CUBA: DAY 6, LAST DAY IN HAVANA

Every Sunday at noon, the rhumba band starts playing in an artist-mecca alley way in Havana.  People come from everywhere and we heard that the place is jam-packed for the whole afternoon – people dancing their feet off.  It was a delightful mix of people – narrow alley, various paintings on the walls and some avant-garde art installations draped around (one wall had 4 bathtubs embedded in a wall with paintings on the insides), men smoking cigars, women with low-cut tops (although I noticed that Cuban woman have normal-sized breasts, not the enhanced-with-implants breasts you see in the US).  Our tour group got there a bit early to beat the crowd and the musicians were starting to warm up.  And yes, I bought the CD.

It turns out that the place is also the site of several Santeria shrines.  We had a Santeria specialist talk to our group and explain some basics, and learned that it is the religion of the majority of Cubans.  Yes, it is common to assume that most Cubans are Roman Catholics, but even those that call themselves Catholic still follow many Santeria customs.  And yes, they still sacrifice chickens.  We even saw a wooden statue of Babaloo Aiye (Father of the World).  I don’t mean to be too irreverent, but to me, Babaloo has always been either a song sung by Ricky Ricardo in I Love Lucy or a flaming dessert.  As the group was leaving the alley, we passed by a fortune teller who was reading tarot cards and looked rather intimidating.  I had to pay 1 CUC for permission to take her photo.

And then it was over.  On to the airport and home.

Here are a few general comments about Cuba.  Yes, Cuba is a poor country – they don’t have much of anything to export so they don’t have much money to import goods.  This means that most everything they make, use, wear, and eat is produced in Cuba.  Personally, I think that is pretty resourceful.  And they are absolute brilliant in recycling and reusing things.  The people, children, and dogs all looked well nourished.  The people were wonderfully friendly.  The streets, for the most part except some small alleys, were clean.  There was almost no litter on the streets.  There were no homeless people laying around on sidewalks – at least I didn’t see any.  And there were no beggars.  Oh, and I haven’t talked about Che Guevara – his picture is absolutely everywhere:  billboards, t-shirts, key chains, cups, and painted on walls.  He is a very popular hero.  And we also saw many, many billboards and graffiti on walls saying Free the Cuban 5.  If you haven’t heard about the Cuban 5, look it up.  The men are still very much in the forefront of Cuban attention.

In summary – GO TO CUBA.  You’ll have a great time.  As our Santaria guide said to us, “Don’t try to understand Cuba, just enjoy it.”

CUBA: DAY 5, MORE HAVANA

First stop was a visit to a senior center.  A big yawn, I thought, but not so.  In Cuba, extended families live together.  Children are in school all day, from early morning to late afternoon.  (School includes classroom work, lunch, play time, and fun activities – all with the intent of educating and taking care of the children while the parents are at work.)  While the parents are at work and the children are at school, the seniors get lonely rattling around the apartment by themselves, so the senior centers are places to go to and spend the day.  The centers provide lunch, social activities (games, especially dominos, prevail), quiet conversation, organized activities, exercise and other classes, physical therapy, and medical services.  It was quite nice.  Then we went off to an elementary school where I was impressed that the children all seemed engaged in the current activity and were not running around or being disruptive.

Then we hit one of the highlights:  a lesson in cigar rolling and a chance to sit in a cool courtyard, listen to a wonderful band (yes, I bought the CD) and enjoy what the Cubans call “the grand marriage,” which is a cup of Cuban coffee, a shot of Cuban rum, and a good Cuban cigar.  We were all served coffee, rum, and a cigar (a Cuban Romeo and Juliet, which is a mild cigar) and given a lesson in how to light and smoke a cigar.  I don’t smoke, but I definitely enjoyed smelling the wonderful aroma!  Great fun.

We visited a ballet school and watched a short demonstration and then went to a cemetery which was really interesting.  138 acres large, it has the most wonderful collection of sculptural tombstones.  You could probably wander through there for hours and be engrossed.

Dinner was at a paladar named Café Laurent and was fabulous.  What’s a paladar, you ask?  Well, in Cuba the government owns and runs most everything, and hires most of the population.  Relatively recently, in the last few years, the government has allowed a few private businesses to start up.  One of those are paladars, which are privately owned and run restaurants, operated in the owner’s house or apartment.  So we walked into an apartment building and rode up in a little, tiny, somewhat rickety elevator to the 5^th floor, and walked out into an apartment that looked like a European restaurant.  I highly recommend this place. 

After dinner, my sister and I went clubbing again, this time to the original, world renown Tropicana.  First of all, we had to take a cab because it is aboua 20 minute drive from the hotel and we decided to go in style.  So we rode to the Tropicana in a ’56 Buick convertible, red and white exterior with tuck and roll upholstery.  We also arranged for the driver to pick us up after the show -- driving through Havana at 1:00 AM in the balmy night air was sheer heaven.

Now, for the show.  The Tropicana is an outdoor venue, although it is covered with overhanging trees.  Tickets are very expensive (the $95 price is about equal to 3-month’s wages for the average worker) but the show was more than worth it.  Again, it was a revue of all the dance styles in Cuba and the Cuban dance roots.  The show is 2 hours, non-stop, and I would describe it as a Cuban version of a big Las Vegas show – lots of scantily clad dancing girls with big headdresses and thongs (one number even had the girls wearing big chandeliers!), macho men with bare chests and Cuban-sleeved shirts, about 40 dancers in all, 10 singers, and 15 musicians.  The costumes are very elaborate and high quality, the dancing is top notch, and the singing and music were fab.  And the $95 ticket includes a little plate of munchies and a small bottle of Havana Club rum.  All in all, it really was a great night.  And of course, they were selling CDs in the lobby and, you guessed it, I bought some CDs.  By the time we got back to the hotel and fell into bed, we were both exhausted but felt like at least we were trying our best to squeeze in as much of Cuba as possible.

