Chuck and I celebrated our first/second anniversary in Savannah, Georgia this past weekend. I think it exceeded both of our expectations! I’m not exactly sure what I did expect – but it was better 🙂

Top 10 Highlights were:

1) The beautiful Olde Savannah Inn in which we stayed. We had an eccentric Boston inn keeper who made the experience particularly interesting. I think she really liked us in the end… “Oh my goodness, you went from Seventeen Magazine to Lauren Bacall overnight!” Why thank you!!

2) The Crystal Beer Parlor’s grilled ham n’ cheddar sandwich (the bison burger was good too!) We were a tad overdressed (Savannah is a very casual/hipster town), but it was funny being dolled up next to a guy wearing ankle socks with his sandals.

3) The fact that you can walk everywhere and there are about 39384783 darling little parks where you can take a break and learn some history. Downtown is remarkably well-preserved! Beautiful, mostly original homes dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries.

4) The fact that Chuck and I were so sad we didn’t encounter ANYONE with Southern accents, we started speaking in them ourselves all Saturday evening and assumed alternate identities (we may have been a bit tipsy… my name was Tabitha… I was very convincing.)

5) The open container law… speaking of tipsy 🙂 It was pretty cool to take my cup of cider out on the street while we walked along the river.

6) The trendy Bohemian Hotel Rooftop Bar – awesome city views!

7) Decadent organic breakfasts at the Inn

8) City Market… so much art and local culture! River Street shops were pretty cute too. We visited a Honey Bee shop and did some honey-tasting… who knew there was such variety in honey!

9) Moonlight Carriage Ride through the Historic District and Victorian District. Very romantic (complete with a glass of wine to take with us) and an awesome tour guide who gave us all the historic/cultural trivia you could ask for (I’m a total sucker for history and trivia!) And… I must watch “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.”

10) Finally (and probably most importantly), our dinner at Elizabeth’s on 37th, a gorgeous old Southern mansion. OMG. Words cannot describe how amazing this experience was. Chuck and I both agreed it is the best restaurant we’ve ever been to. We were served by the owner himself, who told us that the owner of Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs had dined there the night before. Seriously, I can’t even bring myself to post the pictures I took, because they don’t do it nearly enough justice. We had scallops in truffle oil, fresh biscuits, filet, flounder, organic fresh salad, chocolate pecan pie…ahhh I’m drooling just thinking about it! To quote Chuck: “There is a line where great food actually becomes art. I think this is it!”

Anyways. The only “negative” was the Ghosts and Graveyards Trolley Tour. I’m a little spoiled by Colonial Williamsburg tours, but this was pretty bad. Overly dramatic, without even a hint of authenticity. Maybe it was the fact that it was on a trolley, with a clearly unemployed actor doing the honors with over-the-top flair. But, it was free (part of our package)… so who cares 🙂 I am sad I didn’t come away with one decent Savannah ghost story to share though!

Overall, it was a simply lovely weekend 🙂