Paula Deen says "Hey Y'all!"

Heading out from St. Augustine we thought we'd drive by the lighthouse. It's the one thing we missed yesterday and I wanted to see it on our way out of town.

 Well...it was not just the one thing we missed. There is great fort that we came upon that is the Nation's oldest structure. The fort was built in the 1500's by the Spanish to defend against the British.  It is a National Monument so we got to use our great National Park pass again!  How did we miss this???  We had to stop to tour it.

It is called Castillo de San Marcos. There are volunteers in costume so that you can see what life was like in that time period.  They did a cannon firing ceremony. It was done authentically by Spanish soldiers and all spoken in Spanish.

  The history at all of the National Park Monuments has been so interesting.  It was amazing to see how the city was protected from outsiders. It's in a perfect spot at the entrance to the waterway and can be protected by cannon for miles.                                           

  So, just when we thought we had seen all there was to see in St. Augustine, we stayed for another 2-3- hours.  This made our time in Savannah a short one. By the time we drove the 3 hours it was already 2PM in Savannah. Lots to see and not much time!  

How did we get on a time schedule? We have a golf tee time in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  The Caledonia Golf and Fish Club is the golf course Jim has had his heart set on since we began planning this trip.   We had to wait to see what day we'd get there. So we made a tee time as soon as we knew.  The course will be closed all next week for aeration! Of all the dates we could have picked!  We were able to get a time on Sunday afternoon before the course closes for Monday.  That is the reason we couldn't stay over another day in Savannah.

We got to Savannah and took off on foot to see all that we could pack into the afternoon.  We must have walked 5 miles in about 6 hours.  We walked to Lafayette Park.  These are the famous fountains and moss covered trees people think of when visualizing Savannah.

Of course the walk is the exact opposite side of the Historic District from the Waterway with the shops and restaurants.  It's a wonderful walk. There are squares on almost every corner as we make our way.  The history is incredible. There are statues and monuments to honor soldiers and famous battles.  You can't walk too fast because there are so many plaques to read along the way.  And of course we needed to stop in for an occasional drink and snack.

                             

We walked the entire length of the Historic District to the Waterfront.  There are numerous shops and dining locations to choose from.  We walked the length of the Waterfront several times.  Just couldn't decide where we wanted to eat.

 
 We decided on a very southern menu.  Fried everything!  We started with fried dill pickles. Then I had fried shrimp and a  fried crab cake. It was served with fried hush puppies and french fries!
Only in the South!


By now it's time to walk back to our hotel. We both are so tired and our feet are starting to complain.  It's so hot and the humidity is pretty high. Along the way we find more squares with such interesting stories and historic landmarks that before we know it we're back at the room and ready for a shower!


We've had a great day! We packed a lot in but we were able to see

 what we wanted to see in Savannah.  We would have liked one more day here but there are so many places we need to see and we may run out of time if we don't move on.

We are so looking forward to a day of golf tomorrow. I'm  a little leery of the alligators that roam the course but I may get close enough so I can get a photo or two!