CUBA: DAY 4, HAVANA

Breakfast buffet at the hotel (they put on quite a spread) and then off to Las Terrazos, which is a community 1.5 hours from Havana, in the country, that is focused on ecological preservation.  It has about 200 people who live there, a school, a doctor, and lots of ecology projects.  They have developed a nice tourism program with a small hotel and campground and restaurants for tourists.  While there, we visited two artist studios – one makes his own paper and then prints his paintings on cards and small-size prints.  The other is a painter.  Both were interesting.  Then we stopped for coffee at Maria’s house – she is famous for giving one cup of coffee (Cuban coffee is espresso with a bit of natural sugar mixed in) to workers and visitors as they pass by.  She is now a little old lady but her establishment still goes on. 
Then it was off to a farm house outdoor restaurant where they cook only over charcoal.  We ate under thatched-roofs accompanied by a terrific band (I bought the CD, of course).  The food was rice and black beans and shredded beef and chicken and was one of the best meals I’ve had so far.  (One comment about beef in Cuba:  it is rare because cattle require much more resources to raise than pigs or chickens.)  Oh yes, and a drink was included with lunch of course and this time I went for the Cuban dark beer Buckanero (muy fuerte!, as it says on the label).  Yum.  It’s so hard not to just start dancing everywhere because of the music that is always playing – it is an infectious rhythm.

Then it was off to visit the house of a famous Cuban artist, Jose Fuster, who has turned his house into a mosaic wonderland that he calls Fusterlandia.  I would describe his style as Picasso meets Gaudi.  Wonderfully whimsical.  He has also persuaded his neighbors for a couple of blocks in all directions from his house to allow him to turn their fences and outer walls into mosaic works of art.  Even the nearby bus stops are mosaic.  Fascinating.

Next stop was a craft market – a big warehouse (HOT in there!) with dozens of sellers offering cheap trinkets, hand-crafted items, paintings, conga drums, etc.  It was a mad house but interesting.  You do not see sellers all over the streets – they are confined to special markets and this is one of the few ways people can make extra money.  I ended up buying a small painting of an old American car on the street under a sign saying Havana Club (the national rum).  Not fine art but I couldn’t resist.

Let me digress for a minute and talk about toilets.  It became a topic of interest on my African trip (there’s a fun story about the resident frog in the toilet in one of the lodges) and once again toilets became a subject of attention in Cuba.  Because our hotel was a fancy hotel, the toilet in our bathroom had a toilet seat, toilet paper (Cuban toilet paper is very rough, much like what we call paper towels at home), and there were little bars of soap at the sink.  We discovered that to actually flush anything down the pipe, we had to pull the flush lever four times in rapid-fire succession.  Anything else just didn’t work.  And, of course, throughout Cuba, as in many other countries, you must put your used toilet paper in a canister that is always placed beside the toilet (which makes public toilets odiferous, however clean they are and they are pretty clean).  But that’s not the irritating part.  For the most part, no toilet paper is available, so you must bring your own (we were warned ahead of time), and you must also bring your own soap for washing your hands (I always carried a little hotel bar of soap in a small plastic bag).  And then, the public toilets do not have seats and they are really, really low to the ground.  A couple of times today I really had to think for a minute, trying to marshal my forces before getting up.

On a more pleasant note, I saw my dream car this morning – a ’57 Chevy Belair, white and creamy lemon yellow.  And it was in beautiful shape.  Mmmmmm.  I’ve lost my heart in Havana (or Habana as it is most often spelled here).

We decided to go out clubbing again after dinner and bought tickets to the Buena Vista Social Club show.  OMG, I had no idea the group that was revitalized by Ry Cooder in the ‘90s was still going strong, with even some of the original people and a few new ones who are slightly younger.  And my hats off to the two female singers – old broads with pipes that still sound good and they’re still wearing high-heeled shoes!  The show started at 9:30 and they played non-stop.  We left at 11 PM and were told that the show goes until 12:30!!  I don’t know how they do it but we had a grand time.  I am now officially, really tired with two days of busy touring left. Having fun isn’t always as easy as it looks!

CUBA: DAY 3, ARRIVING IN HAVANA

First of all, I must explain that my sister and I traveled to Havana on a tour arranged by Friendly Planet.  These tours are called people-to-people educational programs and must follow strict guidelines dictated by the US government.  The tour company arranges charter flights between Miami and Havana on American Airlines 737s and packs in a lot of activities.  In order for the tour company to keep their license for tours to Cuba, attendees must be present at all the activities (unless someone really has a good reason to stay behind, such as illness).  There is very little unscheduled, on-your-own time.  Frankly the list of activities included a bunch of things that sounded boring to me (visiting an elementary school and a senior center, for example) but I was surprised that most every activity turned out to be interesting.  Every day was fully packed!  So now that I have set the scene…

Boarded the hotel shuttle at 7:00 AM to arrive at the airport by 7:20, turned over our passports and tickets for the charter flight to the Miami tour escort (more on the tour escort later), stood in line at the airport check-in counter for an hour while the agent processed the paperwork (and yes, our tour had a designated agent just to process our papers but on a Cuba tour you must learn to relax and allow things to happen on Cuban time), checked in our bags (total allowed weight was 44 pounds for the check-in bag plus carry on bag), got our passports back with tickets and Cuban visa, went through security, arrived at the gate by 8:30 AM and waited to board at 10:30 for an 11 AM flight.  Total flight time was 50 minutes on an American Airlines 737.  Waiting at the gate area was fun though – lots of Cuban Americans were also on the charter flight, going to visit family back home.  The younger women (anyone under 50) were wearing tight, tight clothing, with lots of cleavage showing, and high, high heels.  Lots of makeup and bling.  Many of the men were wearing the traditional shoe with Cuban heels and pointed toes.  One older man sitting in front of me was just relaxing and singing to himself.  People-watching was great!

