Savannah, Tybee, and Hilton Head

Since the first post about Tulum and Soliman Bay was so well received, I thought I'd write a few more reports that might help people out. We have vacationed in Savannah twice, and I don't waste a lot of time going back places unless they are really worth it! Especially not a place that is going to be that far of a drive with 2 kids in the back seat! But Savannah is totally worth it! It is a dream town and destination that should be on everyone's list of places to see. For this trip I budgeted about $200 a day (including gas) and had free hotel nights. So we had a total of $1500 to spend while there. I did go ahead and buy the tickets to 6 flags before we left, so they are not included in our budget.

Since Savannah is such a long drive from home, we stop along the way in Atlanta to spend the night. I got us tickets online to Six Flags at a pretty good rate, and we spent another night in Atlanta after. I would recommend Six Flags to those that haven't taken their kids to the ones in St. Louis or Dallas, because it is a fun day for kids. The other year we stopped there and toured the Coca Cola Museum and the Georgia Aquarium. I love me some Coke, but didn't find the museum to be as cool as I thought it might be. The Aquarium on the other hand was awesome! Highly recommend that for kids of all ages. From Atlanta, we left our hotel after breakfast and were to Savannah by lunch.

The first time we went to Savannah, we just booked a hotel online with points and thought that would be a good base of operations for our trip. It ended up being fine, but not ideal. Since we were unfamiliar with Savannah we didn't know we really wanted to be around River Street. So on our second trip to Savannah we remedied that. We booked the Staybridge on River Street- one of our favorite hotels chains on the most beautiful street. But that wasn't all we expected either- for those who have stayed on beach front locations before you will understand when I say that everything in there felt damp and smelled a little musty. The proximity to the bay just made it impossible for anything in our room to dry out. But we didn't spend a lot of time in the room, and I figure most everywhere in the area would have been the same situation.

While in Savannah, one MUST eat at The Lady and Sons. It is Paula's place, and does not disappoint. You must go and get in line outside in the morning to get a reservation, and you will get a time. Whatever your time is, plan the rest of your day around that! Her chicken is to die for and the vegetables are all great and VERY southern. We eat there every time we go at least once. One trip we ate at Love's Seafood, of Forrest Gump fame. it was really good, but took a long time- so bear that in mind. We also ate at a neat pirate bar aptly named The Pirate's House. There was a pirate that took you on tours and told the history of the place, which originated the term "Shanghaied" after several sailors got a little too drunk there and found themselves sold into servitude on a ship headed to Shanghai. Neat place, great food, historic atmosphere, and also prominently featured on the ghost tours...

Speaking of ghost tours, that's what Savannah is famous for. It's the most haunted city in America! We have taken the Ghosts and Graveyards tour each time, and really enjoyed it. Lots of haunted history and a good time too. We also toured the world famous Bonaventure Cemetery, which is beautiful and eerie. There are many other sights to be seen for free in Savannah, to walk river street, window shop, take in one or a few of the squares, it is a beautiful place to walk. We found Savannah Honey shop and other cool places just walking the squares. I love the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and to walk past the homes mentioned in the book and to see their grandeur was a real book nerd moment for me.Speaking of the squares, one square has a plaque stating that in this place in 1776 the Declaration of Independence was read. Amazing!

We toured a revolutionary war fort, Fort Jackson. It was cool, and a great way to spend a couple hours learning about the wars of 1812, the Revolutionary War, and the Civil War, when the fort was in use. We saw Indian Mounds on the way there as well. And of course, we also hit the beach. Tybee is just a 20 minute jaunt from town and Hilton Head, though a little further, is very unique and awesome to go to as well. I love Tybee! It is everything that Gulf Shores isn't- it is calm, family oriented, no angry drunk people yelling at my kids, and it is not very crowded. We spent a couple days there and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves each time. Hilton Head was a day trip for us into a wonderland. Everyone staying there parks their cars and rides bikes all week. At the outlet mall, at TGIFridays, there are bikes parked everywhere! Bicycles, bicycles built for 2, etc. It is really cool and had an awesome vibe to it. We took a dolphin tour (I found online for less than half price) and swam and shopped and had a great day. Again, these are family places as opposed to condos full of frat boys. Much more my vibe and with some history built in too.

Many nights in Savannah we would do little caesars hot and ready pizzas. Ok- don't judge! That $10 supper meant I was saving money for other things, especially when the kids are kind of picky about food. I also found great deals on living social and groupon for the candy stores on river street, River Street Sweets and Savannah's candy kitchen. I bought some "$10 for $20 worth of candy" coupons from each site and we got several gifts there to bring back to family and friends plus some pralines and other sweets for us. There are lots of jokes about me couponing vacation, but hey- I have a set amount I will spend and no more! And all these little things mean my kids get to do more than they would have. I love it and truthfully they do too. Generally we try and eat one or maybe 2 "nice" places per vacation and the kids are tolerant of that as long as we have other meals like pizza they would prefer on other days. It also saves our budget for other experiential things to not be spending so much money on food every day. We took a cooler in the truck so on the beach we had sandwiches and snacks and drinks. We did buy ice cream and other snacks at the beach too, but I remember one day when we went to Tybee, we spent $12 out of our $200 budget that day. That meant a lot more money for the outlet malls at Hilton Head ;) The key is to stick to your budget so you don't feel guilty later, but to also be sure you have enough money in there so you are not scrimping on important things.