Life has not been easy for anyone lately, and I’ve decided that for me, the best thing for my mental and physical well being is to start living my life again. So, on Mother’s Day we decided to visit Savannah, Georgia on a day trip.
It’s time for me to stop living in fear
We’d seen on our local news that Savannah was starting to open up again. In my opinion, the only thing that’s going to get this country going again is to stop being afraid and support local economies. This virus isn’t going away anytime soon, but if this country stays closed till it’s gone, there will be no country left. I choose not to live my life in fear, because if I do, I may as well be dead now.
Parking?
We got to Savannah around lunchtime. I decided to stop by The Pirates House first because I love eating there. But sadly, it was still closed. We usually park in that area, but decided to try and get a spot closer to the Riverfront District. They’ve changed the parking since last time we were in Savannah. No more meters, but still paid parking which takes cash or credit. Luckily parking is free on Sunday and Holidays, so there was no charge.
We brought a lunch just in case because we really didn’t know how hard it would be to find food, but we decided to wait and see. Be aware that there are steep stairways down to the Riverfront. We had to use the handrails, but we brought Purel with us. The trolleys are also running if you want to ride around the area. They were not crowded but we saw quite a few of them.
So, how is Savannah right now?
I have to say that it was so nice to feel like life was almost normal. Savannah was not crowded, but there were a good amount of visitors walking around. I’d say that maybe only 10% of the visitors were wearing face masks. The rest were fine with being around others, weren’t afraid, and were having a nice normal day. We were all considerate of others, there were no problems. Some of the stores were open, some were still closed. Some of the restaurants had indoor dining, some had outdoor. A lot of people were out walking their dogs. And it was easy to strike up conversations with strangers. I was told Happy Mother’s Day by a number of people.
A lot of the restaurants were open. We finally came across a burger place on the Riverfront called Lizzy’s Burger Bar that had seating on the sidewalk. A lady sitting there said the burgers were great so we went into the bar area and ordered. Very friendly service, and they even had a restroom. We sat outside and the burgers were brought to us in about ten minutes. And they were very good, and I can’t tell you how nice it was to be able to actually go to a restaurant and eat.
Downtown and the squares
After that we decided to walk up to the downtown and squares area to see how that was looking. There was plenty of traffic driving around, and plenty of cars parked everywhere. The streets were definitely not crowded with people walking, but there were still plenty of people out and about. There were visitors of all ages. As on the Riverfront, there were stores open, and stores still choosing to close. We didn’t really go to shop, so that was no problem for us. Lots of people were just enjoying the weather sitting on benches in the squares. We could hear the church bells, sad that there was no one in the churches to enjoy them.
The Marketplace
We ended up at the Marketplace area next. Once again there were plenty of people walking around. There was a nice big area with umbrella tables where diners were enjoying their meal. There was a pizza shop open, and there were ice cream shops everywhere. People were just enjoying the beautiful Spring Mother’s Day weather, and not being afraid. There was even a horse and carriage there to take people around to see the sites.
And back to the Riverfront
I just did not want to leave Savannah to go back to my “new normal”. So we decided to go back to the Riverfront District and get some ice cream. There are quite a few ice cream shops in the area, we ended up at the one in the huge candy shop. And it was so good! We took our ice cream and found a bench overlooking the river, and sat and watched the boats go by. We did see a tugboat, some motorboats, and a police boat. It was so peaceful and relaxing. I was almost able to think that life was really normal, and that the world had not gone crazy. If I had a choice I’d have stayed there for days.
Day trips
I’m going to try and take one of these day trips as often as possible to help our economy and my mental and physical state. And I’m hoping that others can see that it’s not really as scary out there as the news media claims, and start taking their lives back too as much as they can. It’s time for the government to step up and make that possible before it’s too late. This virus doesn’t frighten me, but what’s going to be “the new normal” in our country does.
The Quiet Cruiser 