Upon arrival we went through immigration, they took half the visa and stamped the passport, got our luggage, handed our health form (a form where you state that you do not have a cough or the sniffles) to the uniformed nurses (complete with starched nurse caps), went through customs and handed over the customs form, and at last entered the airport lobby where we were met by our Havana tour escort Tracy (who is American, works for Friendly Planet, and handles logistics, hotel and restaurant payments, tipping, and such and checks that we are all there and does general herding) and our local guide Jorge (who works for a Cuban tour agency and provides all the commentary about the sights we visit).  The bus was air conditioned and it felt lovely. 

We had 21 people in our tour group.  As soon as each of us boarded the bus, we all jumped out again to start taking photos of the old cars driving around the airport.  We couldn’t help ourselves.

HAVANA, FIRST GLIMPSE

Oh my, the cars!!!  The music!!!  The ambiance!!!  Did I mention the old cars everywhere?  And everywhere you go there is some group playing wonderful music – some hired by restaurants and some just playing on the street corner.  I am already in heaven.

We first headed for central Havana, in the old Havana section.  We strolled down a few streets and ended up at a lovely restaurant and were greeted by mohitos (made with Cuba’s own Havana Club rum, of course) and a 3-course lunch, serenaded by a great group.  I just had to buy a CD (which is one of the legal things you can buy and bring back into the USA – the legal take-home items are the “ABCs”: art, books, and CDs).

After lunch we strolled for a few more blocks to a beautiful square (plaza) that commemorates the beginning of the Cuban revolution against Spain.  Back to the bus and on to the Hotel Nacional, which was built in the 1930’s with the help of US mob money and mimics the Hotel Biltmore in Miami.  Havana was the vacation spot for American mobsters as well as a place to do business.  And the Hotel Nacional is the best hotel in town.  So we probably walked in the footsteps of Meyer Lansky, Al Capone and many others.  Anyway, we were seated on comfy seats on the veranda and greeted with mohitos (apparently this is a standard greeting at all hotels and most restaurants – a tradition I can appreciate).

And then there was checking in, changing money, booking some evening entertainment, and finally getting into our room tired and very hot and sweaty.  Which brings me to the heat and humidity.  I know that I have moaned and groaned in the past about not tolerating heat very well, and especially how awful high humidity is, and yet I keep going to tropical destinations.  Go figure.  And Cuba is no exception.  When there is a breeze it is quite tolerable, much like Hawaii.  But in the city, walking down narrow streets, there is no breeze and it is really uncomfortable.  Luckily, I always pack a hand fan and today when I pulled it out of my purse I probably could have sold it for a good price!

Now back to changing money.  Cuba has two kinds of money:  the locals are paid in pesos, but foreigners are not allowed to obtain or spend pesos.  When you change money, you get convertible pesos, abbreviated as CUCs, and pronounced “kooks.”  And by the way, you pay ten percent more to exchange American dollars, so I brought Euros and got a much better rate.  You can spend CUCs anywhere.  The exchange is roughly 1 CUC = $1. 

A little about evening entertainment:  There is a lot of evening entertainment to choose from in Havanna.  I hadn’t thought much about this aspect when planning the trip, but all of a sudden there I was learning that I could go to nightclubs that I had heard about for years – and just like in the old movies, you sit at tables sipping rum drinks and watch spectacular stage shows or you listen to a band and dance.  Because we knew this was a short trip, we immediately recognized that we would need to go clubbing every night in order to cram in as much of the Havana experience as possible.  Yup, touring all day and then clubbing late into the night.  And my sister and I are no spring chickens.  Oh well, while in Rome…..as they say.

For our first night in Havana, we booked tickets for the cabaret show at the hotel.  The cabaret venue is called La Parisienne.  Oh my gosh!  The show was amazing.  It was a 1.5 hours long, non-stop revue of the cultural dance influences in Cuba and a revue of all the dance traditions in Central and South America – a cast of 35 dancers and singers and 6 musicians with thousands of costume changes, very scantily dressed girls, macho men, good singing, lots of Cuban sleeves and Cuban shoes for the men.  Some routines were very corny but some were quite good, especially the tango routine.  After a while I thought they were doing the finale number, but it only morphed into more dance numbers.  I counted four numbers worthy of being called a finale, and then they wanted the audience to come onstage and learn latin dancing.  I was afraid I’d throw my back out, and it was almost midnight, so we left.  The theater, the tables, and the show, felt like going back to the 1950’s.  We had a great time.  Total mohitos for the day:  3.

CUBA: DAY 2, MIAMI AND EVERGLADES TOUR

CUBA: DAY 2, MIAMI AND EVERGLADES TOUR

We scheduled another half day with our tour guide, with the intention of seeing the Everglades National Park.  But with the government shutdown, the park was closed so our guide, Martin, had to figure out something else, which turned out to be much better anyway.  We drove past the park and onto Miccosukee land (see yesterday’s blog), where we stopped at a place where they do airboat rides.  There weren’t any other tourists around so we got a small airboat all to ourselves, with Benny at the helm.  The Everglades are very different from a swamp:  the glades are moving, fresh water; swamps are often a mix of fresh and salt water and the water is stagnant.  Swamps usually have lots of cypress trees dripping with Spanish moss (which isn’t actually Spanish and isn’t moss, but I won’t quibble).  The glades often look like grasslands with a few trees here and there, or thick jungle, but there is little or no land – everything is in 3 to 5 feet of water.  Early settlers and native people often did not even use canoes – they just walked through the water because it is so shallow. 

