted to see again.
Located on the southeast coast of Georgia, the City of Savannah is actually several miles inland, but boasts the 4th busiest, and fastest growing container seaport in the U. S. Much of the salty traffic (ships from all over the world) passes right in front of your eyes along the beautifully restored Savannah riverfront. All kinds of ships, from barges to huge container carriers, auto haulers, naval vessels and yachts, rumble a few hundred yards in front, upbound or downbound in the Savannah River.
Flying in, probably the most convenient airport is Savannah International (SAV), which is only about 6 miles north of the city. The airport is shared with a military base, overflowing with C-130’s when we stopped. We were met by the line people for Signature Flight Support, an efficient, no-nonsense operation. Overnight tie-down parking is only $5.00 a night, with the ramp fee ($19) waived with the purchase of fuel. Although the fuel was somewhat expensive, there is a 50 cent per gallon discount on weekends.
If you plan to be in the area for a few days, I would recommend renting a car, as there is much to see in the area around Savannah. We did reserve a car from Enterprise, who advised they would have the car at the FBO when we arrived. We arrived. They didn’t. The people at Signature were great, though, driving us all the way around the airport to the terminal building, where Enterprise was located. There, we were told by the desk guy that Enterprise doesn’t deliver their cars to the FBO. Hmm. Isn’t that on each of the Enterprise commercials, and don’t they do that at virtually every other airport we land? Guess Savannah is different for them, but they did provide us with an upgrade, so that took away some of the agitation.
If you plan to be in Savannah just overnight, and want to spend time sightseeing in town, a car probably isn’t necessary. Take a cab downtown, but plan to stay someplace on the riverfront. From there, it’s a short walk to everything important. For more information, log on to: www.savannahvisit.com, or www.officialsavannahguide.com.
Menus vary from light pub fare to excellent fine dining, usually with a Cajun flair, but most of the restaurants share the southern pride for cooking. The Chart House is situated in the center, with great views…just like all of the Chart House Restaurants. However, we managed to find, by following our noses, a gem of a restaurant, called “Hueys”, named after the immortal long-time Louisiana Senator, Huey Long. With a terrific Cajun menu, we found ourselves going back for lunch as well as dinner. The crab cakes were some of the best we’ve had, as well as the Creole Gumbo. I actually planned on having just the gumbo and a salad, so ordered a bowl. Don’t do that! I was stunned. The bowl was large enough to land my float plane!
I couldn’t possibly have eaten that, and a salad, AND the fantastic, New Orleans style Beignets we had for dessert (sort of a very light fried dough, covered with sugar). When I couldn’t finish it, our server looked at me with a frown, asking, “Was there something wrong with your gumbo?” She looked like she had been deeply wounded, even when I told her I couldn’t eat the rest without taking off my pants and shirt! Hopefully, she’s forgiven me by now, although I can’t believe I’m the first who couldn’t eat it all!
Downtown, just a couple of streets away, you can also find the very famous Paula Deen’s “The Lady and Sons” Restaurant. Food is terrific here, but they don’t take reservations for smaller parties. However, they do have a priority wait list that you may get on by calling ahead…which would be a good idea as it’s usually a very popular, busy, place.
River Street is the location of the former Savannah Cotton Exchange, where old warehouses have been renovated into attractive shops and restaurants. These original buildings were once alive and thriving with industry. Huge 500 pound bales of cotton were delivered from cotton fields inland, and stored in the brick warehouses lining the waterfront, where they awaited shipment all over the world. Slaves were bought and sold, and worked along the waterfront here when cotton was king and the name of the game was making money. After the demise of the cotton industry, the area rapidly decayed, and these buildings became vacant, with many simply falling apart.
Today, after its renovation, the street and the buildings are alive and busy all day long, with loads of neat shops, and no chain stores. It’s fun to stroll along the shops, ducking into the ones that interest you, and then alternate by stepping across the cobblestone street to the river park. There, you can just sit, and watch the river traffic moving by, or even take a boat cruise or tour.
You should really be sure to purchase tickets for the Old Town Trolley. It’s almost a must. The trolley can be accessed from about 15 stops throughout the city, and features a narrated tour through Savannah. The trolley cars pass along most of the beautiful park-like squares, where statues and park benches rest in the shadows beneath beautiful live oak trees (the “live oak” name came from the appearance that these oak trees never lost their leaves, and so appeared to always be “alive”. In fact, they do lose their leaves, but on their own schedule, and not simply in the fall, like most of the other trees). Spidery Spanish moss drips from their limbs almost to the ground. One of the features of the trolley tour is that you are able to get off at any location appealing to you, then hop back on later to continue your narrated tour.
If you decide to rent a car, there are lots of things to do in the surrounding area. From commercial Hilton Head Island (about 45 minutes away), to laid-back, old-Georgia Tybee Island (just 15 minutes away), or just a drive through the delta around Savannah, you’ll find all kinds of neat places. We headed out to Tybee Island, where some of the best beaches of the area were just waiting for us to walk on them. The weather, while we were there, was on the cool side, so I decided against my Speedo (actually my wife cut that up into little red and white pieces about 25 years ago!), and wore a jacket. The sand is reasonably hard and great for walking.
As a matter of fact, we pulled into a dirt parking lot, with about 8 little (50 square foot) shops located on stilts along one side. Huge signs on the doors shouted “OPEN”, but out of all of them, only 3 were actually open. The rest had various other notes on the door, from “gone to lunch” (at 3:30 in the afternoon!), to “be back soon” (when?!). The merchants were about the most laid back “capitalists” we’ve seen! From there we paid a visit to the Tybee Island Lighthouse and museum, which is open to the public. The island is close to Savannah, easily accessible, and interesting enough to make it a “must do” if you have the time.
After just a couple of days, we left this historic, fun town, vowing to start our diet as soon as we got home. We dropped our car at the FBO, and flew out on our 4 ˝ hour flight back to snow country. The time in Savannah went by much too quickly, with quite a few places we were unable to get to in a few short days. But…that leaves us something to do on another trip with our magic wings!
----------------------------------------------------------------- John Bouck lives in upstate Auburn, N. Y. He is a commercial and industrial real estate broker, licensed in New York and Florida. John flies a Cessna 210, as well as a Cessna 180 on amphibious floats. With over 2,000 hours of flight time, he holds a commercial license, with instrument rating, as well as seaplane rating, and is a CFI. He can be reached at: jcbouck@verizon.net. |
Savannah
was one of the places we’ve been before, but we loved just about
everything in this quaint, historic city. From the very real
southern hospitality, to the 24 manicured squares around town, to
the action on the seaport, it’s a fun city! Oh, did I mention the
food?! If you have read any previous articles, you realize my wife
and I eat our way through every vacation, and every town…and
Savannah is a place for serious eating! The diet went right out the
window…into the Savannah River!
River
Street is the main commercial district extending along the Savannah
River, with several hotels, as well as some of the finest
restaurants in town. 
Oh,
one thing some people learn the hard way is that the Spanish moss,
while unusual, and actually beautiful in this setting, is not
something to take down and stuff in your suitcase to take home. The
moss, which feels somewhat rubbery and hardy, is actually home to
all kinds of little mites and insects that would love to take the
trip back home with you…or ON you! If you’re just dying to bring
some home to display, you can either microwave it, or boil it, which
should effectively remove all or most of them (key word should be
ALL!). 
The
Island of Tybee is really a throw-back to Old Georgia, and is almost
totally non-commercial. However, it did have some great
restaurants, including a few that were directly on the beach. There
were also some interesting, thoroughly old-Georgia, backwoods shops.