Oh Savannah, Don't You Cry for Me

Another weekend, and another fort we had yet to see. You'd think by now we would have seen them all, but apparently people were very scared living in these parts two hundred years ago. There's pretty much a fort in every town around here. So I like the history part, and Becky just likes to do anything to get out of the apartment for a day. Today, we made it up to Savannah.


Our first stop was Fort McAllister, about 13 miles south of the South Carolina border. It was actually much more exciting than I had anticipated. Online it looked mostly like a bunch of dirt hills, but when we visited... well, it was still just a bunch of dirt hills. But at one time General Sherman sat across the river (shortly after having burned the state of Georgia, peaches and all) and watched the fort get bombarded. That was about the only history to it. The oak trees were incredible as usual, and the aforementioned dirt hills were actually fairly impressive. But the highlight of the stop, was the fort mascot: a wicked Banana Spider who'd built her web just outside the door. Seriously, the largest spider I've ever seen in the wild. My Grandmother Sellers would have run screaming into the river. Some of them get to be the size of a human hand, and this one wasn't far off. Check them out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_spider

So, after Fort McAllister we ventured into the town of Savannah. We'd been there once before, but never stopped to look around. The twisting branches of the trees above your head, laden with rich emerald leaves and dangling moss (and probably deadly Banana Spiders) make for a unique Southern experience. Yes, I stole that from the tour map. We checked out Old Fort Jackson, yet another place where the Confederates bravely held off the onslaught of the Yankees, though I don't think it worked out in the end. The highlight of this fort once again was the wildlife. As we walked in we could see dolphins playing in the waters and even leaping completely out into the air! I know, it was cool, you should have been there. But it was really hot, and I lost probably seven pounds of water off of my head alone. Paul took a fall, a bad one. He smacked his head on the bricks so hard the Rebels woke from the dead. Thankfully, he was ok, but he has a rather large blue bump on his head. Don't worry grandmothers, one little concussion never hurt anyone.

See, he's fine. And now that I've written a novel, I'm going to bed. Until the next fort!