Savannah, GA: June 11-23, 2009

Barb writes:

I flew to Savannah, GA on June 11th and left Chuck in the Hog Island anchorage in Grenada with a list of 15 boat projects to do.   I went to visit daughter Danielle and grandkids Kristen and Abigail, as well as to see many old friends in the area. 

On Friday the 12th I joined Danielle, Kristen (14 years old) and Abigail (5) for a trip to Atlanta.  I had worked in Atlanta for Southern Company for a number of years and had rented an apartment there for over five years while commuting between Savannah and Atlanta.  Danielle and Kristen had lived there for part of that time so we had fun finding our old haunts and seeing how everything had changed.  On Saturday my son Jeff joined us.  Jeff is currently working in Las Vegas but had flown back to Knoxville to drive his vehicle and some of his stuff from his Knoxville house back to Vegas.  We started off the day with a trip to the new Atlanta aquarium -- which was awesome.  Then off to Centennial park to find the bricks with our inscribed names. Then Jeff used his cool new iPhone to find a movie theater showing Star Trek.  After enjoying a movie matinee, we headed to Medieval Times, a dinner theater, which Kristen later identified as her favorite event of the week-end.

Son Jeff, granddaughters Abigail, Kristen and daughter Danielle at the Atlanta Aquarium

Jeff trying to get Abby to come look at a fish

Kristen & Jeff

Kristen, Danielle, Abby & Barb

Cool dragonfish

Would you believe whales in the aquarium?

Walking in Centennial Olympic Park

Fountain in the Park

Statue in the Park

We finally found Medieval Times where we had dinner/theater reservations

We became part of the Green Team for the evening

The knights are getting ready for their jousting

On Sunday morning we headed to Six Flags.  We had just heard that Six Flags had filed for bankruptcy and when we got to the park we could understood why.  The parking lot was only about 1/4 full and we were able to walk onto most rides without a wait.  To be able to do that on a week-end in June is pretty incredible.  Guess it shows how poor the economy in the U.S. is these days when people are no longer going to Six Flags.

Abigail on a ride

Kristen & Jeff with Robin

Abby with two of her favorite characters

Jeff & Abigail

Jeff & Kristen

Jeff & Danielle

Jeff & Barb

Abby riding the carousel with her big sister Kristen helping

Danielle & the girls rode this ride and came back totally soaked. Barb opted for photographing rather than riding that one.

Jeff bid farewell Sunday afternoon so he could get ready for his cross country trip and the rest stayed in Atlanta one more day.  On Monday Danielle and the girls took a tour of Coca Cola while I went back to visit friends and former colleagues at Southern Company.  I had not been back to Atlanta since my retirement from the company at the end of 2003.  I had a great time seeing Steve Weber, Bill Bryson, Tom Herber, Larry Winn, Joe Harvey, Brenda Mayor, Nancy Bradley, and many many others.  I missed seeing my old boss Paula Brockoff though since she had relocated to another building.  I promised to catch her next time.

After returning to Savannah I spent most of the week with doctor and dentist visits and shopping for all the things that are difficult to find in the Caribbean.  I also made a visit to see many of my friends and former colleagues from the Savannah Southern Company offices.  My time was short though so only got to see the folks in the downtown office for a few minutes.  I had an awesome lunch at Wiley's BBQ with Mike McAllister and Steven Hall.  I am looking forward to getting back to Savannah to eat there again.  Mike hosts the www.tusentakk2.com web site for us and we talked about some changes and potential improvements he may implement.  Another day I made it to the another of the Savannah offices to catch up with old friend Melissa Mallard. 

I was also able to have a lunch at our favorite sushi restaurant, Hirano's, with friend Joy Reed.  Joy is also an ex-colleague of Chuck's who spent some time with us in Dominica a couple of years ago.

On Friday of my final week-end I took Kristen and Abigail to Tybee Island.  It turned out that Disney is currently filming the movie "The Last Song" there with Miley Cyrus.  She has become famous for her role in Hannah Montana, but as a "boat person" I am not even sure if that is a movie or a television series.  Kristen was not very impressed but Abigail was very excited about the prospect of seeing Miley, so we went looking to find her -- and we did!  We didn't get a decent photograph but did see her being filmed on the Tybee Pier and saw the amusement park set that has been -- for the purposes of the movie -- erected next to the pier.  The number of young girls hanging around to get a glimpse of Miley was amazing, but then Kristen, Abby and I were there too!  We also had a walk down the beach and in no time Abigail got her dress wet, and then she was totally soaked.  She had a ball!

Amusement park set for the movie on Tybee Beach

Amusement park

Ready to go looking for Miley

Walking the beach after our Miley sighting

Abby got caught by a wave and had a blast in the water.

Kristen

On Saturday and Sunday Abigail and I went to Jekyll Island, where we spent one day at a water park and one day at the beach.  Meanwhile, Kristen went to her dad's for Father's Day, so Danielle got an entire week-end all to herself.  She was quite delighted.

Abigail on the beach

At the Jekyll Island Harbour dock where we enjoyed the sunset

I was scheduled to leave Savannah on Tuesday morning.  The American Airline flight was leaving on time, but an alarm on the plane sounded while on the runway and the flight to Miami was delayed while the plane returned to the tarmac for repairs.  Eventually it became clear that there was no way that I could make my connection in Miami and get back to Grenada that day.  The airline suggested that I come back the next day, but that was not much of an option since Danielle was back to work and I had turned in my rental car.  The airline then suggested that I fly to Miami, where they would put me up in a hotel and schedule me for the 5:30 pm flight to Grenada on Wednesday evening.  That worked out well since Devi on Arctic Tern was also on that flight.  Chuck and Devi's husband Hunter rented a car and picked us up at the airport, which is a lot nicer than catching a taxi home.  It was a great trip to the States but there is no place like home (on Tusen Takk II).   And the list of 15 to-dos I left with Chuck?  He finished two of them!