My solo trip to Savannah on the Fourth of July as a new widow…how did it go?

You all know we loved to travel together, especially on cruises. Since he passed away unexpectedly in early May, I just haven’t known what to do. I’m kind of in a fog most of the time, just trying to get through my days. It’s really hard to concentrate on anything, but I find myself trying to keep busy just to get the days over with. It just doesn’t seem real most of the time. I did spend a day in Myrtle Beach on the one-month anniversary. It wasn’t too bad because I mostly sat there and watched the ocean. But I found myself dreading the fourth of July, and I had no one to spend it with. Those firsts are just no fun.

Honestly, I just didn’t want to be home alone on July 4th this year, my husband and I always did something on the holiday. Also, I thought that I could avoid the constant fireworks in my neighborhood if I went to a motel in the Savannah Georgia area. My daughters had their own things going on that did not include me. So, I decided that a solo trip to Savannah, which is about 3 hours from my home, would be a good idea. Was it? Definitely not.

I drove to Savannah down the back roads because I didn’t feel like driving the craziness of I-26 and I-95. It doesn’t take that much longer, and it’s much more pleasant to take the back roads, at least until you get behind the slow drivers that you have to pass. I had a quiet trip. I’ve gone to Savannah alone before, but still I have a lot of memories and feelings that feed the grief. I don’t know how long the hard part of grief lasts, but it’s been two months now and it’s still raw. I’ll feel better sometimes, and then a memory or trigger pops up and I’m a mess again. I’ve traveled solo before, but now it’s just so hard knowing that he couldn’t be there if I wanted him to be. So, here’s how it went…

Downtown Savannah Riverwalk

Parking on the Fourth of July in Savannah is free on the streets, but it’s not always easy to find a spot. I’m not great at parallel parking, but I found a spot right in front of The Pirates House restaurant, which I had reservations for. And I managed to parallel park because there wasn’t a lot of traffic on that road.

My reservation wasn’t until 2 pm, so I decided to go down to the Riverwalk and gets some steps in, but boy, was it hot. I did manage to walk all the way down to the end of the Riverwalk, and I went into a few shops to cool off. It was here that I realized how utterly alone I really was. All I could notice were the couples and the families walking around, and it seemed like I was the only solo in the entire area. I’m sure I wasn’t, but that’s all I saw. I was just miserable between the heat and loneliness, so I decided to go back to The Pirates House and see if I could get in to lunch early.

The Pirates House

The Pirates House has always been my favorite restaurant in Savannah. It’s a very historic building and very interesting to see. And the food is good.

I first went upstairs to the gift shop and looked around. I was so hot from walking, I just wanted to cool off a bit. Then I went to the desk and asked if I could get in early. I was told that there was a booth in the bar open if I wanted that. Now, I’d rather eat in the main restaurant, it’s got the character, but I was ready to eat and get out of Savannah and the heat and the aloneness.

The waiter was wonderful, he got me a glass of water immediately when he saw how hot I was, my face was very red. I ended up ordering a hamburger and some fresh fruit. The hamburger was delicious, the fruit wasn’t as good, some of it was hard and not ripe. But what I really like about The Pirates House is the ambiance and history. You’ll have to try it out sometime.

Then, after I ate, I decided to drive to the Oglethorpe Mall to get some steps in where it was cooler. I normally love walking all around Savannah, but I didn’t think that it was wise in the heat to try to go further. The mall is still alive and thriving, unlike a lot of other malls in the country. I got in my 5,000 steps, and then I went to the motel to chill.

Quality Inn Port Wentworth

Port Wentworth is about half an hour from Savannah and a nice little area. But I need to warn you, the road around the Quality Inn area is crazy. And I mean crazy. I don’t know what they were thinking when they laid out the area around I-95 and its on and off ramps. I went to Taco Bell to bring some dinner to the motel, which was on the opposite side of the street. Coming back the cut through to get back to the motel was blocked, so I decided to do a U-turn at the next opening. Well, seems like that was the off ramp of I-95. I really don’t understand how an off ramp was there. In the picture below you can see how the lanes moved, it’s crazy. The yellow is the one lane that moved across, the opposite lane crosses over that till they’re the opposite of what they should be. It’s crazy.

Luckily no one was coming off of I-95 and I was able to make another U-turn to get back on the road, but that was scary. I wonder if I’m the only one who has done that, or if it’s happened before?

Quality Inn Port Wentworth Motel Review…Clean but…

So, I survived the crazy roads just barely and got to the motel. I got checked in to room 107 okay, and at first glance the room was clean. The strange thing about the room is the big empty space between the Queen bed and the window. Instead of putting the bed in the middle of the room, it’s closer to the bathroom. And there’s nothing between the bed and the window AC area but floor.

The bed was very uncomfortable; the mattress sat on top of a metal frame. The pillows were also not comfortable. I came out of there with back pain the next morning. The sheets made me itch, and there was a burn hole in the top cover. Most of the room looked dusted, but the lamp on the desk hadn’t been dusted in quite some time.

There is a coffee pot, but only decaf coffee, and only one coffee cup, no cups for water. The toiletries included one already partly used conditioner and two lotions. There was one bar of soap.

I refused to take a bath in the tub that they had. It looked like they had redone the walls and floor of the bathroom, but they did not replace the tub when they remodeled. They should have. It had a cover over a lot of rust in the tub, and the bottom of the cover had white padding or something that was shredding. It was disgusting. No way I was getting into that tub. They had also replaced the flooring, part of it was messed up and I could feel it move when I walked over it.

I did feel safe in the room, there is a deadbolt and another lock on the door. However, because it was July 4th, there were people in the parking lot till midnight putting off fireworks. I know this wasn’t the motel’s fault, but why do people have to be so inconsiderate on the fourth of July? Not much you can do about that, there will always be people like that around. I found one bug in the room, not a roach, I’m not sure what it was.

Breakfast was just so-so. There were waffles, a couple of kinds of cereal, some yogurt, and some apples. Not a whole lot more.

Would I recommend this motel? Not really. The bathtub alone is enough to say “don’t go there.”

My solo trip…a bust…

I really shouldn’t have expected better, I’m still dealing with the grief. Sometimes I’m okay, sometimes I fall apart. I guess that’s a pretty normal thing, I just hope that it’s not forever. Let me know down below in the comments if you’ve dealt with this kind of grief, and what eventually helped you to get past it. Sometimes I worry that I will always feel this way and that I’ll always be this lonely.

• Solo Trip to Savannah and Quality Inn Port Wentworth Review
• On Being Newly Widowed
• Sad life changes for The Quiet Cruiser
• Enchanted Princess Review (Eastern Caribbean Ports)
• Enchanted Princess Interior Cabin Review – M117