Anyway, the airboat took off in the direction of tall sweet grass and saw-blade grass as far as I could see, with occasional small areas of open water filled with water lilies.  After about 10-15 minutes we arrived at a hummock, which is a small bit of land that has been slowly built up over hundreds of years.  Benny’s family, including aunts, uncles, cousins, parents and the like, had lived there for several generations living off the land in thatched, open-air, shelters built over the damp land.  The family finally moved into regular houses in the Miccosukee village in 1989 when the tribe opened a casino.

Apparently there are three alligators who live around there year-round.  We saw Papa, who was about 13 feet long – really big – and hiding just below the surface of the water.  Then Benny knelt down on the wooden walkway and called the alligators – making a sort of staccato croaking sound.  So Mama showed up, a bit smaller than Papa and much more active.  She swam in close to the walkway and lifted up her head towards Benny’s outstretched arm and snapped her jaws several times.  He didn’t seem to be worried.  Then we went to another wooden walkway where Jumper had arrived in response to Benny’s call.  Jumper crawled right up onto the walkway, opened and closed his jaws several times in attempt to get Benny’s arm, and then started basking in the sun.  Because Jumper blocked our access back to the airboat, Benny finally had to grab Jumper by the tail and push him, nose first, back into the water.  What a show.

Finally we climbed aboard again, donned our ear protectors (the airboat motor is very loud) and took off, back for shore, which really isn’t a shore but the road acts like a levy and is obviously higher than the water table.

Next stop was an art gallery owned by the photographer Clyde Butcher.  I’ve never heard of him, but apparently he is been called the Ansel Adams of the south, and that description is quite true.  He had some color photos but most were black and white, mostly studies of cypress trees, the everglades, and ghost orchids (which are rare and very difficult to find).  His work is truly stunning.  Then it was back to town, where we drove past the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church (a new combination for me) and then lunch at an all-Cuban, outdoor eatery – fresh tropical juices and a $10 heaping plate of suckling pig, rice and black beans, and fried cassava was enough to feed 5 people and was fabulous.  In general, food here is much cheaper than in California.

CUBA: DAY 1, MIAMI TOUR

CUBA:  DAY 1,  MIAMI TOUR

Egad – our guide, Martin, took us everywhere!  We saw Miami, Miami Beach (which is a separate island), Key Biscayne, Coconut Grove (no, not the old night club but a residential area), and Coral Gables (a poshy planned community completely surrounded by the city of Miami).  Miami is on the mainland but Biscayne Bay has lots of little islands with exclusive, gated communities (translation:  multi-million $$$ homes).  We drove out to Star Island and also looked at Fisher Island from across the water.  Fisher Island is so exclusive you can only get there by boat and they have an exclusive ferry boat for workmen and invitees to get there – the crew apparently grills everyone who tries to board the ferry.  Saw lots of wonderful art deco buildings on Miami Beach.  Even saw a team of guys in a cherry-picker truck slowly going to each palm tree and cutting down the coconuts so they don’t fall on people. 

The Miami city hall is in the building that was once the Pan Am terminal in the 1930’s.  It used to take a week to fly from Miami to Rio because they did sort hops down the coast.  In the entry lobby they have a terrazzo floor with a map of the US, Central and South America, showing all the Pan Am flight routes.  And the terminal and check-in counter is now the city council chambers, but they have kept the Pan Am art work on the walls and ceiling.  Don’t know why, but the ceiling has beautiful paintings of all the zodiac symbols. 

Was wonderfully delighted by the Wynwood outdoor art neighborhood.  This is the area where they have a huge outdoor art exhibit of modern art each year.  I remember reading about this sometime back.  Usually very well-known artists show and sell their work alongside unknowns, and the event attracts some big money.  Now, artists are invited to paint murals (if you can call it that) on the walls of the buildings in the area (mostly warehouses that the artists use as studios).  It is a dizzying display of styles and themes.

Miami is the 2^nd largest financial center in the Americas, after New York.  Doing business in Miami is easier, cheaper, and faster than anywhere in South or Central America.  Businessmen fly to Miami, and their clients or buyers fly from all over the world to meet them here.

A bit of Miami anthropological history:  the earliest people in the area were the Tequesta, most likely the people that greeted the first European explorer.  They all died out and there is very little evidence of their culture.  Currently, the native population is carried by the Seminoles and the Miccosukees.  The Seminoles are a part of the Creek Nation, who came down from the Carolinas.

Walked through the Miami Biltmore Hotel and was told an interesting story about Johnny Weismuller who played Tarzan in the early Tarzan movies.  The first movie was partly filed at the Biltmore Hotel where Johnny, a former Olympic diver, had a job as a pool boy.  He regularly gave diving exhibitions for the guests for fun and tips.  Well, on the first day of filming, the actors and crew were set up and ready to go but the actor who was hired to play Tarzan didn’t show up.  What to do?  So someone pointed to Johnny and said “what about him?”  “But he’s only a pool boy,” was the reply, “and he’s not an actor. He looks good but can he memorize and deliver lines?”  And then they realized that Tarzan had very few lines.  And so began his career.

One more interesting story about Miami.  There is a relatively new building called the New World Center, largely supported by Carnival Cruise Lines (a big surprise to me) and other large donors.  The building contains a music academy that is run in the winters and headed by Michael Tilson Thomas.  They only allow a small number of students (about 80, I think).  Students who are accepted receive three years, fully paid.  Now back to the building – the architect was Frank Gehry.  And how did he get the job?  Well, it turns out that Frank Gehry was Michael Tilson Thomas’s babysitter and they kept a friendship over the years.  You just never know how the people you meet in your life come around to intertwine later.

No alligator sightings today.

