Day 47 - Savannah, GA

Well, we have been relaxing in Newnan, GA, for the past 6 days and haven't kept up with the blog - just relaxing and enjoying time with family. We have had a great time catching up with my sister Vicki, nephew Scott, meeting her friend Mike, and seeing my brother Neal and his family. We haven't seen Scott or Neal and his family in 10-1/2 years.

We had great news from our nephew Matt that we saw in San Antonio, TX. He is currently in F16 fighter pilot training at Kelly AFB in San Antonio and he flew an F16 for the first time last week. His comment to his instructor was "Unbelievable!" or something close to that...
(I may have cleaned up his comment slightly.)

Our nephew Scott is also trying to get into a Guard unit to become a pilot. He has interviewed with several Guard units around the country and is very hopeful of being hired by one of the units. It is quite a process to get into a Guard unit to become a pilot, but this young man will become a fighter pilot, without a doubt. Scott is also a very talented artist and his drawings are incredibly detailed, especially when it comes to drawing aircraft.

I have finally achieved my goal in life to be taller than my little brother Neal. Unfortunately, it took me standing on the top step of the deck and him one step lower to achieve the height difference, but it finally happened!

Neal and his wife Becky have two sons, Jake and Josh, and Jake towers over Neal by a couple of inches. Josh is a freshman in high school, and will probably be well over 6 feet tall too. I think Jake said he was 6 feet 4 inches tall.

Jake just received his acceptance for college and should receive scholarships for music. Jake plays a five drum set in the marching band, and I have never seen hands move so fast in my life with drumsticks. Josh plays the guitar, but unfortunately, I didn't get to see him play. What a couple of nice boys.

Vicki took us to a nice country-style place to eat, and the girls met a couple of new friends while we were there.

We left Newnan for Savannah today in one of the worst rain storms I have ever been in. The rain was so bad, I almost turned around and went back to Newnan, but figured we would run out of the rain eventually. We finally left the torrential rain for rain that didn't require high speed wipers, and moved from 40 mph to 65 mph after about 50 - 60 miles. What a mess!

Arrived in Savannah in 85 degree weather, sunny, but humid. The rain finally caught up with us later in the afternoon while we were on a tour of the city in one of those trolley-type buses with plastic sheets that roll down in rainy weather. Those trolleys are NOT weatherproof! Nice tour, however. Did learn a little more about my distant cousin, General Sherman. Have to go back tomorrow to get a little more information on his adventures. People here in Savannah like General Sherman, but you don't mention any relationship with him in the Atlanta area. They still remember Sherman sacked Atlanta.

I forgot to mention that the air conditioning system in the Vette gave up the ghost when we arrived in Newnan, so we have no AC nor defroster, so a fogged up windshield made matters worse leaving Newnan. Apparently something in the AC system has become blocked and the Chevrolet dealer in Newnan wasn't sure they could fix it quickly or if they had the correct parts.

We forgot to put photos on the blog when we were getting our tatoos, and no Nora, they didn't hurt that bad and no Nora, your mother did not have any piercings!

We plan to spend one or two more days here in Savannah before we head for New England. Starting to get worried about hitting snow on the way home and darned sure don't want to get caught in snow with the Vette. Met a couple from the Denver area on the tour today, and they were saying they had to de-ice their plane before they left Denver yesterday. K
Savannah is beautiful, such a fascinating city. Took a tour this afternoon and tomorrow will take off on our own. Plan to go to the river and investigate some shops, yes I know there's no room left in the vette, but that large purse of mine might be able to hold a praline or two. When the bell hop helped bring our luggage into the room he was amazed that we could fit all that " stuff" in the vette, I wanted to say " You ain't seen nothin yet". Want to do so much here but don't want to wait too long to start home. Haven't decided yet if I want to take a tour of Paula Deens kitchen with accompanying lunch at Bubba Gumps, or to take the haunted house tour of the paranormal " spirits and ghosts" of Savannah ending with a dinner at the legendary Pirates House which is well known for it's haunting. Ken doesn't think either sounds good, he wants to go on the perfect praline quest, that sounds good to me too. Would like to go to the City Market too, vendors from all over the world. Would also like to tour the house Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was about. Can only say one thing Savannah is definately a come back to visit place.
What do you think of our non matching tattoos? Ken got a half a tribal band, and I have a heart with a lightening bolt going thru it, some people just never act their age.
Yes people have noticed that I'm buying quite a bit of jewelry, just remember that space is an issue in the vette, but I have eight fingers and 2 thumbs, 2 wrists, a large neck and two ears that can accomodate a lot of pretty things. Maybe I do have a sort of Shopaholic quality but everything I've bought was either on sale, a museum quality piece, or just looked so nice on. I went shopping with Vicki, OK, so that was my first mistake, we both love shopping and encourage each other to buy things that look nice. Well when I heard that the weather was taking a nose dive to cool, I was so glad that I was prepared. I had found the cutest Calvin Klein, fake fur, lime green jacket in Newnan. Nice and warm, very stylish, and fit great, such a deal, just realized I forgot to mention that purchase to Ken, oh well he's in he loop now. More to follow S