Tybee Island, Georgia

We left New Orleans and made our way to Savannah, Georgia.

On our first full day in Savannah, we actually spent most of the day at the beach.

Tybee Island

Apparently there are over 300 species of birds on Tybee Island. This, of course, is just a crow, but he certainly thought he owned the pier.

It was about 86 degrees at Tybee Island Beach and the water was so warm.

There were lots of seagulls.

We walked up the beach to the jetty and back.

Then we headed to lunch at the Crab Shack.

When we drove up Michael dubbed it the biggest tourist trap he had ever seen. I liked it.

You kind of felt like you were at Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse.

And we had the perfect view of a boat full of skeletons :).

There were 12 cute kitties on the property and they had their own Kitty Shack.

And back in Savannah, Joey found himself a famous old ice cream parlor. Did I mention Joey is an ice cream-aholic? He is.

Leopold's Ice Cream

We Love Savannah!

Oh, The Places You'll Go! - #5

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So... get on your way!
  ~Dr. Seuss

Wednesday was our last full day in New Orleans and we all agreed a swamp tour was in order. A swamp tour on an airboat to be exact. Here are a few pictures from the excursion. It was fun and fast and the bayou was beautifully peaceful (except when the airboat was going :).

Bayou grasshopper.

The Bayou.

Hungry Mama Gator.

Alligators really like chicken.

Joey on the airboat:

Marshmallows are a swamp tour guide's best friend (because chicken is pretty expensive):

Beautiful Bayou

Baby Gator:

Those people are not very effectively trying to get out of the way of our picture:

Ibis on the Bayou:

Two large alligators:

She just grabbed the chicken leg:

Very fun!

After the swamp tour we took the green line streetcar through the Garden District. Gorgeous Architecture. No pictures. It is hard to take decent pictures from the streetcar.

Later that evening we took the red Canal line to get ice cream....

at Angelo Brocato Ice Cream. Pretty fabulous although I had a chocolate dipped Canoli!

Joey's Spumoni:

The end! Good-bye New Orleans. Hello Savannah!

Oh, The Places You'll Go! - #4

You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.
  ~Dr. Seuss

Tuesday was a day for sleeping in and going with the flow--no tours and no schedules. We had a blast. Our Hard Rock Cafe waiter from Sunday night had recommended a couple of his favorite NOLA hangouts.

The first was Magazine Street. A 6 mile long stretch of road full of clothing shops, antique stores, restaurants, home interiors stores, vintage stores and just about anything you could think of.

We started at a diner called Slim Goodies... running New Orleans theme: the food was fantastic. We were there between meal times on a weekday, so the place was quiet. Michael got the banana pancakes and he was in heaven.

We sauntered slowly down Magazine Street appreciating the architecture of the homes that are in and about the shops and restaurants. This area is like Portland's 23rd, Hawthorne, Belmont and Division all along one long street with amazing New Orleans homes scattered about.

Norman, the HRC waiter, had mentioned a store named Aidan Gill. A fancy Men's Barber Shop with hot towel shaves in the back and great smelling men's after shave, old fashioned razors, brushes and shave lotions, ties, etc... in the front. Joey got some almond scented shave cream and Bay Rum After Shave (with a nice clove scent). We had them shipped directly to his dorm at Oberlin.

We stopped into Juan's Flying Burrito, another of Norman's recommendations. We like Norman. He has great recommendations.

Above: Magazine Street

Below: Chips and Guacamole at Juan's Flying Burrito

Below: Homemade Cherry Lemonade Popsicles at Juan's

After leaving Magazine Street, we had to make a stop back at the French Quarter for Beignets at Cafe Du Monde. It is a New Orleans landmark since 1862.

We were there on a very warm weekday afternoon and business was slow. There were servers taking breaks everywhere. But as soon as we sat down, our dutiful waiter, Jeffrey, was at our service.

Above: Jeffrey the colorful waiter. He has served movie stars (had good things to say about Dustin Hoffman and Michael J. Fox and not so good things to say about Sean Penn and Jim Belushi... well, and not so good things to say about celebrities in general).

Fresh, warm beignets are SOOOO delicious!

We figure people from New Orleans never have to buy powdered sugar. Just bring a little bag with you, pour the powdered sugar from your left over beignets into the bag, and take home.

Below: St. Louis Cathedral at Jackson Square. Andrew Jackson statue in the middle.

On our way back home from the French Quarter (our hotel was one block from the Canal St. boundary of the French Quarter), the most wonderful band was playing on the edge of Bourbon Street. We emptied our pockets into their tip box.

Later that evening we took another of Norman's recommendations and headed over to Frenchmen Street for some dinner and Jazz. We ended up at Snug Harbor and listened to the Godwin Lewis trio. I decided for me, Jazz is like baseball... in order to truly enjoy it, I need to be there watching it live. Godwin is a saxophonist and graduate of Berklee Music School. He was inviting friends up right and left to play bass, drums, piano, etc... it was wonderful, really good.

Meanwhile, Sammy is in Japan. Here are a few pictures of Sammy's trip so far:

Above: the group in Tokyo (Sammy far left)

Below: Sammy at Gifu Kita High School

and Sammy with his homestay brother, Takuro