ROAD TRIP -- FINAL THOUGHTS

This was a fun trip, all 3200 miles of it. My general impressions are, in no particular order:

• Those southerners can and will deep fry anything except sweet tea (and they'll find a way to fry that soon, I'm sure)
• I really missed fresh vegetables -- and I mean fresh like the way they are served fresh in California (barely cooked so you can actually taste the flavor of the vegetable)
• I also really missed good coffee (yes, I realize that "good" when it comes to coffee varys wildly from region to region, but is it really that difficult to make a strongly flavored coffee that is not burned and not bitter? They do it in Seattle all the time.)
• Almost all portions served in restaurants (even the fancy ones) are huge and would be adequate for at least two people if not more (An entree consisting of half a chicken plus two or three large biscuits all covered in at least two large ladle-fulls of sausage gravy plus a bunch of other side dishes is rather overkill in my book, no matter how good it tastes.)
• January and February are the ideal months to travel in the south -- it is not hot and the tourist numbers are down, which means that you have a chance to actually see the attractions
• Texas has the best crazy place names -- don't know why
• Savannah was my favorite place to visit, by far -- well, if you don't count the bourbon distilleries. Everyone there was remarkably friendly and the food was magical.
• If you go on a road trip with friends, be sure to drive a large vehicle. There were three of us and we rented a soccer-mom van, which was a really good thing because the back was completely stuffed with luggage and the non-passenger half of the middle was piled with coats, cameras, shopping bags, and the ever-important road-snack bag.  OK, for the curious among you, the road-snack bag had potato chips, Cheetos, Freetos, mixed nuts, and some chocolates. Oh, and also a case of bottled water and some soda, not to mention handbags.
• Concierges can be really helpful and can greatly enhance your trip. They are the ones that volunteer information and also volunteer to make reservations for you. Mediocre concierges are a waste of time. We found that the good ones smile more. (And be sure to tip them if they do a bunch of stuff for you.)
• Talking about tipping, hotel housekeeping staff in most southern towns make very (very!) low wages, so leaving a tip each day makes a huge difference. I got to chatting with a manager in one hotel and learned that a couple of the housekeeping staff lived on Raman noodles for most meals. If I have enough money to travel, thenit stand to reason that I have enough money to leave $5 a day for housekeeping.

While waiting in the airport to fly back home from Dallas, we decided to put together a fantasy menu from all our favorites, so here it is.

APPETIZERS

• Fried pickles (Pirate House, Savannah)
• Fried green tomatoes (Chart House, Savannah)
• Fried corn fritters  (Chart House, Savannah)
• She-crab soup (82 Queen, Charleston)
• Pork belly duck confit (The Pink House, Savannah)

ENTREES

• Fried chicken with biscuits & sausage gravy (Annie O's, Hilton Head)
• Pecan-crusted fried chicken (Pirate House, Savannah)
• Ribeye steak ( (Chart House, Savannah AND The Rickhouse, Bardston)
• BBQ chicken (The Rickhouse, Bardston)
• Salmon (82 Queen, Charleston)

SIDE DISHES

• Biscuits (Pirate House, Savannah)
• Cornbread (Kentucky Bourbon House, Bardstown)
• Mac 'n cheese (The Pink House, Savannah)
• Coleslaw (Kentucky Bourbon House, Bardstown)
• Smoked bacon & garlic grits  (Chart House, Savannah)
• Cheesy grits with lump crab (82 Queen, Charleston)
• Pimiento cheese grits (The Pink House, Savannah)
• Lima beans with bacon (Any Cracker Barrel)

DESSERTS:  Coconut pie and key lime pie  (Annie O's, Hilton Head)

COCKTAILS

• Manhattans (The Rickhouse, Bardston)
• Skullcrusher (just for the name) (Pirate House, Savannah)
• Old fashioneds (The Rickhouse, Bardston)

BREAKFAST:  cinnamon rolls and sticky buns (Goose Feathers, Savannah)

And there you have it. Go see the south and eat!

ROAD TRIP DAY 18 MEMPHIS AND GRACELAND

It was around 19 F this morning with light snow falling. At least we didn’t have ice to contend with on the windshield. I really enjoyed getting snow on me and my coat and having snow blow into the car every time we opened a door. OK, call me weird but this is so different from what I am used to at home that it really is fun.

Today we drove to from Bardstown, KY to Memphis, TN, which is about a 6 hour drive. Many parts of the highway were cut through rocky hills and the sides of the highway were just covered with icicles -- it was really pretty. Interestingly, the color of the highway pavement is brown in Tennessee -- at least along the Tennessee Music Highway. Along the way we passed by London, Paris, and Cuba, and I just have to mention the town of Bucksnort, which gave us the giggles. Oh, and I certainly don’t want to forget that we passed up the opportunity to visit the Grinders Switch Winery (remember Minnie Pearl? She was from Grinders Switch), the Loretta Lynn Dude Ranch, Dinosaur Land (I don’t know how we managed to steel ourselves to drive by that attraction), Fort Pillow (now I ask you, could that really have been a very effective fort with a name like that?), and the Corvette museum (that was especially difficult to drive by). We even drove past Nashville because we just didn’t have time to stop -- guess I have to save that for another trip. As a side note, we noticed quite a few “adult” stores (some of them were “super adult” stores and some of them were in big buildings!). I guess they are on the highway to get them out of town so nobody knows when you go shopping there.

I have to mention here that throughout our trip, the one sad thing is that we have not found any good coffee. So this morning we stopped at a Starbucks in Bowling Green. We each took a sip of our coffee, looked at each other, grinned, and then let out a big ahhhhh. What is it about high-end restaurants not being able to make good coffee? If I ran the world, I’d make good coffee the law!

