A Week in Savannah, Georgia

Hey everyone, mom and I recently got home from  week long vacation in Savanna, Georgia. Mom told me she had originally booked herself on an 8-night Caribbean cruise but when she realizedhow bad my separation anxiety was she cancelled it. That shows you how much she loves me. Then when the whole Covid mess hit she was super glad she had cancelled.  

Mom usually goes up to the North Carolina mountains where she used to live in the spring, but since the week had already been approved for her to take off, and since she knew how bad the weather could be in the mountains in February she decided we should go to Savannah. It's a good thing she choose Savannah, because every day she would look at Facebook (what ever that is) and tell me about all the snow and ice the mountains were getting. She said we would have most likely been stuck indoors for the entire week, wow. 

Anyway, mom found us this really neat, small, 1 bedroom place with a full kitchen so she could cook. It was on the ground floor of this house. If you look closely at the lower front corner of the house, you'll see a small plaque. That was just to the left of our front door. 

The house was built in 1870 for a Mr. John Williams. I know this because mom read me the sign right outside our living room windows.

Normally, when we arrive at our vacation place, mom leaves me in the car, in the driveway while she runs and puts my bed, bowls and toy basket inside. Then we go for a walk and we go inside together. Mom stays with me while I check the place out and when I realize that my stuff is there I am okay while mom unloads the truck.  At this place mom had to park around the corner and since it was in the mid 70s she refused to leave me in the truck. Instead she took me to go potty then put me inside and raced to get the truck unloaded.

As you may well imagine, I was a very, very unhappy girl and when mom went to get stuff from the truck I started to yip and whine in a very high pitch, eat your heart out Beverly Sills. Since I never sing in my soprano voice mom knew I was really unhappy and did her best to get all our stuff in as fast as possible.

 Between loads I let her know how unhappy I was. 

Once mom had everything inside, she locked the door and took her sneakers off, then she took my harness off and I knew it would be okay. I decided that I needed a nap to recover from all the stress.

Once mom had us settled in she said she had a surprise for me. We went out and crossed the street and there was this beautiful fountain in a HUGE park with soft green grass. There were lots of people and some said how beautiful I was. That makes mom proud. 

On Sunday, after we had breakfast mom said we were going to a place called the Bonaventure Cemetery. Mom said it was "dog friendly" and it was featured in some movie called 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil' plus the headstones and monuments were supposed to be beautiful.

When we got there mom had downloaded an app that narrates a drive through of the cemetery, but instead mom found a place to park and we walked. She got a little annoyed with me when I wanted to cross the barriers from the walkway into the plots. "Mea'Ola", she said " you do not walk on the graves of the deceased".  I looked at her,,,,seriously,,what are graves and deceased?

We walked a bit and stopped here. Mom told me that the sculpture was of a young lady who was engaged but died shortly before her wedding. She is with the rest of her family.

We passed this area. Mom said all these headstones are for soldiers who died in World War II.

A little further down we came to this grave. Mom had been looking for her as a friend told her about this site. Her name was Gracie and she was only 6 years old when she died from pneumonia.  Mom says she read that this is the most visited grave in the cemetery, which is pretty impressive considering how many there are. 

After the cemetery we headed back to the rental. It had started to rain and we were a bit damp, but back at base camp the sun came back out. Mom decided that we need a Sunday afternoon stroll in the park to cheer us up after the cemetery. 

There was a nice young lady who was taking free Valentine's Day photos for folks. Mom asked her to take ours as she doesn't have any photos of the two of us.

In this first one I was distracted by something, yet mom looks good.

For the second shot mom told the photographer my name and asked her to call me. mom got a pretty good photo of me. Mom looked better in the first photo.

On Monday, our second full day in Savannah, mom left me in my crate and went to see the home of Juliette Gordon Low. She founded the Girl Scouts. Since mom had been  Girl Scout and a Girl Scout Troop leader I thought it would be a good thing for her to do.

When she got back she took me to the park to make a quick potty stop and then we drove to this place, Fort Pulaski National Monument. Many years ago when mom owned a sailboat, she made a quick stop in Savannah on her way south to the Bahamas. She had passed this place on the river and always wanted to come back and this was her chance, plus we would get to do some walking together. 

The first trail is around the moat of the fort. Mom told me about the Civil War and how all these marks are where cannon balls hit the fort. She even read the pamphlet and pointed out  a couple spots where you could still see the cannon balls lodged in the wall.

The moat was pretty wide so I never tried to go near it. 

After the moat trail we walked out to where the pier used to be where ships would stop and unload supplies for the fort. 

Mom was amazed at how they fastened the huge slabs of granite together. 

On Tuesday, mom left me in my crate and took the Old Town Trolley to see more of the city. At one stop she saw a Woofgang Bakery and bought me these two cookies to apologize for leaving me alone most of the day.

She gave me the squirrel cookie and I carried it into the living room, but it was thin and hard to pick up. Plus being a prima donna, I do not eat large things, it is not very lady like. Mom wound up taking the cookie into the kitchen and breaking it into lots of pieces and then she dumped the mess into my dinner bowl. It was a very tasty cookie. 

During another walk around the park mom saw this and got excited. It is amazing what excites her sometimes. She told me this was how the police officers used to communicate with their headquarters. All I knew is that there were a lot of interesting smells around it. 

The week is going fast and it is now Wednesday. Mom leaves me in my crate to go tour some museum. When she comes home we get in the truck and head down to the historic waterfront. There is a long walkway that runs with the river. 

As we were walking along a lady called out to mom and asked if I was a Shar Pei and mom said yes. The lady asked if I was friendly and if she could pet me. She then had her husband take a picture of her and I. The paparazzi are everywhere.

We walked a good distance and mom was getting concerned because it was hotter than it was forecast to be and she had not brought the camlebak with us since it was supposed to have been raining from Wednesday night until Saturday morning.

She stopped for this photo. She told me it was the Olympic Torch for when Georgia hosted the summer Olympics and the yachting competition was held on the river.

The last top on the river walk was the statue of the Waving Girl. Seems she stood on the bank of the river and waved a handkerchief at all the passing boats, or a lantern if it was dark, for 44 years. Why?

On Thursday, mom once again left me in my crate. This day she toured the Mercer Williams house that was featured in the same movie the cemetery was. From here she walked for miles. But when she came home she brought more cookies from Woofgang, but smaller ones. 

The week flew by and I have to admit, I was really glad when Friday came and it rained all morning. Mom had talked about going to another museum, but didn't want to loose the good parking spot she had. So, instead, she stayed home with me and got stuff ready for our trip home. 

I was happy  to get back home and be able to stretch out in our king size bed. A queen is a hard fit for mom and I since I want to hog the entire bed, 

Our next trip is up to Decatur, Georgia in March so mom can see her son, his girlfriend and their daughter who will be almost 1 year old. I'm hoping mom has time to spend with me and take me for walks.