Flat Kali: May 7, 2013 - Hilton Head, SC; Tybee Island, GA; Savannah, GA

We drove from Roswell, GA to Hilton Head, SC. https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

When we arrived, we spotted an alligator sitting on a bank, so we stopped for a quick picture. Before our vacation was over, we saw five alligators!

Our place was right off the beach - we could see it from our room. When we got there, we decided to head right out for a little play time. On the way, we spotted some wild bunnies that like to hang out in the grass behind the condos (but Blogger is giving Maddie's mommy a hard time and doesn't want me to post the pictures of the bunnies.). My friend Maddie had a good time running on the beach.

The next day, we drove to Fort Pulaski, a Confederate fort that fell to Union soldiers during the Civil War. The fort sits on the coast and had rooms that showed how the soldiers and officers lived while stationed there. They also had a demonstration of muskets firing. (This is not a musket. Maddie's daddy attended the demonstration while Maddie's mom kept us kids away from the noise of the guns.)

After Fort Pulaski, we went to the Fraser Lighthouse on Hilton Head Island. The lighthouse was built in the 1970's by Charles Fraser and was called "Fraser's Folly" because the shore wasn't rocky and not many ships navigated those ports. However, the lighthouse has become a Hilton Head landmark and symbol of the town. Here are Maddie and her brother, Frankie, sitting with me in the rocking chairs at the base of the lighthouse. People in the south REALLY love their rocking chairs! It's hard to go anywhere without seeing them.

Here I am in front of the lighthouse!

The beaches in the south have a LOT of shells. In fact, several structures built before the Civil War were built with something called "tabby," a mix of the burned crushed oyster shell sand, whole oyster shells, and water. You can see crushed shells in buildings and walls all over the older parts of the coastal south. Here are Maddie, Frankie, and me playing on the beach by the lighthouse.

After the lighthouse, we drove to the Stoney-Baynard ruins. Captain "Saucy Jack" Stoney built the plantation between 1793 and 1810, and the family owned the plantation until 1837 when a Stoney family member lost it in a poker game to William Baynard, an aggressive, harsh man who was said to be determined to buy up all the plantations in the area. A few months after taking ownership, he died of yellow fever. The plantation burned down years later, and the ruins have become a tourist site.

That was a big day! We headed home after that.

Here is a quick picture of me, sad that I don't get to go back outside to play.

And here I am, next to some souvenirs from the trip.

The next day, we decided to tackle Tybee Island, in Georgia. Maddie is wearing a pioneer hat she bought at Fort Pulaski, and she's holding me.

Remember when I said that the southern coast had a LOT of sea shells? Well, in the picture above, it looks like my friend is just running on the sand, but if you dig your fingers across the sand, like in the picture below, you'll see so many little shells just below the surface!!

Tybee Island is also known for its lighthouse. According to their website, it was "Ordered by General James Oglethorpe, Governor of the 13th colony, in 1732 ... [T]he Tybee Island Light Station has been guiding mariners safe entrance into the Savannah River for over 270 years. The Tybee Island Light Station is one of America's most intact having all of its historic support buildings on its five-acre site. Rebuilt several times, the current lightstation displays its 1916 day mark with 178 stairs and a First Order Fresnel lens (nine feet tall)." (http://www.tybeelighthouse.org/index.php )

Next, we went to Savannah, GA. Maddie's mom loves Savannah. It has great shopping, Spanish moss hanging from all the trees, beautiful squares scattered throughout downtown, and an amazing historical center that is well-maintained. Here are my friend and me standing by a fountain on Congress Ave.

Some people like a very famous Georgia chef known as Paula Deen. She has a store and a restaurant in town.

This is a monument to Haitian volunteers who came to the U.S. to fight against the British during the Civil War.

In one of Savannah's squares (mini-parks filled with cobblestones, big oak trees covered in Spanish moss, and fountains or statues), is Tomo-Chi-Chi's grave. Tomo-Chi-Chi (a Creek Indian), Mary Musgrove (a Creek Indian who married John Musgrove, a white man), and James Oglethorpe (hey - remember that lighthouse on Tybee Island? He commissioned that!) worked together and helped establish what is now the state of Georgia.

This is a 200 year old Presbyterian Church in Savannah.

Here is a picture of some of that Spanish moss that covers the trees. Maddie likes to collect it, which sometimes makes her mommy a little bananas. Do you know why? Here's a little history... Hundreds of years ago, people in Savannah would stuff their mattresses with Spanish moss because it was plentiful and soft. But, you had to boil it first to kill off all the bugs that made their home in the moss. Sometimes, boiling didn't kill off all the bugs. The mattresses sat on ropes that criss-crossed the frame of the bed and would have to be stretched tight (there was often a winch on the side), because if the ropes loosened, the mattress would sag, thereby freeing the little bugs and allowing them to crawl on you. Yuck! Maddie! Put down that moss!!

(One last fact about Savannah for all the Girl Scouts out there - Savannah is where Juliette Gordon Low was born! When Maddie and her family moved from Washington State to Georgia, they stopped in Savannah and visited Juliette's home. When we visited Savannah today, Juliette's home was covered in scaffolding and construction material, so we didn't visit. But if you're a Girl Scout and you ever find yourself in Savannah, GO to Daisy's house! You'll even get a special pin to wear on your uniform.)

That was another big day and we were TIRED! We decided to stay at home and have a beach day the next day. But, that night, Maddie and I went for a night walk on the beach. We saw a lump in the tide and went to investigate. It was a dead horseshoe crab. ... Well, we thought it was dead. Maddie's mom stopped to take a picture, and the light from her camera startled the crab and made it twist and move its legs. We screamed and jumped!!! Yikes!