We finally arrived in Memphis and checked into the Heartbreak Hotel, across the street from the Graceland mansion (need I say that Graceland was Elvis Presley’s home?). Whimsical, 1970s kitschy furniture in the lobby, Elvis movies playing on the 1970s TV set in the lobby, and Elvis photos everywhere. We booked a normal room, nothing fancy, and we certainly got a room that was just that -- nothing fancy. But it is adequate.

After settling in for a few minutes, we went right back out and toured Graceland mansion. It really was very interesting even though I’m not a rabid Elvis fan. Definitely worth going at least once (and yes, Paul Simon’s song Graceland keeps whirling around in my head). When looking at his costumes, I was surprised to see that he was not a big man -- I guess I kind of expected such a big star to be physically larger.

For dinner, we went to the lobby, picked up a table-top phone that had a base covered in pink fake fur and a handset encrusted in rhinestones -- the phone goes directly to Marlowe’s, a highly recommended BBQ restaurant nearby and decorated liberally with Elvis photos. In ten minutes their stretch pink Cadillac arrived to pick us up and take us to the restaurant -- no charge. The first thing I have to say is that the portions are enough to feed three to four people and the food is good. We started with deep fried corn fritters (heaven!) and then I had BBQ spaghetti (pulled pork with BBQ sauce on a bed of spaghetti -- hey, when in Rome and all that) with macaroni and cheese (not as good as in other places on this trip but still very good) and coleslaw (a girl has to have something that looks like a vegetable once in awhile). And I finished off with a mound of banana pudding that was eye-popping in size. And of course, our pink Cadillac limo took us back to the hotel. I can now say that I feel fully Elvisized, rolled, dipped, and covered in all things Elvis. And that’s enough for me. As I am writing this, the Tennessee Jamboree is on the TV (all kinds of country dancing, banjo playing, and fiddling) -- I love it!

And this just about brings the trip to an end. We drive back to Dallas tomorrow and fly home the day after. Thank you for following my blog.

ROAD TRIP DAY 17 LAST DAY ON THE BOURBON TRAIL

Today we had clear, blue skies with a high of 23F and a wind chill factor that took down the temp to around 10F. With my new winter coat, gloves, and ear muffs, I’ve been staying pretty warm, but standing outside for any time makes my face really start to hurt. Just call me Frozen Lips from now on. We had a hard layer of ice on the windshield which we tried to scrape off with credit cards with very limited success. Luckily, a lovely gentleman brought over his big ice scraper and cleared off the windshield for us. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced ice like that, not to mention the icy patches on the roads and sidewalks. When we got in the car we all ended up in giggles because the partially filled to-go cup of soda that was left in the car overnight was frozen solid -- we turned it upside down and nothing happened.

I just want to note that I have not found any hush puppies yet!

We visited the Barton distillery -- they make Barton 1792, Old Barton, Ten High and several others. The distillery is located near our hotel and they have been cooking mash for several days now (it is better to cook the mash in the colder months because in the summer it gets too hot and kills the yeast). Consequently, the air has been smelling of sour mash -- I love the smell. Afterwards, we stopped at a local liquor store to buy bottles of bourbon that we know are not available at home (picked up a bottle of Angel’s Envy and a bottle of Larceny) and then off to the shipping store to ship home all the stuff we bought that can’t fit in the luggage. At the liquor store an old, local guy got to chatting with us and asked us if we wanted some “apple pie,” which is apparently the slang for moonshine. We declined but appreciated the offer.

Our plans were to end our visit here by going to the local Bardstown Opry but it was canceled because the parking lot was just a sheet of ice and too treacherous for anyone to navigate. So we went to a movie and then dined at The Old Talbott Inn which dates back to 1779. Tomorrow our only agenda is to find a Starbuck’s somewhere (we have only found really good coffee at one place in Savannah) and drive to Memphis, which is about a six-hour drive. So now it is time to try and stuff everything back in the suitcase, which is something like trying to get all the clowns stuffed back into the itty, bitty car at the circus.

ROAD TRIP DAY 16 AHH, THE PLEASURES OF BOURBON

SNOW!!! We woke up this morning to a vision of white -- one to two inches of fluffy, powdery snow all over everything and it was still coming down in big, fat flakes. If you can get rainbows with rain, can you get snowbows with snow? Just wondering. I loved walking around the hotel parking lot and getting snow in my hair and all over my coat. What a contrast to those sunny, balmy days in Savannah and Charleston. Watching the TV news this morning was a bit scary -- apparently there were tornados that touched down not that far away. However, the weather forecasts show stable, although very cold weather for the next few days.

Drove to Woodford Reserve distillery today. This is one of my favorite bourbons and the drive is absolutely lovely, especially so today because all the huge pastures of the horse farms we drove by were covered with snow and the thoroughbred horses were out grazing in the snow. These stud farms are quite large, all neatly fenced with picturesque wood fences and horse stables that look like mansions. I’ve taken their tour two other times but managed to learn some new stuff on this tour. For example, there are five categories of whiskey: bourbon (the only uniquely American spirit and which must adhere to U.S. Federal laws that specify what is required to be able to call it bourbon), scotch, Irish, Canadian (also called rye), and Tennessee straight. The word “straight” as applied to whiskey means that the whiskey has been aged in barrels for a minimum of two years. And that’s all it means. Once the spirits have been poured into the barrels, the Woodford Reserve bourbon is aged around eight years, during which time each barrel loses about 3% to 4% of its volume due to evaporation of water. This loss is called the “angel” share. Isn’t that cute?

After that, we hustled ourselves off to Buffalo Trace, which is another interesting distillery, named because it is built on a road that used to be an old wagon trail, which used to be an Native American trail, which used to be a path used by buffalo. Of course we did a bit of looking around and bourbon tasting. Finally, it was time to head back to the hotel but we were hungry so we stopped at a White Castle for sliders. Two of us had heard of White Castle hamburger sliders (little bitty hamburgers) and one of us grew up going to White Castle, so we decided to stop both for adventure and for nostalgia. We were all surprised that they taste much better than we expected. They are cute little devils.

