The Honeymoon

It's Sunday at 4 pm and SP is having a beer while I sip an orange martini. We've been home from our honeymoon for about 22 hours and have been busy doing laundry, shopping, and doing other chores (ten days of newspapers and mail to sort through!). And there's still a lot of post-wedding organizing to do. Sigh. Can we get back in the car and return to the south?

I have always wanted to see Savannah, GA and Charleston, SC so we decided to spend our honeymoon in those two cities. We decided to travel to Savannah first because it was the slightly longer drive and we figured a slightly shorter return trip would be preferable!A couple of Thursdays ago, we set off bright and early. Yes, we drove. We like having our own car and being able to take lots of stuff - like 2 bags of car snacks!! It took us 11.5 hours to get to Savannah. Our hotel in Savannah was Avia. I highly recommend this hotel. It was in a great location - we didn't even move the car for 3 days; we walked everywhere - the staff were extremely friendly and helpful. Our room was on the top floor. We had a king size bed that was incredibly comfortable and had wonderful cushiony pillows plus a couch and chair with ottoman, desk with desk chair, flat screen TV, 'kitchen' counter & refrigerator, and bathroom. There were Dean & DeLuca treats (of which we did not partake). There also was turn down service, and every night we each got a bottle of water and a small Dean & DeLuca chocolate.By the time we had checked in and freshened up, all we wanted was some food! A quick glance at a map or guidebook showed that Moon River Brewing was a short walk away - so off we went. Naturally, we went off in the wrong direction (oops) but eventually we found it.

Here's something I've never blogged about before, but to share some of our experiences I figured I'd finally blog about it: when I was 23 years old, I was diagnosed with one of those incurable, genetic diseases that will get progressively worse but the rate of progression varies with each person. It's pretty tough to be just 23 and get such news and to not have a plan of attack (because there's no cure) so you just... do what?

In my case, I went back to grad school for my final year. Thank goodness I have a strong, supportive family that never lets me wallow in self-pity or become a recluse -- we find a way to deal, to be strong, and we move on with life. Things have gotten progressively worse since then. There were many falls, some with serious results (splitting my head open at Sterling in Napa, breaking my hip and ending up walking with a cane, etc.) but the worst was about 6 years ago when I fell and broke my femur. This is getting a bit long, but there was surgery and a wheelchair and rehab then more surgery and more rehab and in the end, I improved a lot, but not enough to ever walk again. Thankfully, around that time, I reconnected with SP. So, a lot of what influenced our opinions of this honeymoon vacation is the fact that I use a wheelchair.Obviously, accessibility is an issue for us. So when we finally found Moon River Brewing, we took one look at the high step and thought: CRAP! WE ARE STARVING! But experience has taught us to always ask and investigate - there are side entrances, back entrances, and in this case, a portable ramp that they immediately whipped out for us. Yay!!! This place was shaping up nicely!

It's a typical bar/eatery atmosphere. They are the only brewing house in Savannah. I had unsweetened iced tea and SP ordered a Captian's Porter (did they spell it wrong? captain?) which he really enjoyed.Appetizers - well, we were in the south, and neither of us had ever tried Fried Green Tomatoes, so that's what we ordered. Here's the description: "Mrs. Johnson, a cook at the former City Hotel more than 150 years ago and a current ghostly resident at Moon River Brewing, would certainly approve of our modern version of this long-time Southern favorite - fried green tomatoes layered with real blue crab salad and topped with cusabi (a creamy, cucumber and wasabi sauce)." Did I mention the building has an interesting history and like many Savannah buildings, claims to be haunted?!

Yum! The fried green tomatoes were less squishy soft than I expected and the crab was so good! The cusabi was so good! More cucumber-y and less wasabi-y, which suited me just fine. Delicious. The cusabi really helped bring together the tomatoes and crab.

For our meals, SP ordered the Barbecue Pork: "Our shredded pork is hickory smoked just for us by our friends at Angel's Barbeque. Served on a bun with a tangy, Carolina pitstyle sauce. It's simply the best there is!" It was indeed tasty. I tried a bit and it was very good pulled pork. His sides were vegetables and cole slaw. And the pickle!

I ordered Lowcountry Crab Melt: "Grilled Texas toast topped with fresh (real) blue crab in a mayonnaise-based salad and Monterey Jack cheese, smothered with a creamy Parmesan sauce and baked to a bubbly deliciousness!" It reminded me of turkey devonshire in a way - only better because it was crab! It was very tasty. For my side, I chose the gouda scalloped potatoes - yum!!! SP & I shared our sides.

No room for dessert - but we ate all of our meals. Licked the plates clean. It was good. Not gourmet, foodie food, but definitely tasty and we'd go back if we are ever again in Savannah. Our server was friendly and efficient. As soon as the hostess saw us leaving, she whipped out the portable ramp again - no need to ask. And the guy who set it up even helped and made sure we made it down OK (it was probably steeper than ADA regulations and there were a few bumps/ridges but SP has had lots of practice!).

After eating, we strolled around the streets of Savannah, saw The Lady & Sons (Paula Deen's restaurant, which is buffet style southern cooking), and wandered through the City Market and finally relaxed near the fountain in Ellis Square, which is where our hotel was. We also stopped at Cafe Gelatohhh!, conveniently located almost next door to our hotel! We decided to share a blueberry sorbetto:It was very good, but the bits of blueberry pulp bugged me a bit and got stuck in my teeth! The taste of amaretto I tried was very good, too.

A lovely first night in Savannah.