Hilton Head Island

25th November 2012
We woke up early to watch the sunrise from the beach at Hilton Head Island. Hilton Head Island is the equivalent of Palm Beach in Sydney. A lot of holiday homes for wealthy families as well as individuals who have retired quite comfortably.








There were hardly any people out in the city. Perhaps it was because it was an early Sunday morning. Or perhaps it was because it was in the off season.

People actually have mailboxes like that with their names!

We went kayaking and the man who rented us the kayak had informed us that we might see dolphins. I brushed it aside thinking that it was all hocus pocus and something to lure in tourists. But lo behold, there were so many wild dolphins swimming in the bay, it was insane. I didn't manage to take any photos since you just never knew when it would surface and, more importantly, where it would surface.

Low quality image from a video that I captured. We were so close! At times, the dolphins were a mere 1.5 away

My motor.

We drove around Hilton Head Island, one final lap before heading back to Atlanta. On the way to Savannah, we had taken the interstate which was fast, but it looked the same for most of the way. Sunbear wanted to take some back roads, to see more of the state and to also take a slight detour out to Augusta. Hence, we took the state highways. The upside was that we passed through many towns which was a very interesting experience. Towns that consisted of a church, perhaps one or two dilapidated homes and lots of trailers. Seriously. Trailers. It actually looked really eerie, almost as though someone would storm out with a rifle in hand. We passed by some cotton fields and decided to stop at one since it was just so pretty. We stole some cotton, with the intention of each taking some home. But I gave mine to Sunbear since quarantine in Australia is insane and effectively nothing can be brought in. This may sound odd, but I was so surprised at the feel of the cotton. It literally felt like a cotton ball!















The downside of the state highway was that we couldn't go as fast. Also, there weren't any street lights. This wasn't a problem on the interstate because there were so many cars, but on the state highway where there wasn't a soul to be found it was a little scary. Especially since we didn't have a map, our phones didn't have reception and the entire area was basically deserted. Except for those towns we passed by sporadically. Though I did see a deer (!) which I hadn't seen before, that is in the wild. The only map I had was a pre-loaded map I had loaded via Google Maps, though it is terribly difficult to locate yourself on the map in the absence of street signs or a general idea where the heck you even are. Glad we had enough petrol otherwise we would have been screwed. Luckily, we got out alive and headed to Augusta. Augusta seemed so small. I guess I am used to bigger cities.


My Overall Thoughts
I can imagine that Hilton Head Island is brimming with tourists in the summer. The beaches were so-so. Actually, the whole area reminded me a lot of Surfer's Paradise. I can understand that it is a nice place for a summer vacation. But the best part of the visit was the dolphins and kayaking. Initially Sunbear had wanted to rent some sort of motorised boat. The type of boat escapes me, but basically it was a boat with a motor that could go very fast. Typical. I put my foot down and I am glad that I did because we would not have seen any dolphins if we had gone down that route.

Would I re-visit?
It is the same as Savannah and I would have to say no.

Savannah pt 2

24th November 2012

 

We visited the Bonaventure Cemetary and it was a nice cemetery with quite a few tombs.

Wormsloe Historic Site was a place that was on every "must-see" list for Savannah. The historic site consists of part of the Wormsloe Plantation which was an estate by one of Georgia's colonial founders. Truth be told, I expected more from the place. The best part was driving under the oak-lined avenue with Spanish Moss.











We headed back to Savannah for lunch at Forsyth Park and had amazing bread.I couldn't stand the bread in the US. Who knew that sliced bread would taste sweet. And bread without high fructose corn syrup would still taste sweet. It was even harder for all the Europeans who were used to 'real' bread and not the crap sliced bread that was readily available. Even the bread from the bakery tasted terrible. After months of grocery shopping, I ended up purchasing food without high fructose corn syrup. There is something quite worrying when the ingredients list both high fructose corn syrup AND corn syrup, as if though one wasn't enough.




After, we headed back to Tybee Islands for Fort Pulaski , which was a fort that was severely damaged by the Union Army.One side is riddled with canon holes, like Swiss cheese.








Back in Savannah, we explored more of the city (as it was our last day there).






Savannah is also famous for the in-store made candy that it produces on River Street such as pralines and fudge. It was ridiculously overpriced and the smell of the store was actually quite sickening. But we managed to get a free piece of candy immediately after it was made. I actually wanted to purchase a toffee apple, but at $6 (without tax) I really couldn't justify it.






It was soon time to leave Savannah for Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. It was very pretty as the sun was starting to set, behind the fields of cotton and farmhouses.

My mess. Whoops. My shoes, a trillion pamphlets and maps and my trusty disposable camera. What I found interesting in the US was that film and film cameras were everywhere. If you went to any tourist location, there would be boxes of Kodak film and disposable cameras which I found quite interesting. And odd.

My Overall Thoughts
It was as lovely as I expected it to be, although very small. I was quite disappointed in Bonaventure cemetary and Wormsloe, considering the reviews online. In hindsight, maybe we should have just visited Savannah for a day before heading up to Charleston, S.C, which was a place that we sadly had to omit due to lack of time.