This evening we had reservations at the Kentucky Bourbon House which is a wonderful bourbon tasting and dinner experience run by a husband and wife team. It is a very personal experience that feels like they have just invited you into their home for an evening of talking about bourbon (the Colonel, as he is called, can tell you about the history and background of just about every bourbon made, can describe the notes, and compare one to another -- he really is a wealth of knowledge) and a lovely southern, home-cooked dinner (his wife is the cook). They are both so inviting and friendly and clearly love what they do and meeting people and talking about Kentucky -- it is something that you just must do if ever you are in Bardstown. We each got to taste five bourbons that we personally selected from his incredibly thorough collection of bourbons -- he has everything from Pappy Van Winkle 20 to Big Ass, which pretty much covers the entire spectrum from the high end exclusive stuff to low end. When I grow up, I want to have a collection like his. I’m slowly working on it, one bottle at a time.

When we left to drive home, it was snowing again -- more big, fat flakes. It love how it tickles my face. Not sure what this means for driving around tomorrow -- we’ll see.

ROAD TRIP DAY 14-15 ON THE KENTUCKY BOURBON TRAIL

Driving to Bardstown from Charleston was relatively easy -- we left at 7:30 AM and arrived at 5:00 PM. In the morning we drove through heavy fog for a couple of hours but the rest of the day was clear and nice. We had the lovely experience of driving through four states: SC, NC, TN, and KY, including driving across the Great Smoky Mountains. We past several historical locations (e.g., Gatlinburg and the Cumberland Gap). Drove past London and Texas and Stinking Creek (how do they dream up these names?).

Bardstown is at the heart of bourbon whiskey country --there are quite a few distilleries within an hour drive. We plan to visit as many as we have time for.

When we arrived in Bardstown, we immediately checked into our hotel and I was captivated by the aroma in the area -- ah, the smell of fermenting sour mash from the nearly Barton 1792 distillery. I love it but my spouse thinks it is awful. Oh well, you can’t keep everyone happy at the same time.

I asked the hotel receptionist where she would recommend having dinner (even though I’ve been here twice before) and she recommended a new restaurant in town called The Rickhouse. (For the bourbon illiterate among you, a rickhouse is the warehouse where barrels of bourbon are stored to age.) In my previous trips, the food in Bardstown was never much to get excited about, but this new place is amazing -- fabulous food and service and cocktails (their Manhattans are perfection). In fact, the food was so good, we went back the next day for dinner again.

Yesterday, our first full day in Bardstown, we had a late, sleepy morning and then decided to go directly to my favorite distillery, Maker’s Mark. This was the first time for my traveling companions and my third time. They give the best tours and the best tastings and their grounds and buildings are the most interesting. Best of all, the distillery has been owned and operated by the same family for several generations and the whole family feeling is very clear as you talk to people. The employees clearly like being there and everyone maintains a wonderful, inviting sense of humor.

From there, we went to Heaven Hill distillery, which produces Elijah Craig, Evan Williams, Larceny, and others. Then we made a quick stop at Willett distillery, which produces Willett. Then we gave up and went back to The Rickhouse for our second time. It is raining off and on but not very cold although the weather forecast has been ominous. There have been tornados to the south of us (where we drove through yesterday) and to the east of us. Tomorrow the weather is going to get very cold, into the low 30’s F during the day. We hope it stops raining because we don’t want to be worried about black ice. But we have distilleries to visit, so we will soldier on for the cause!

ROAD TRIP DAY 13 MORE OF CHARLESTON

Today was partly a housekeeping day -- we went to a laundromat to do some laundry and then did a few other errands. In the afternoon we visited the Old Slave Mart Museum, which is where slave auctions of domestic slaves (slaves that were born in the US or had been in the US for several years, not newly off a slave ship) were conducted. The museum was full of information but oh, how difficult it is to read about it and to stand in the exact room where all those business transactions took place. Afterwards, we decided to take another leisurely drive around some of the older neighborhoods to take photos, passing up the opportunity to visit the Museum of Dental History (what a shame to have missed all those historical dentist drills). By that time it was tea time so we sat outside in the lovely January weather, sipping coffee and nibbling pastries, and watching the people go by. Interestingly enough, we have all noticed that we are hearing very few southern accents here in Charleston, which is quite a switch from Savannah where everyone had a delicious southern drawl.

At last! We finally had a really good meal in Charleston. So far we have not been favorably impressed with Charleston food. At best, our meals have been adequate. However, tonight we dined at 82 Queen, which is restaurant’s address and name. They serve fabulous southern food, specializing in seafood but they also have dynamite other dishes. Of course you know that the south specializes in grits, but did you know that pimiento cream cheese is also a big thing here? I’ve had soup garnished with pimiento cheese-stuffed celery, I’ve seen all kinds of pimiento cheese appetizers on menus, and tonight I had fried green tomatoes on a bed of pimiento cheese grits. Thought I’d died and gone to heaven. My two traveling companions rated the she-crab soup as the best they’ve had so far. And one of us had salmon served on a bed of cheese grits with chunks of crab in it, which received a very high rating.  (Nope, no hush puppies.  I just may have to give up on that goal.)

Today was our last day in Charleston and the three of us agree that we liked Savannah much better. This is a very different conclusion than we expected to draw, especially because each one of us had been told by several people that we would find Charleston to be the much more interesting place. Charleston is larger and more metropolitan than Savannah. Charleston has more people, traffic, fine art galleries, historical buildings, shops, and everything else. But even in January, there are an awful lot of tourists, tour busses, horse-drawn carriages, etc. The service people in Charleston -- shop keepers, hotel and restaurant staff -- are polite and respectful, but not outgoing or especially gracious or friendly. In contrast, practically everyone we interacted with in Savannah was amazingly friendly and chatty and inviting. People sitting at the next table would start up a conversation with us and ask us if we were enjoying our stay and did we have any questions. Savannah is more relaxed -- the whole atmosphere is different. If I was going to run away from home for a month or two, Savannah would definitely be one of the top possibilities -- not to mention that practically every bite we ate in Savannah was amazingly wonderful.

