Amusement Park... Stuff: February 2015

Friday, February 27, 2015

The oldest city in Georgia.

Ah... a day walking around Savannah, Georgia.

I've driven past the city some +10 times but never really took the time to explore... Well, that needed to change :D

(I've broken up our Hilton Head Island, SC trip into 3 parts and therefore its not in order. This would be the 4th day overall)
After waking up Chelsea and Mariah and making the less than an hour drive... We arrived in Savannah with nothing to do but walk around and explore the city.

After driving around for 30 minutes looking for a place to park we found a lot that still had empty spots... and started our adventure, yay History!

First up on our walk was River Street.

And the Savannah River... and stuffs

Oh man, a bear!
Also, I look absolutely massive in these photos because I had 3 different hoodies on at once, rather than a single jacket. oops. It was cold when we left South Carolina... once the sun came out it was nice.. but cool... and at night it cooled off again

Shopping for sun glasses? Yeah, not me...

Crazy waving lady, Florence.

1996 Summer Olympics sub-Cauldron
While most events were held in Atlanta, sailing was held in Savannah

The river and the Talmadge Memorial Bridge

Uh, Port of Savannah is the fastest growing port in the US?

Epic/Deathly stairs!

That come with their own warning signs :D

Pirates' House
one of the oldest buildings in all of Georgia

A cannon!

Old Police car at the Police Barracks

Next to this creepy-ass-cemetery
I pretty much walked right to the other side and waited around for the girls to look around....

The Mercer-Williams House, location of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
(its some book... and also a movie, I guess)

The city is also dotted with little garden squares. There were 24 built between 1733 and 1851, but only 22 remain.
(one of the three 'lost' has been rebuilt)
We walked around half a dozen of them.

Madison Square

Lafayette Square

Monterey Square

Forsyth Park.
Savannah's version of Boston Gardens or Orlando's Lake Eola.

Home to this fountain, built in 1858...
and under refurbishment on our visit.
D'oh!

There's also a cafe... where I got this yummy grilled cheese sandwich for lunch!

Confederate Memorial built in 1879

The fountain again and the tree lined paths

"I'm an adult!"

Lots and lots of Spanish Moss

Haitian memorial for the Siege of Savannah.

Free samples of famous cookies?!
Yes please.

City Hall

Oh hey, another cannon

Neat Griffin fountain at the Savannah Cotton Exchange

Annddd.... Back to River Street

Tracks for the River Street Streetcar heritage streetcar line.
It wasn't in operations during our visit :(
Maybe next time?

'Chelsea's' palm weaving rose
(haha, she couldn't help it)

100 year old Candy Store!

Mmm..... candy

And while pineapple taffy is disgusting... the shops candy machine was amazing!

(vine video linked at the end of this post)

For din din... Mariah picked Spanky's, a place she had eaten at with her family before.

We even ate our vegetables!

(deep fried and covered in ranch....)

And I had a little pizza <3

River Street at night, waiting for our Ghost Tour to start

We had booked tickets for Old Town Trolley Tours Ghost tour of the city, a ghost tour was one of our requirements for the trip. ha

Where we got to go inside of the Juliette Gordon Low House

(founder of the Girl Scouts of America)

It was pretty neat...

(I liked these stairs)

And Chelsea nearly messed herself when she saw a ghost.... that turned out to be a fur coat on a coat rack.... <3

It also stopped at Perkin’s & Son’s Ship Chandlery

This sort of story teller / haunt attraction.

Where you get to hear some local ghost stories and tales

With some haunted house effects and sounds

(And... the girls both screamed)

And as we poked around a few gift shops before making the drive back up to Hilton Head... Someone was extremely excited to find gift tack with her name on it for once.
I guess finding "Mariah" gift items is hard.

Woo, Georgia!

Bonus stuff via Twitter
100 year old candy machine! - video
yay

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

And it's not even my birthday

Oh wait, yes it is!

Seven years of Flickr Cakes!!!

(and the best part is... its a cake!)

So back in 2009, during my first round of Project365.. I wanted to have my 'Photo of the Day' be of me with my birthday cake (obviously) and to be funny I had the cake be a photo of all the photos I had taken so far in the project. I remember being pretty awkward sending in the photo I wanted to have put on the cake... and even more embarrassed when I was contacted by Dairy Queen who wanted to make sure I had sent the right photo to them. After telling them I had... I received my amazing cake and took my POTD with it...
...and the Flickr Cake was born <3

In 2010, my first birthday spent in Florida since moving from Massachusetts, I wasn't planning on getting a cake at all but Jeff had surprised me with a new cake featuring the photo of me and my 2009 cake... and I pretty much died laughing... So for the following 5 years, the tradition continued with year after year of delicious Flickr Cake (now coming from Publix) and while in 2011 when I handed over the photo of the 2010 cake... I was questioned... but suddenly I must have become a sort-of legend at the Kirkman Oaks Publix because before I even hand over the newest photo to be printed on a cake.. I'm greeted by the ladies as "You're the cake guy!!" for the past 2 years
(pretty amazing in its own right)

Anyways, bring on the cake photos!