Thursday, March 4, 2010 - Travel to Savannah

Thursday we woke early, got ready and headed downstairs to the breakfast buffet. They had biscuits and gravy, Claude was happy. They had cheese danish and strawberry yogurt, Sandi was happy. Good start to the day. Then it was out to the red Buick for the long drive. We made our way back to I-75 South and began our drive through Tennessee, then into Georgia. I was able to lots of crocheting on this leg of the trip. I did note something of interest as we got on I-16 headed into Savannah. The on/off ramps to I-16 on the inbound lanes to Savannah had those traffic barriers that come down to stop traffic for trains and things. I mentioned them to Claude and noted they were not on the outbound sides. Then he told he there were signs this was a hurricane evacuation route. These barriers must be to keep traffic off the interstate so they can use all lanes to get people away from the coast for a hurricane. The other thing I noticed was Spanish Moss hanging from trees. There was lots of this moss in Louisiana when I was growing up. It felt nice to see it again hanging from trees. The thing Claude noticed was a huge tanker truck with coffee painted all over the back. Turns out it was a Pilot gas truck advertising their coffee as being the best on the interstate. But it really looked from the back like it was a tanker truck full of coffee. The other thing we saw along the interstate was a blue car called a "Cube". It really was cube shaped. We made it to Savannah and immediately headed into town. I printed a nice map of downtown Savannah from the Internet. We found a wonderful little parking lot. Then hiked across the City Market to find The Lady & Sons Restaurant. This is Paula Deen's restaurant. They didn't have a seat available until 8pm. Way to late for us. We were told to come back at 9:30am and get in line to reserve a seating time for lunch or dinner. We headed back toward the car then decided to walk around and find somewhere else to eat. The picture on the left is a Johnny Mercer statue. And the picture on the right is The Lady and Sons Restaurant.

We headed toward Bay Street. We found several great places as possibilities to eat dinner. When we ran into a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse it really caught our attention. Neither of us have ever eaten at one of these. We read the menu out front to see if we were interested. Our concern was a possible dress code. We were in traveling clothes. A man came to the door and asked if he could help. I asked him if there was a dress code. It was his first day so he asked a young lady inside. She said we were dressed fine. So Ruth's Chris Steakhouse it was. They had not quite opened for dinner yet but they let us sit in the waiting area until time for us to go to a table. Dinner was superb. I've only heard good things about this restaurant and they are all correct. The service was a bit slow to begin with but that changed as everything started to speed up as customers arrived. The Creme Brulee for dessert was the perfect ending to a perfect meal. We walked back to our car and headed to Tybee Island where our hotel was for the next 3 nights.