Savannah/Charleston Spring Break Trip - Part II

Savannah offers so many historic house tours, it was hard to choose! Ultimately, I landed on the 1820 built Davenport Home as it was the first project saved by the Historic Savannah Foundation. 

Our guide did a good job explaining what life was like for the Davenport family - and the thirteen enslaved people who lived in the home. 

The home has been thoughtfully restored with an emphasis on authenticity - look at that wallpaper! 

Fireplace mantel detail!

Each Georgia Pine floor plank is over 20' long - spanning the full length of the room!

I found this wallpaper fascinating! We learned there are companies that can recreate custom designs to match historic wallpapers no longer in production.

This is the master bedroom! 

Family photo in the back courtyard of the home. 

After the tour, my suburbanite boys ran off to scare the pigeons and thought it was absolutely hilarious.

This is as close as we ever got to the famous Leopold's Ice Cream. There was a line out the door and down the block every single time we passed this place! 

The next day, we took an Uber to brunch at Little Duck Diner on Cousin Katherin’s recommendation. Brock loved the chocolate chip pancakes and Kade loved his little duck! 

We had a little time before our next scheduled event, so after some shopping, we trekked over to Oglethorpe Avenue, specifically Juliette Gordon Low's birthplace.  Proud Girl Scout of 10 years! 

Brent was looking good in front of the Nathanael Greene Monument.

We cruised the Savannah River aboard the Georgia Queen Riverboat!

Primo seats in the front of the boat meant we had amazing panoramic views! 

(At least for most of us. Brock was happy to be on his own bench)

We found John Wesley (the founder of the Methodist Church) for my Dad! 

(See my Dad was right here in July!)

With Moose holding down the fort, we felt perfectly comfortable leaving the boys at home for a date night out. We enjoyed a delicious Italian dinner at Garibaldi’s in the Historic District, then strolled through City Market to end our last day in Savannah. 

Savannah/Charleston Spring Break Trip - Part I

Our Spring Break started out strong with the 4Runner passing a milestone on our 330 mile trek to Savannah, Georgia! We arrived right at check-in time - giving us plenty of time for our family to unpack the car and get settled in to our Vrbo! Our rental was a historic 1899 built home about 1.5 miles from the downtown Savannah Riverfront.  

    

First night’s dinner was at The Pirate House. It’s one of the earliest buildings constructed in Savannah, originally serving as an inn and tavern for visiting sailors. It has been preserved to its original state - including its distinctive “haint blue” shutters and doors, believed to ward off unwanted spirits.

We had reservations, but they were busy - granting us a few minutes to look around the lobby and peek upstairs at the gift shop (where after dinner Brock would score a cool t-shirt). 

We were seated in one of the side rooms - made it quieter, but we missed some of the building's character being back there. 

Kade received a child's menu - even though he didn't order from it - and it was so cool! Alas, he could not be persuaded to wear the pirate's hat, so only the picture remains. 

Brock was in good spirits! 

That night we really experienced city living. It was so noisy in our front room, it made it really hard to sleep. At least the boys were in the back bedrooms, so they slept well. In the morning, Brent and I needed a quick caffeine fix, so we walked over to the Starbucks inside Kroger while Moose stood watch.

Our first full day in Savannah was spent exploring - all five of us walked the 7 blocks to Forsyth Park. As we got closer to the park, the houses got nicer and nicer! 

Brock had Moose's leash for the majority of the walk - very proud of him working up to this stage - it's a lot of responsibility to walk a Corso!

Our first stop in the park was to take in the Civil War Memorial (originally the Confederate Memorial), originally dedicated May 1875 and renamed in 2018. 

The boys were fascinated by the caterpillars climbing all over the metal fencing. This is where they first learned the name of all the "fuzz" hanging from the oak trees - Spanish Moss! Kade was sure the caterpillars were purposely falling from the spanish moss onto his head! 

Kade and I explored the Fragrant Garden while Brock and Brent waited outside. 

It was designed for people with limited sight to enjoy - we spotted gardenia, lemon trees, roses, and mint!

Spanish Moss!!

Finally we made it to the Fountain! Originally installed in 1858 and constructed of white painted cast iron! 

They love to tease me about my posing. 

Absolutely gorgeous!

2026 TAC Titans Tarheel States Meet

We have a guest writer this blog ------ Brock!! 

This event was my best event and is the closest to getting the A time and champs cut. An A time is a fast time for the top 15% of swimmers. I got to wear my techsuit and a techsuit makes you swim faster in the water and it doesn't get any water in your suit which helps you speed through the water.

I had to come back in the water later to swim an extra time because I swam so fast. 

The 200 Free is way harder than you think. It's a long distance. 

100 butterfly was my worst event of the swim meet. I tested positive on Friday and swam in the pool on Wednesday so I was a little tired. 

This was my 2nd best event of the swim meet and I cut a lot of time on a 50.

This was my first time doing the 200y Breast stroke. I did pretty good. 

My mom took a video of my name being called at the finals. 

Dad got a text at 4:30 from my coach and my coach said that I made it to Finals and I need to hit the water soon. I didn't know that I was that good because I didn't make the top 24. The people in the top 24 scratched and then I swam. Dad was driving really fast and got there at 5:15 and I swam 45 minutes later. 

Dropped 10 seconds in another difficult event.