Ross and Beverley: Road Trip 2010 - Savannah. GA. (Pt 3)

Welcome to the final leg of our recent road trip to the USA and Savannah was a wonderful place to stay and explore before we began our trip home. No doubt many of you would be aware of the book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" which has been made into a movie of the same name and provides a good insight into the lives and stories of the Southern folk as well as showing many of the lovely homes that are part of this amazing city. The house in the photo below is the house about which the film was made. To learn more about this great city with such a rich history you may wish to have a look at http://savannahvisit.com/meetings/savannah-info

We were most fortunate to be welcomed to this spectacular city by Regina and Jim Hess, friends we have not seen since 1997. The photo below is taken in their lounge room and the wedding photo above the fire place is of their son Justin to Lizabeth, daughter of Maureen and Dennis Reilly our great friends in Texas. Regina and Jim were magnificent hosts who provided stories and suggested walking tours so that we could really appreciate the history and culture of this area. Both are fiercely proud of their their city and rightly so.

On our last evening in Savannah we had dinner at their home and we were introduced to a local meal called "low country boil" which is a combination of seafood, spicy sausage, corn and potato in a very spicy broth, traditionally served on newspaper. The meal was delicious and we had the best evening just talking and laughing. We will certainly be going back to this area before we finally leave North America.

The city is developed on an 8 square pattern and is very easy to walk around with many parks and majestic trees which have spanish moss hanging from them. Every effort has been made to retain the original buildings and it is a real walk back in time to explore these grand buildings.

Our walking tours which we did over a 2 day period took us to historical areas where the cotton gins had been established and we were given an insight into the slave trade.

The opportunity provided by the first walking tour allowed us to get a real sense and perspective of the old buildings on which the city thrived. Below is the Capital building which has a gold plated dome.

There are various ways to see the city and the horse drawn carriage was a most popular way for many. Unfortunately every time Murphy saw a horse she felt compelled to bark so we became very skillful in averting her eyes every time we saw a horse heading our way.

There are many gracious homes in Savannah just like the one below.

As we are all aware there have been and continues to be brave and proud American military men and women who have given their lives in the Middle East and sadly the Hess/Freeman families lost their son, son in law and husband of Theresa the daughter of Regina and Jim. Matthew was a pilot in the US Marine Corps who was killed by a sniper in Afghanistan last year.

Theresa is a USAF Flight Surgeon and they had only been married a very short time before Matthew was deployed to Afghanistan. The weekend we were in Savannah would have been their church wedding in the Cathedral so it was a sad time for Regina and Jim as they spoke about what should have been a happy time. We felt very privileged to be with them at this time and it gave us a sense of the great loss they still feel and we know they will always have a hole in their hearts for what should have been.

There are many memorials to those who have and continue to serve for their country and below is a lovely Memorial Park close to where Regina and Jim live which provides the opportunity to buy a brick and place the name of members of the US military be they currently serving, past serving or lost their lives in the service of their country. Jim and Regina have placed a brick in memory of Matthew which is next to that of Theresa and that of Jim who served in Desert Storm.

As Matthew was a local lad and his family still lives in this area, a road has been named after him. Matthew will never be forgotten and will always remain in the hearts of those who new and loved him.

Our trip to Savannah was an amazing adventure. We really enjoyed the opportunity to learn about this area. It was also very sobering to see the pain and sorrow that the tragic loss of Matthew has brought and while we may take some comfort in knowing that he now rests in peace the lost potential of this life is difficult to reconcile.