Would I re-visit?
No. It was lovely and quaint, but not a place that I would visit again as a tourist. If I lived in Georgia, it would be a place that I would visit often as it is slow-paced and a nice break from the city life (although, I wouldn't really consider Atlanta to have a big-city feel).

Savannah pt 1

23rd November 2012
Over Thanksgiving break, Sunbear and I travelled to the coast of Georgia to visit Savannah and Tybee Islands, before heading up to South Carolina for Hilton Head Island. I first became interested in visiting Savannah after having a discussion with a gentlemen at one of the clubs in midtown. I am not much of a clubbing type of person, yet I still went and it just reaffirmed my dislike for the whole environment. I sat in the corner the entire night and started a conversation with the person next to me. He said that Savannah was one of the top places in the USA to see before you die. Similarly, another exchange student (who had visited the US on multiple occasions in the past) also said that Savannah was the second prettiest city in the USA, with San Fransisco as number one.




Savannah was the first city in Georgia and its appeal is due to the historic public squares, streets lined with oak trees and Spanish Moss and the architecture and historic buildings. The is also the scene from Forest Gump which was filmed at one of the squares. Savannah is a 4 hour drive from Atlanta and it was a pleasant drive (well, I found it enjoyable as a passenger). We drove around the historic district and by the riverfront before driving off to Tybee Islands. It was such a gorgeous day (Georgia has amazing weather, except in summer).






We visited the lighthouse and in line to climb up, there was a family behind us who were from Tennessee originally but later moved down to Georgia. The father was wearing a cowboy hat and cowboy boots with an amazing accent. It was amazing.

This is honestly one of my favourite shots of all time.

My first time seeing and 'touching' the Indian Ocean. I also saw a few guys waiting to catch some waves and wearing interesting attire; backward baseball caps and t-shirts.

My dish. This was so good!

Sunbear's dish. It was quite nice, though I am not much of a fan of fish.

We headed back to Savannah and had dinner at a restaurant on River Street. The server was so rude however the waitress was super lovely. We ordered garlic bread as an entree and she gave us extra bread. Also, it was so awkward when I just just come back from the bathroom and used their free handscrub that smelt of lavender and Sunbear was smelling my hand when she came to get our order. Awkward. As tipping is expected in the US unlike in Australia, I got so irritated when I was forced to tip a waiter who didn't deserve it at all. In those situations, I would pay the minimum of 10%. However, the woman was so attentive and so lovely and I believe we ended up tipping her 20% of the bill.

That night, we stayed at a motel which was terrible. *shudders* There was hair in the bed (!!) and the white towel was stained (!!!). I became so paranoid and honestly believed that there were bed bugs and I became itchy (there weren't any bugs, just paranoia).

NOLA pt 3

11th November 2012
This was our last day in NOLA. We had been blessed with amazing weather the entire weekend trip, sunny and around 24 degrees C. Today, we were visiting the Lafayette Cemetary as well as the homes in the Garden District.








The Lafayette is one of the oldest cemetaries in the city and been used in a lot of films. It is unique because the tombs are elevated above ground as the ground has a high water table, unsuitable for below the ground burial.

And a collection of photos of the food I ate over the trip (that I also forgot to add into the previous posts).

BBQ Shrimp

Can't recall what this was. Some sort of crawfish dish. Although there was basically no crawfish.

Didn't really like the beignets from Cafe Beignet. They weren't as fluffy, were too doughy and reminded me a lot of some Chinese dessert, the name escapes me.

The two items that I didn't end up trying were the po' boys and muffaletta. They are both sandwiches and I couldn't really justify eating a sandwich (no matter how famous it was) since there were just too many other things to try and do. It seems that southern food is starting to become trendy in Newtown and I was looking at some menus of the new establishments. I stumbled upon one which sold po'boys but using English muffins. Hmm.

My Overall Thoughts
New Orleans is vastly different to the majority of the cities in the US, especially when compared to the west coast and cities in the Tri-state region. It has a very different atmosphere and is very pretty. That being said, the main areas are very touristy and vastly different to just outside the city, sometimes to an extent that it seemed somewhat fake.

My favourite dishes were: jambalaya and gumbo! I must learn how to make both of them.

Would I re-visit?
For the Jazz festival, yes. Otherwise, no. I would love to explore other cities in Louisiana but I believe I saw everything that I wanted to see in New Orleans on that weekend trip.

I already knew that there weren't any Bank of America ATMS / other major banks in New Orleans and had already warned my travelling campanions, however they did not take heed to my advice. I ended up having to lend them my cash and we were constantly at CVS getting cash out, although they only allowed a maximum of $20 per transaction. There were a lot of standalone and dodgy-looking ATM machines, but they charged fees of around $5 per withdrawal. Moral of the story: bring cash as most places didn't accept EFTPOS or be willing to incur high withdrawal fees.