Gothic

Nothing could be finer...

Georgia rocks! We are loving it! I never really thought about it, but a great deal of it is fabulous swampland. Great trees, spanish moss, marshy puddles, forests full of great places to stash a dead body...

I'm sorry, I keep thinking that when I am going through pretty areas. Tennessee was excellent, sloping hills with lots of dips, gullies, "hollows", and in some places, completely draped in greenery (or brownery, depending on the time of year). All you could see were strange bush shaped bumps, and tree shaped bumps, and other strangely mysterious bumps. Then I got to the swamps. Fabulous. All I could think was that the mafia has got it all wrong with their silly shallow graves in the desert.

To all those who have yet to meet me: I'm really not scary, just have an overactive imagination. Please don't let this dissuade you from inviting me into your house.

We spent a night in a nice historic hostel in Atlanta, then headed out towards Savannah. We only made it as far as the coast that first night, and stayed at the Hostel in the Forest. Wow. We came in at twilight, and the treehouses and geodesic domes melded in perfectly to their swampy surroundings. After a great communally cooked vegetarian meal and a pre-meal "circle" where we held hands and said what we were thankful for, we spent the night in the Dragon's Lair, a dome set up in the trees, right next to the water. It looked a lot like Myst. And any foresty fantasy novel I have ever read.

I explored a bit in the morning, and it was absolutely stunning. Trails led out to the pond and the lake, with a stop at the hot tub on the way. The composting toilets actually had stained glass, and the library dome was soulfully painted.

Waaaay too hippy dippy for Christy. It was wearing on me by the time we finished our chores in the morning. But it was stunning. And impressively self-sufficient and conscientious. They had about 8 different bins for recycling, and compost heaps Dad would have drooled over. Ooo, that sounds really gross.

Last night we hit Savannah. Not too much happening on a Monday night in winter, but we managed to find a sports bar and get good and blasted. Then a cab back to yet another historic hostel, and a nice pasta dinner shared with a boy from Cape Cod.

Today we have been seeing the city in the daytime. Have I already used "stunning" in this post? Impressively restored townhouses set in the shade of giant oaks covered in Spanish moss and resting on garden squares. All exactly what I expected, and all beautiful. Christy is reading "the book," as they call it around here, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and we are seeing all the book related sights.

We also made a stop at the home of Juliette Gordon Lowe, the founder of the Girl Scouts. Mostly we were hoping for cookies, and one tour book promised us "the corpse and still-beating heart of the girl that sold the most cookies ever". I think they may have been joking. Or we just didn't look in the right corner. It was a lovely historic home tour, but no dead bodies.

And we've come full circle, haven't we? I'm really not looking for dead bodies everywhere. Savannah is just the sort of town to bring this out in me. Chock full of ghosts. They are in the air here. So you can't blame me for thinking gothically.

Tomorrow, Charleston, Athens (and the Return of the King!), on our whirlwind Georgia tour.

Comments

[Theresa]

OMG, not fair - I haven't been to Charleston in maybe two months or so! I love Savannah, but I lllooovvvee Charleston. If I had known you'd be in the big S, I would have recommended Lady & Sons restaurant. If you come here, I'll make you her gooey butter cakes. Tell me you're not on a diet or anything! Poogan's Porch is a good place in Charleston, and supposedly haunted, but pricey for supper. Never ate lunch there. I think I've eaten everywhere in Charleston, but Hyman's is a traditional first stop. Hope you had boiled peanuts somewhere down there. If not, well, they're here too! I know you won't get this until after you're through, boo-hoo - I want to go too! If you need a place to stay before you hit the airport, we're 2 hrs. from Atlanta. A penny saved is one more to spend on yarn!