flea

mr. flea seems to be allergic to Cape Cod.

But mostly, it's just my mother being herself. How can we avoid each other for three more days in a small house?

This morning several coworkers asked if we got rained on in Savannah - I gather it rained steadily all weekend here. We had very misty-moisty mornings, but no actual rain. We stayed at Skidaway Island State Park, about 10 miles south of the city, a pretty low-key park. Most of the other campers were in RVs, which I simply cannot understand. From my perspective, there are two reasons to camp: 1) cheapness (we paid $23 a night) and 2) enjoyment of nature. Camping in an RV you don't really get much nature, and RVs must be pretty expensive, right? These seemed like mostly youngish people, too, not retired people living full-time in an RV.

Friday night we ate at a not very good restaurant at "The Village" and observed the denizens of the local gated communities (we noticed on the Hwy 16 part of the drive large numbers of fancy cars - more BMWs than I've seen since I left CT!). We also learned about Spanish moss and palm trees, and played on the "fish playground" (with a fish-themed staircase and a plaque invoking Jonah) at a local church.

Saturday we visited the state historic site of Wormsloe and learned about the English colonization of Georgia and what "tabby" is (Roman-style cement, except for with oyster shells.) We saw two white herons (or one twice) and Casper collected a lot of natural materials. We went into the city and spent way too much time wandering aimlessly among people in green t-shirts and mardi gras beads with open containers of beer. We also had lunch, good ice cream at Leopold's, and played in Forsyth Park (green dye on the fountain!). We headed back to the campground and cooked hot dogs, played again at the fish playground, and watched My Neighbor Totoro on the laptop at bedtime.

Sunday we went to Tybee Island very early and spent a couple of hours playing on the beach and visiting the pier. We saw a fisherman catch a blowfish. The kids loved the beach and Casper wanted to go swimming (although it was overcast and there were huge waves and she can't swim). As we were leaving the sun came out, of course. We went back to Savannah for lunch and then took a carriage ride of the city, which I initially balked at because of the cost, but then was glad we did. The kids really liked it, although Dillo was scared at first. And one of the advantages of paying $23 a night to sleep is you can spend $50 on carriage rides occasionally.

I liked Savannah a lot, though it was a bit touristy and in future I'd avoid the weekend nearest St. Patrick's day. They are definitely ahead of us in terms of spring - lots of azaleas in bloom. It was already rather buggy at the campground, though, and I imagine in summer is a morass of mosquitoes. Hmm, maybe an RV.... (I kid, I kid!)