Moving Day…..Cinco de Mayo ~ 3 days in Savannah, Georgia

Friday – 62* at 7 am 💕Happy 1st Anniversary to our dear friends Shane & Ryan! 🍾🥂 🪅Happy Cinco De Mayo! 🪇

Beautiful sunny morning. Made coffee, tea and egg cups. Showered and packed up and away we went. Stopped at Publix to stock up on Cinco de Mayo supplies! Headed up US 301N which was a nice drive through the country. Passed u-pick farms, lots of cow fields, and winery’s. Driving through Hawthorne we stopped at McDonald’s for a Diet Coke Crossed into Georgia 🍑 at 1:34

Stopped at the Georgia visitor center to stretch our legs & bathroom break. Got to exit 204 at 3:00 pm 3:30 arrived at Skidaway State Park in Savannah. Checked into the visitor center which is a beautiful new building. Toured the museum and gift shop. Drove to our site..#42 – a pull-through site with full hookups. Large oaks trees covered with moss all around. Set up and had a nice campfire. Lots of squirrels 🐿️ and bright red cardinals around. Even a few raccoons 🦝. Daniel & Lauren arrived at 11:05pm from Ocala and after working all day and then a 4 hour drive, we all called it a night. 💤 238 miles

Day 6 – Saturday- We were all up by 8:30, dressed and had coffee then headed to downtown Savannah. Our adventure started with a walk on the cobblestone roads down to the riverfront. Admiring the sights and sounds, we then walked to … The Olde Pink House for our lunch reservations at 11. 🌸

The historical Old Pink House was built in 1771 as the Habershum House. It got its current name because the soft native brick began to bleed through the plastered walls and mysteriously changed the color from white to pink. This National landmark which is Savannah’s stately mansion facing Reynolds’s Square has quite a history as we learned about it during lunch. It was built on land granted by the crown of England, James Habershum Jr lived in the mansion from 1771-1800. The home held many secret meetings which helped secure the independence of the 13 colonies from England. In 1811 the Pink House became the Planters Bank, the first bank in Georgia, and housed money of all the colonists. The massive cast-iron vaults with dungeon like doors are used as wine cellars now. It changed hands many times after the War between the states as attorneys offices & a colonial tea room. In 1992 the William Balish family purchased the mansion with all its ghosts and restored the building.

We started with drinks, then green fried tomatoes (delicious), pimento cheese sticks (amazingly good that I now have to figure out how to make these), to our as delicious lunches. Surprisingly our waiter was from West Palm Beach so he enjoyed talking to us and sharing stories and the houses history. We then walked all through the beautiful mansion, winding staircase, elegant dining rooms and the main ballroom to then go down to the basement to where there was a dark, but really awesome bar with wine cellars in the old vaults. Such an amazing place.

We then walked the streets, strolling through the different squares and oh my…😱🤦🏻‍♀️ we stopped at the Printed Peach…a Lilly Signature Store! Yes we shopped and came out with delightful outfits! 🌸 Love Brynn & Meals!

Off to Forsyth Square to see the beautiful fountain then walked up to Chippewa Square where Forrest Gump sat on the bench waiting for the bus in the movie. It started to rain so we ducked into Six Pence Pub for a drink and nacho’s and watched some of the coronation of King Charles. We saw lots of people dressed up for tonight’s Kentucky Derby! Then walked through the market shops, sampled Byrds cookies in 2 shops 😱, went to Starbucks then back to the campground. We grilled dinner and sat around a campfire till about 11pm. Lights out campers! 😴

Sunday – May 7th…. We all slept in till 10am! Oh what a night! 🎶 Made coffee and enjoyed being outside while we cooked bacon, sausage, English muffins and cheesy eggs! We enjoyed a sparkling rose’ which the kids brought back from their honeymoon in Italy. Now it was time to walk off breakfast so we walked up to the visitor center and took the Sandpiper Trail. Lots of fiddler crabs along the water edge. The kids then packed up and headed back to Ocala. So enjoyed our week with them. 🥰

Tomorrow is moving day so we packed up the site some then headed to Sam’s club for 45.5 gallons of diesel to top off the tanks. Only $3.49/gallon here! Of corse we were out so Diet Coke time. Passed the Byrd Cookie Factory and as we came back onto the island decided to explore it..

Skidaway Island – 12 miles from Savannah is encircled by rivers and creeks. The island has an elevation of 10’, population of 9,310 (2020) and 8 miles long by 3 miles wide. Skidaway Island is home to The Landings (originally a retirement community, now a mecca for young families),Modena and South Harbor and Skidaway Island State Park. Wildlife is abundant on this island, and it offers excellent access to the Atlantic Ocean for avid boaters. Trails meander through forest and alongside marshes in Skidaway Island State Park, which has 70 sites with water & electric and 17 with full hookups. The park borders Skidaway narrows, a part of Georgia’s Intracoastal Waterway. Trails wind through maritime forest and past salt marsh, leading to a boardwalk and observation tower. The island hosts Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, a research institution operated by UG. It was closed on Sunday’s so we just drove around the area.

Byrd cookies– In 1924, Benjamin Tillman “Pop” Byrd, Sr., at the age of 28, began baking his famous Scotch Oatmeal cookies in beautiful Savannah Georgia. He had a small bakery downtown near City Market and delivered the fresh cookies to stores around town in his Model T Ford. Typically, the cookies were sold out of large glass jars at ‘2 for a penny’. In 1929, he converted a tin-sided barn into a larger bakery which he lovingly named “Byrd’s Famous Cookies.”

When Benjamin Tillman “Cookie” Byrd, Jr. took over the company in 1949, he created separate bakery and retail spaces. With a desire to play the tour guide to locals wanting to learn more about the bakery, “Cookie” Byrd opened the Cookie Shanty. Inside the Cookie Shanty, he sold traditional cookies as well as unique products of his own creation, including the Benne Wafer, named after the cookie’s signature benne seeds. He began packing Byrd cookies inside sturdy metal tins, which allowed for products to be shipped across the country, expanding the company’s reach far beyond Georgia.

In 1988, “Cookie” Byrd’s daughter, Kay Curl, took the family business to even higher levels of success with exciting new flavors and beautiful tin designs, expanding Byrd’s presence in the gift industry. Byrd’s tart Key Lime Cooler was named the Dessert of the Year at the National Food Association’s Fancy Food Show, marking the first time a cookie earned top dessert honors. Originally created as a birthday gift to Kay’s husband, Bennie Curl, who loves key lime pie, the Key Lime Cooler continues to be one of the company’s best-selling items.

In 2011, Stephanie Curl Lindley stepped in as the 4th generation owner, dramatically increasing revenue and investing millions to upgrade production equipment. A savvy business leader, Stephanie Lindley has expanded Byrd’s reach even further through strategic partnerships with major retailers including LL Bean, Bergdorf Goodman and Delta Airlines. In 2017, Byrd announced a $4 million expansion at its bakery in Savannah, adding 10,000 square feet of space, significantly increasing production capacity and creating more than 50 new jobs.

Today, Byrd Cookie Company is one of the largest and fastest-growing independent cookie, snack and gift companies in the United States. Proudly headquartered in Savannah, this award-winning, family-owned company provides fresh-baked products to customers around the world. The company also creates private label items for companies including Neiman-Marcus, Ritz-Carlton and Cumberland Farms and operates successful retail stores in Georgia,South Carolina, and Tennessee.