Lifestyles
Travelling With Kids: Savannah
The untimely passing of fellow CWers cubano67 (Ed Guevara) and knife (Ashley Morris) - both fellow New Orleanians and both very close to my own age - has had quite an impact upon me. Both men left behind very young children, and departed the world still having much to give to it. Their passing has prompted me to buy some new life insurance and to re-think some of my habits and practices. It's also occurred to me that if I left this world tomorrow, my kids would have few - if any - memories of traveling with their father. Generally, it's their mom that takes them on trips (usually to the beach). I hate traveling. It isn't being in new places that bothers me so much as it is the hassle of getting from Point A to Point B. This hassle, for me, takes all of the fun out of it. So, for Spring Break, I decided to put together a three-day, two-night excursion to Savannah, Georgia. I have a 12-year old, a 6-year old and an 18-month old toddler. Anyone who has children knows that traveling is one thing, but traveling with kids is another animal entirely. What follows is a 'grab-bag' of tips for making traveling with kids a lot less stressful on you, accompanied by a bit of a travelogue of Savannah itself.
First, if you don't already own one, rent a minivan for the trip. Even if you only have two kids, the back seat of a regular car won't provide enough room. The wear and tear a minivan saves on your nerves will be worth the expense alone. If possible, get one with as many TV screens as you can find. I know there are models out there that have one for each row of seats. This feature will certainly save you from those fights over what to watch. If the van doesn't come equipped with a plug for video game systems, a simple power inverter plugged into the cigarette lighter will do the trick nicely. With a new game and a pair of headphones, the older kids will be out of commission pretty much the duration of the drive. And the extra room in a minivan allows the toddler to be attended to without having to stop - meaning you make it to your destination faster, and Dad is happy too.
Second, don't just book a simple hotel room. Spring for a suite. This strategy serves several purposes, all worth the extra thirty or so dollars of cost over that of a regular room. It gives the kids a room, and you and your spouse a room. If you're like me and consider vacation 'congress' a must (what better time than when the spouse is relaxed?), you now have the opportunity. Plus, you might actually sleep past 6AM when the kids wake up. Unfortunately, we made the mistake of getting a room at the Sleep Inn that had two double beds (not really big enough for two kids, let alone two adults). There were at least six other hotel chains clustered around this location, and four of those offered suites. Not only was our room overpriced compared to the advertised rates of the competing hotels; for just a little more, we could have had a suite, and all of us would have been better rested.
Third, figure out what the kids want to do most, and do that first. On this trip, the kids wanted to go to the beach. Tybee Island has a beach, but it really isn't that much to write home about. Despite it being the beginning of April, despite the chilly temperature of the air, the sea breeze, and the cold Atlantic Ocean, the kids were dying to go to the beach. So, as soon as we checked into the hotel and unpacked, we made a beeline for Tybee. My son skim-boarded, my middle daughter hunted for shells and jumped in the waves, and my youngest discovered the principle of undertow. She's only been walking for a couple of months now, and isn't very stable on her feet under normal circumstances. She'd toddle up to the water's edge and giggle when a wave would creep over her toes. As the wave receded, the back flow would sweep her off her feet every time. She'd still get up giggling anyway, and promptly do it again. Dad had the opportunity to observe all of this while smoking a Bolivar Royal Corona (as it turns out, the only cigar of the trip). By getting what the kids wanted to do most out of the way first, they ended up being much more responsive to doing other, new things on the trip and less apprehensive about getting through whatever we were doing so that we could go to the beach. Even if we had to leave at this point, happy memories would have been made.
Jonathan 'skim boarding' on the Atlantic coast Katie enjoyed bobbing in the cold ocean water
Kimberly playing in the surf Even the old man got to enjoy a good cigar.
