Our time in Savannah provided us a mini-respite from life afloat. No cooking, no concerns about the weather, tides, or future destinations, and the opportunity to see familiar faces and be with our extended family. As was the case the last time we stopped here, we welcomed a break from our usual routine and relished the complimentary breakfasts, cocktails, daily hot showers, and rooms with right angles our short stay at the Embassy Suites provided us.
We are thankful that Sarah’s brother and sister-in-law (Chris and Tami) live in Savannah for several reasons. First, it meant we could celebrate Thanksgiving with family instead of just the two of us. Secondly, it provided us an address where we could ship needed items and retrieve them. And thirdly, Savannah is a nice walkable, picturesque city. Because we had done the touristy things the last time we were here, we didn’t feel pressed to see the sights this time. This afforded us time to catch up on mundane tasks and with access to a borrowed car, the means to complete the mundane tasks. Top on our list was a refill of our propane tank used for cooking, grocery shopping, a visit to a hardware store, laundry, and to backup a hard drive.
The morning of Wed Nov. 24th was a busy one as we were excited to share news of our new granddaughter with family and close friends and we had a FaceTime chat with fellow cruisers from Boston who were undertaking a similar sailing journey to ours. Before tending to mundane chores, we squeezed in a visit to the nautical museum of Savannah where we discovered many beautifully crafted ship models on display and a chilling account of the number of slave ships and enslaved people that disembarked in Savannah in the 1700’s. Of note, many of those slave ships originated in Rhode Island. We spent the afternoon running errands with a car borrowed from Chris and later we met up with Chris and Tami for a nice dinner at Churchill’s - an authentic English pub on the Riverfront- and ended up closing down the place. We walked back to the hotel to help digest and around 10:00 pm, started doing our laundry in the machines conveniently located across the hall from our room. We finally got to bed around 11:30 pm but slept well in the plush bed.
On Thanksgiving morning, Nov 25, Chris picked us up at the hotel then dropped us off at our boat which was docked at a marina 5 miles from Savannah in Thunderbolt, GA. We had to move the boat today to another nearby marina called Isle of Hope, GA because the Thunderbolt marina was completely booked for Thanksgiving. This turned out to be just fine as Isle of Hope is another 5 miles down the ICW and is even closer to Skidaway Island where Chris and Tami live. Furthermore, the isle of Hope marina had a loaner car we could use to get ourselves to Chris and Tami’s for Thanksgiving dinner. We wasted little time on Thanksgiving doing the essential grocery shopping for the next two weeks and storing all the food in the boat before we headed to Chris and Tami’s home for Thanksgiving dinner around 2:30. We were warmly greeted by their two golden retriever’s Bailey and Brady even before we made it to their front door. Tami and Chris had cooked up a delicious traditional Thanksgiving turkey with all the fixings and desserts making us feel right at home and all we did was contribute some beverages. We picked their brains for grandparenting do’s and don’t since Chris and Tami have a 2-yr old granddaughter they recently had visited and speculated about who might win the big rivalry football game between Michigan and Ohio State on Saturday. We said our good-byes around 8:30 pm and left with a plate of leftovers and several supply packages we had mailed to their home. It was a wonderful afternoon and evening and we left feeling very thankful for the hospitality they extended to us while in Savannah.
Congratulations on your new granddaughter!!
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