She had requested chocolate chip pancakes for her special breakfast. When I was packing the Teardrop before the trip, I purposely left the griddle at home to save space. So while Keith started to break down camp, I made pancakes one at a time in the 10-inch cast-iron pan. By the time I had enough for everyone and had arranged birthday candles on top of the stack, the hot, hungry kids were grouching at each other. Then I made several attempts to light the candles, but the wind off the beach kept snuffing them out. By the time I managed to get just a few of the candles to burn, Natalie and Clare had almost come to blows over whose silverware was whose, and the birthday girl stomped off in tears. Frustrated that I could not pull off the beautiful birthday celebration that I had envisioned, I had to take a spin around the campground loop to compose myself. Damn, if we didn't all pull it together for this one photograph:
After breakfast, we left Hunting Island State Park behind, en route for Savannah, Georgia, via Hilton Head Island, a vacation destination that we have heard lots about, but had never visited. We planned to stop for lunch at the Salty Dog Cafe, a well known eatery on the southern tip of the island. Well, well known by me only because I often see folks in Indiana sporting Salty Dog t-shirts, so I was curious to see what it's all about. We found out when we got there that the restaurant is part of the Sea Pines Plantation planned community. The keeper at the gatehouse would not let us pass with the trailer, saying that there's no room to park it. This vexed us a bit because a.) He was a total d-bag, the way he told us we couldn't go any father and didn't suggest any options when we asked him, and b.) Beyond the gatehouse we could see only trees and golf courses and plenty of space for a trailer, so we suspected that he was being a prick for the sake of being a prick. Regardless, we backtracked a bit, left the Teardrop in a Publix grocery store parking lot, then continued on to the Salty Dog. See, Mr. Gatehouse Guy? We can leave our trailer anywhere we like.
Well... turns out the gatehouse guy was right. That place was a one-hunderd percent clustercuss. There's a reason for the ubiquitous Salty Dog t-shirts; it's because everyone and their mother must like to stop there for lunch. Everyone and their mother is then faced with a 45-minute wait for a table. And so everyone and their mother gets funneled into one of several Salty Dog t-shirt stores around the property, where they pass the time by dropping some dough. I mean, this place was packed. With SUVs, with bikes, with people. With more SUVs and more people. Sheesh. We were relieved to drive away after lunch -- with our new t-shirts, of course -- leave the crowds behind, collect our Teardrop at Publix and continue on to Savannah.
It's not far from Hilton Head to Savannah -- maybe 30 miles. Our route took us on winding roads through thick lowcountry forests. We were skirting the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge on Highway 17 when we passed signs that said 12, 7, then 5 miles to Savannah, and that surprised me. This was still a distinctly rural area; I expected more development. When we crossed the Talmadge Memorial Bridge into Georgia, we could finally see the city, glistening like a gem below us on the Savannah River. Because we didn't pass any strip malls or mega car dealerships or fast food joints on the way into town, we truly had the feeling as if we magically dropped into a different time in this enchanting city.
Both Keith and I have been looking forward to exploring Savannah, and we decided that renting a cottage in the city would be an ideal way to get a sense of the area. It was just a few minutes' drive across the historic district to our charming, beautifully appointed rented home on Jones Street, a quiet, leafy street lined with handsome historic homes decorated with wrought iron and brightly painted doors. Built in 1856, our house features three bedrooms and a bathroom and half. Natalie is thrilled to have her own space after two weeks, and Charlie and Clare are delighted to have the entire third floor -- an adorable little attic room up a flight of steep, wonky stairs -- to themselves. I chose this house because it comes with not one, but two parking spaces off the alley, so the little Teardrop has a space of its own, as well.
For dinner, we pointed ourselves toward the City Market, a three-block stretch of shops and restaurants on the west side of the historic district, and found Vinnie Van GoGo's, where we took a table on the sidewalk and enjoyed giant slices of New York-style pizza for Clare's birthday dinner. For her special dessert, we walked a few blocks to LuLu's Chocolate Bar, where we all got to choose from a dazzling array of chocolate tortes, cheesecakes and pies.
Clare had requested the traditional Long Family birthday treasure hunt, so she found her gifts at the end of a series of clues that I had planted earlier around the house.
We're all grateful for air conditioning and real beds for the next few nights!
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