One of the best pieces of advice I could give you would be to take a tour of the area (if you can). In Savannah, there are a number of companies that give tours of the Historic District. Your ticket is structured such that you can get off and explore an area or attraction, and then get on another bus and continue the tour. It's a good thing for me because it allows me to get my bearings in unfamiliar territory and get a good idea of which attractions are where (valuable for later exploration). It also allows you to figure out what attractions you (and the kids) might want to explore later. Many of the tour companies are also ticket agents for other attractions, and offer discounted tickets to many of the sights-to-see. Considering the fact that our tour company picked us up at the hotel and delivered us right back to the hotel at the conclusion of the tour, this was money well-spent in consideration of the 'hassle factor'. If we'd had a collapsible stroller, it would have been even better by allowing us to explore more on the first day.
Much to my surprise, my son's first priority was to visit Congregation Mickve Israel, the only Gothic temple in the country and home to the third oldest Jewish congregation in the United States. My daughter wanted to visit the Andrew Low House, where Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girl Scouts. I wanted to visit Mercer House, the house made famous in the book and movie Midnight in The Garden of Good and Evil (across Monterrey Square from the Temple), as well as the Victorian portion of the historic district. The kids really wanted to eat at Paula Deen's restaurant, “The Lady and Son's”.
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Congregation Mickve Israel, the only
Gothic temple in the country and
home to the third oldest Jewish
congregation in the US
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The Andrew Low House... Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girl Scouts here.
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 The Mercer-Williams House, made famous in the book/movie "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"... The window on the left with the lit chandelier is the room where the 'murder' was committed.
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 The Lady and Sons restaurant, owned and operated by Paula Deen and her two sons,
Jaimie and Bobby... We didn't get to eat there,
as they were already fully booked for lunch
when we arrived.
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That brings me to the fourth piece of advice: prioritize what you want to see and do, and be flexible about food and drink. By the time we had completed our tour of the historic district and were ready for lunch, Deen's place was already fully booked. We were all hot and tired, and I was determined (foolishly) that I wanted to eat at a local joint and not a chain restaurant. This led to a lot more walking than was necessary, mostly because I didn't follow my own piece of advice - a theme of the trip that saw us in an underwhelming and overpriced seafood restaurant the first night and eating lousy Mexican food the next as I drove all over the place trying to find a mom and pop restaurant. Finally, I remembered from the tour that we were close to Kilwin's creamery/confectionary. One stop for a scoop of ice cream, some fantastic fudge to take home and a rest inside an air-conditioned room gave us the resolve to hunt further for lunch. We ended up at the Moon River Brewing Company restaurant for lunch. The beer was good (mostly because it was cold). However, the food was not only very long in getting to our table, but improperly prepared to boot. Perhaps my fifth piece of advice should be to be flexible in what you eat when you're traveling with kids, because if they're happy... well, chances are you aren't engaged in fine dining. I suspect that this is a bigger issue with me than it will be with most of you, so I won't belabor the point further.
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Some of the marvelous statuary items in the squares of Savannah.
Savannah is the oldest city in Georgia, having been planned and laid out by Georgia's founder, James Oglethorpe himself. It has the honor of being the oldest planned community in the country, having been laid out in an elaborate grid with 23 (now reduced to 21) squares that provide green space as well as plenty of places to sit and relax. It is said that Oglethorpe had most of the plans for the city on paper before he had even selected the eventual location for it (18 miles inland on the Savannah River). Each of the squares bears a piece of statuary, a fountain or a monument. Savannah, along with Charleston, SC and New Orleans, LA, is one of the 'three pearls of the South' in terms of architecture, preservation and social order. Unlike the other port cities of Charleston and New Orleans, though, Savannah's isolation from the coast has fostered a culture that is quite distinct.
There are buildings in Savannah today that pre-date the Revolutionary War. Savannah was spared from General Sherman's 'scorched earth' campaign in the Civil War mostly because Confederate soldiers evacuated the city in advance of Sherman's arrival. The story is that the mayor rode ahead to plead with Sherman not to burn the city, and with the entreaty that the city would surrender without a shot if the General would spare it from the torch. Sherman agreed (the 25,000 bales of cotton in the city's storehouses might have had something to do with the decision), and sent a Christmas message to President Lincoln gifting him the city of Savannah. Unfortunately, much of the rest of the state's antebellum history was lost. But Savannah remains.
