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Time to Say Good-Bye to Savannah

We knew we didn't have much time to enjoy Savannah since we wanted to leave early the next morning to beat the beach traffic that we knew would be on the freeway from Hilton Head Island. We didn't get much done in Savannah this time, but vowed to return again when the weather wasn't so hot, to wander through the squares and parks, and to stop and admire all the old mansions in the historic district. It was great to eat at The Lady and Sons, though, and well worth the trip just to do that! Good-bye to Savannah until next time!

Lady and Sons Business Cards

As we left the restaurant, feeling very stuffed, I picked up these business cards. Don't know why they didn't have Bobby's card - but I didn't see one. A couple of weeks after we left Savannah, we were at a movie theatre and saw a trailer for an upcoming movie called Elizabethtown with Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst. Suddently in the middle of a scene, there was Paula Deen in the background on the set in a kitchen. She had a few words of dialogue and then it was off to another scene. Bob and I couldn't believe it - evidently Paula's now a movie star! We'll be checking out the movie in October 2005.

Paula's Crab Stuffed Shrimp

Again, I don't know if this picture does this dish justice, but I ordered the crab stuffed shrimp and it certainly did not disappoint! The crabmeat was mixed with a mild white cream sauce and it was tender and delicious. Both dishes were very rich and buttery - I know Paula likes to use a lot of sugar and butter in all her recipes - that's what makes them so wonderful! Unfortunately we had eaten so much cornbread and drank so much lemonade before our meal arrived, that we could hardly eat more than a few bites of our dinner. It was sad because we had no place to keep it and had to just leave it on our plates.

Paula's Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

I hope this picture shows how delicious this dish was. The entire top of the chicken pot pie was interwoven puff pastry strips. Bob ordered this and said it was great!. I had a couple of bites too and it was amazing, and huge!

Our Dinner Arrives

We arrived 30 minutes early, but were seated right away. The Lady and Sons restaurant looked just like it did on TV on the inside. I felt like we would see Paula any minute (but, of course, we didn't). We were seated at a small wood table with doilies as place mats. It was very busy, with servers running everywhere. We decided to start with Paula's homemade lemonade - we were hot and tired and thought it would be perfect - and it was! It was the sweetest most delicious lemonade we've ever had! They kept filling our glasses and we just kept drinking it! Then they served us two kinds of cornbread as shown in this picture. Both were equally delicious, very moist and buttery.

On Our Way for Dinner

Our camera was set on the wrong setting and many of our photos didn't turn out. This one is a good example of a bad picture of the Spanish Moss we glimpsed as we walked back to the restaurant.

Horse and Carriage Rides

We were going to take a horse and carriage ride, but we have done that in so many other places and sometimes it's not as neat as you'd think, so we passed this time and began walking toward The Lady and Sons restaurant for our dinner.

Chippawa Square

The historic district of Savannah is made up of a number of squares stretching out before you, block after block. They are really mini parks and most have a monument or statue in the center. We had begun walking with the intention of seeing them all, but we only made it to the Chippawa Square (shown above) and then turned around. It would have taken us too long and it would have gotten too dark to have seen them all that night.

Spanish Moss

We left River Street and decided to walk around the Savannah squares until it got closer to our reservation time. We found, as we walked, that Savannah had changed a lot in 15 years. There were more people and it had become quite the vacation destination. There were way more coffee shops, restaurants, bars, gift shops, etc. than there had been back then. A lot more sightseeing buses and more horse and carriage rides too. It was kind of sad - it used to be such a quiet little town! But the Spanish Moss dangling from the tree limbs was still the same and I loved it as it reminded me of when my family lived in New Orleans in the 50's.

Historic River Street, Savannah, GA

After getting checked into a very nice room at the Doubletree (which sold out later) , we walked over to Historic River Street by the Savannah River. It was still very hot and humid, so we stopped for a cool drink in one of the cute restaurants and we also wanted to stop by my favorite, the Savannah Candy Kitchen, and buy some divinity, turtles and whatever else looked good (and it all looked good when we got there)!

The Doubletree Hotel in the Historic District

This was kind of a spur-of-the-moment trip from Aiken, SC, so we didn't have reservations in Savannah. It never occurred to us that we'd need them. Once we got our reservations for The Lady and Sons, we went to our favorite hotel on the Savannah River named The River Inn. Well, surprise-surprise, it was booked. So we headed over to the Hyatt, thinking if we dropped Stephanie's name a little there, we'd get in. Well, Stephanie or not, there was no room, but the girl suggested the Doubletree a couple blocks away and she even called to see if we could get rooms - and we could! We're shown here relaxing in the lobby.

Can We Get Reservations?

When it was my turn to ask about reservations, I was utterly shocked to learn that we could get 9:15 PM reservations that very night for dinner! I was in heaven. It would be a late dinner, for sure, but I thought we could hold out.

Waiting in Line

Bob insisted that I get in the reservation line, even though it seemd hopeless. This photo has been cropped so you can't see all the people who were either in line behind me and/or waiting to go inside. It was such a hot and humid day with rain threatening that it was uncomfortable to be waiting outside, but probably 75 people or so were, with more coming every second!

"The Lady and Sons" Gift Shop

I pondered at the gift shop window and realized that I had already bought most of Paula's cookbooks. I thought it might be too weird to actually buy one of her t-shirts or anything else, so I just admired them from outside. Since I was sure we wouldn't get reservations in the restaurant, I was just window shopping at this point.

"The Lady and Sons" in Savannah

I was so happy to be at Paula Deen's restaurant. I had heard so much about it and had seen pictures of it on the Food Network, but never thought I'd ever be there in person. Now to tackle the tricky quest of getting a reservation for today. We had thought about lunch, but at 2 PM, they were no longer taking lunch reservations. Dinner was the only thing left.

This is Paula Deen

This is Paula Deen, the queen of down home cooking. She's a riot on her show, and when her two sons, Bobby and Jamie are on too, it's really a scream. She says something and they have a funny comeback - all ad lib, I'm sure. But what really matters is that her recipes are easy, foolproof and mouth watering!

Paula Deen's "The Lady and Sons"

One of the main reasons we wanted to return to Savannah was to visit The Lady and Sons, Paula Deen's restaurant. I had gotten hooked on Food Network earlier this year and came across an interesting southern lady named Paula Deen. She had a cooking show that was a hoot. She was funny and one-of-a-kind! I tried her "It Ain't Your Mama's Banana Puddin'" recipe, among others, and every one was delicious and wonderful! We parked the car and walked across to the restaurant. There were dozens of people milling around on every corner and across the street. A long line waited at the hostess station outside. We knew we'd never get reservations and we were leaving early the next morning. We, or I should say I, was disappointed.

Historic Savannah, Georgia

This is River Street, along the Savannah River in the Historic District of Savannah, Georgia. In the 1800's, this area consisted mainly of warehouses and loading docks for the ships that came into port here. It was probably rundown and seedy in those times. We've been here before, once in November of 1990 with Trent, our son who was 16-years-old at the time. We had a great time in this quaint and historic city back then and I have wanted to return ever since.

Factor's Walk, River Street in Savannah, Georgia

Bob and I drove from Aiken, SC to Savannah GA in just over two hours. We arrived in the historic district shortly before 2 PM on Saturday, July 16, 2005. We were to only be here the rest of the day as we planned to leave for Aiken again early the next morning. But it was a delight to be back in Savannah!