"Free" Parents Trip to Savannah GA

Wes and I got away for our birthdays last week. We use this excuse to take a fall trip. This year we were able to fly and stay for free thanks to an Instagram winning! Who knew people actually won the giveaways they post?! I follow the company Albion Fit on Instagram and they were having a giveaway and all you had to do was tag someone. I tagged my mom and I won $1000 to their company, $1000 to Delta Airlines, and $1000 to AirBNB. I am still spending my $1000 to their company. I had previously liked their bathing suits and now I am wearing all their options thanks to gift card. We used some AirBNB money when went to Chicago but then we were able to use the remainder and the Delta gift card to go to Savannah! We picked Savannah because we wanted to go somewhere new that neither of us had been too, pretty/nice fall weather, and within free gift card budget. 

To be honest, I pushed for Savannah because I wanted to experience the trees. Maybe I am a horticulturalist at heart. I, of course, enjoyed the sweet time with Wes. It is good for our marriage to do new things and have uninterrupted meals and laughs together! Some of our highlights were unexpected. We met a man named Lonnie. He was a 65 years old, blind and homeless. He got turned around crossing the street and so we helped direct him. We went on to have a sweet conversation as he is a brother in Christ and we were able to pray with him. The next night he was in the same spot so we could drop off some dinner. Then on Sunday before we left we attended a worship service at a church close to where we were staying, First Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church. They welcomed us in and the pastor (below) prayed over us before we left. We witnessed quite a bit of debauchery and human brokenness over the weekend from same sex attraction celebration, drunkenness, and wicca. Wes and I were able to discuss our own brokenness and sins too during the weekend.  So it was so refreshing to be able to worship with local believers in a different context and be reminded that worship can look different and that there are other people who love the same God. Because of sharing the same God, it connected us with Lonnie and the First Tabernacle Mission Baptist Church members.  

Lonnie told us he was blind but it was Christ that reminded him it is the things unseen that are eternal. He was encouraged to get to talk to other brothers/sisters and Christ and we enjoyed praying with him too. 

It was of course hard to leave the kids but they were in good hands. So thankful for my parents coming up and having fun with them while we were gone. They also prepared little birthday gifts for Wes to give him when we got back. In the picture you can see Levi is intently playing with "desk pets". His teacher started these as a reward and now we have them at home for rewards. They are just little erasers that come apart in the shape of animals but dude loves them :) 

Walking around the historic district of Savannah was charming and fun but I really enjoyed going to Wormsloe. It is an historic site with beautiful grounds and history. We walked most days (9-10 miles!) but one day we rented a car so we could go to Wormsloe and Tybee Island. 

Pictures from Wormsloe. 

A kids science poster project was very insightful for me to understand the moss on trees!

Pictures from Tybee Island. 

We didnt see any alligators in the wild but we did eat at the crab shack. The food was great and the contained alligators were fun! 

Pictures from Factors Walk and the Riverfront. 

 

We stumbled upon the 25th annual SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) Film Festival. We had not been to a red carpet event or film festival so this was fun. In fact the SCAD buildings all over the historic district were nice and interesting. We got tickets for the closing night showing, Living, which was really good. 

Pictures from the Historic District. We enjoyed the shops, bookstores and dessert locations! 

We really enjoyed our chocolate experience at Lule's and Choclat by Adam (we had a "box of chocolate" and ate it the Forrest Gump filming site. The silk chocolate pie from The Little Crown British restaurant was good but the fruit pies were just okay. The ice cream from their famous Leopolds was good but not as good as Mitchells in Cleveland we  decided. But the beignets from Hueys with praline sauce were so good! 

 

You have to make reservations weeks in advance for the Olde Pink House so we were not able to get in but we did go down stairs to their tavern that is first come first serve. The menu is the same and we decided it was our favorite meal of trip. 

\ 

There are so many pretty squares! 

The City Market is in between the Riverfront and the end of historic district. It is pretty touristy here and around the river but still fun. 

We stayed in an AirBNB across the street from Forsyth Park. It is covered iwth live oaks and spanish moss including the 300 year old tree below. 

One night we did a ghost tour which was neat. Not so much scary but just historical in nature of the death that occurred in various buildings and around the city.  

The best part is traveling with Wes and celebrating him! Happy 37th birthday!