 The Conferderate monument in Forsyth Park
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 The live oaks stretch across the walkway leading to the fountain in the center of Forsyth Park.
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 Detail of the fountain
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 Another view of the fountain
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 Exterior of The Fragrance Garden,
built so the blind could enjoy
the park too
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 Interior of The Fragrance Garden
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When suburban life grew in the post-WWII era, many of the old mansions and houses in the downtown area became vacant or fell into disrepair. As was the case in many cities, the wrecking ball wasn't far behind. Savannah's houses had the particular disadvantage of being built with bricks made from Savannah River clay. The bricks, known for their unique color and durability, were in demand because they were no longer being manufactured. Fortunately for us, the citizenry was aware of what was happening, and went about many creative ways of curbing destruction and preserving the district. Today, these houses are among the most desirable real estate available, and they are more likely to be passed along to future generations than sold. The appearance of the residences is a feast for the eyes, with just about any architectural style you can think of represented in the historic district in Savannah. From Colonial to High Victorian and beyond, the next most fascinating building you've ever seen is just around the next corner. The Victorian district on the south side of Forsyth Park has also been restored and renovated, and has one of the most charming collections of the various styles of Victorian architecture anywhere outside of San Francisco and New Orleans. Another characteristically Victorian structure is in the park itself. The Fragrance Garden was designed and built specifically as a portion of the park that could be enjoyed by blind people. It remains as fragrant and lovely today as it was over a hundred years ago, when it was dedicated.
Savannah also shares a reputation as being 'the most haunted city in America'. While there are many 'haunted tours' of the city available, I'm a genuine skeptic of such things. Despite overhearing many people's comments on this aspect of the city at our hotel and on the street, I am really loathe to promote the city on this basis. Is Savannah haunted? Maybe. However, it has so much more to offer that a haunted tour seems to be just a titillation before a real historical treasure.
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A small sample of Victorian architecture in Savannah
There is indeed a lot of history to be had in this genteel port city. The Methodist church where John Wesley himself was pastor is there, as is the oldest Presbyterian congregation in the nation. The only functional railroad roundhouse left in the US is in Savannah (a detail that thrilled me, as my ancestors worked in Mid-western roundhouses to earn a living just a hundred years ago), and dozens of other brick railroad buildings have been adapted for modern use, mostly by the Savannah College of Art and Design (known locally as SCAD, it is one of the largest art schools in the country). Many movies or parts of movies have been shot in Savannah, including the opening sequences in Forrest Gump, city sequences in Glory, and the most famous of them all, Monterrey Square and the Mercer-Williams house (made famous in Midnight in The Garden of Good And Evil - a true story). Johnny Mercer, the composer, lyricist, and four-time Oscar winner for Best Song (he wrote the lyrics for Moon River, Stardust, Brother Can You Spare a Dime, among many, many other familiar tunes), was born in Savannah, but never lived in the Mercer-Williams house. It was built by his great-great Grandfather, Confederate General Hugh Weedon Mercer, but neither he nor his famous great-great-grandson ever lived there. The birthplace and childhood home of Johnny Mercer is in Savannah, but it is a much more modest residence.
The main building of the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD)... This is the former headquarters of the Central of Georgia railroad company. In addition to adapting many of the railroad buildings to house classrooms and studios, SCAD owns and operates numerous properties, both downtown and in the Historic District. My step-son is in the foreground, looking on.
There is something strangely familiar about the city of Savannah. Yet it's almost other-worldly at the same time. It is very family-friendly without seeming overtly touristy. Had I followed the very advice that I am giving you, three days wouldn't have been nearly enough time to enjoy it all.
CW Editor-at-large and Executive Chef Jason Clabaugh (BigO) hailed from New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina devastated the city, and has settled in a suburb of Atlanta. With the addition of a new baby to his family, he's refocused his energies on fatherhood and a new project bringing his famous mango-habanero salsa and unique barbecue sauces into commercial production.