Tomorrow we hit the road and drive all day to Kentucky, so I’ll post a blog in a couple of days.

ROAD TRIP DAY 12 CHARLESTON

I guess I’d have to call today Pat Conroy day. Pat Conroy is one of my favorite authors (OK, some readers don’t like him at all -- it’s either love or hate and not much in-between with his writing style). In his book South of Broad, he describes in detail the houses along the paper route of the main character as a boy. So we went back to the book and marked the paper route on a city map and drove the route. The houses are gorgeous. The book The Lords of Discipline is about a military academy in the south, based on The Citadel, which Pat Conroy unhappily attended. So we drove to The Citadel and slowly drove around the parade ground (the school buildings and dormitories are built around the central parade ground). The school is painted grey and looks like a combination castle and fort -- it looks something like San Quentin prison, if you ask me. Interestingly, the hotel we are staying in (Embassy Suites) is in the original Citadel building -- the academy moved to its present location in 1920. But the hotel building is painted salmon, so it doesn’t seem so formidable.

We took a tour of Charleston and learned a few interesting things. It turns out that Spanish moss isn’t Spanish and it isn’t moss. It is an air plant -- not a parasite -- so it doesn’t hurt the host plant. We also learned that when Charleston was first settled as a city, the founding fathers felt quite strongly about religious freedom and the need to protect it. Whenever seven or more people gathered to worship, they could claim to be a church. Consequently, Charleston has always had the greatest variety of houses of worship in the colonies and in the south, and still does, and because of this it is often called “the holy city.”

Charleston is also known for its wonderful iron work -- gates, fences, balconies. What an amazing variety of beautiful iron work we saw (although Savannah also has similarly impressive iron work). Oh, and I can’t forget about the sideways houses. You know how most houses face the street so that the front door directly faces the street? Well, many houses in Charleston are turned 90 degrees so that the front door faces the side of the property. The front of the house (the front that faces the side of the property) has a covered porch that runs the length of the property. From the street, you see the side of the house and a door. The street door opens to the front porch. So to get to the front door, you go in the street door and walk along the porch to the front door.

Oh, and we did a bit of shopping at a huge market that is much like Pike Street market in Seattle. There were several stalls selling sweet grass baskets, which are a specialty of the Gullah people. Sweet grass is a long, salt water marsh grass and the baskets are high quality and gorgeous. We had to buy one, of course. And then I spied a t-shirt that just called to me. It says on the front “Here in the south we don’t hide crazy….We parade it out on the porch and give it a cocktail!” That is oh so true!

You’ll notice I haven’t mentioned food yet. So far, the food in Charleston has been fine but not notable, although we did do another sample of freshly-made lemonade, which got a very high grade. I’ll get back to the food tomorrow. And so far, still NO hush puppies!

ROAD TRIP DAY 11 SAVANNAH AND HILTON HEAD

Into every trip some disappointment occurs and this morning it happened. We were all set to have lunch at a famous, old boarding house restaurant in Savannah, Mrs. Wilkes, and at the last minute we learned that it was closed all of January. Serious bummer. So we decided to have a small breakfast at a wonderful bakery and head out to Hilton Head Island for lunch.

Hilton Head Island is in South Carolina (SC), about a 45-minute drive north of Savannah. We drove through patches of pine woods, then salt marsh, then waterways, and back to pine woods, marsh, etc. The whole area between Savannah and Charleston (which is north of Hilton Head) is a delta of waterways, waterways, and islands. Driving into Hilton Head Island, we passed oodles of golf courses and quite a few fancy, gated communities. Even the car dealerships have buildings that look like big plantation houses.

We ended up at a beach park that was pretty fabulous. Beautiful wooden walkways, large and clean restrooms, outdoor showers, lots of chairs to sit and watch the water, and a bunch of two-person swings to gently swing in back and forth (picture a two-person wooden bench suspended by chains from a wooden structure). Then there was a mat laid out on the beach sand, down to the water. It was around 72F with a gentle breeze, blue sky and lovely sunshine. In other words, PERFECT. We all wanted to simply sit there and watch the waves. It all looked so peaceful until I remembered that this was the Atlantic ocean and that this very beach would probably take the brunt of the brutal forces of hurricanes. But today is was truly lovely.

We had lunch at Annie O’s, a low country, southern home cooking place (you just knew I’d get around to food again, right?). Fried chicken and biscuits with sausage gravy, followed by the best coconut pie I’ve had in decades. I have to admit that after I took my first bite and had a good taste of that pie, I just stopped chewing and had a bit of an emotional moment -- it was that good!

After lunch we headed for Charleston. On the way we drove through Ashepoo, SC (really! I don’t make this stuff up, you know) and then through Beaufort, which is where one of my favorite authors, Pat Conroy, grew up. We saw a flock of big, white egrets perched in some trees -- that was a pretty picture.

So now, after a couple of Manhattans at the bar of a French restaurant that serves sushi (again, I don’t make this stuff up), we’re all set up in our hotel and ready to start touring tomorrow.

ROAD TRIP DAY 10 STILL IN SAVANNAH

I think I could move to Savannah and die a happy woman eating myself to death. This is a wonderful city and the food….OK, all I’ve talked about is the food. The food for today started at breakfast where we went to a little bakery/café and had the best caramel sticky buns I’ve ever had. By the time I was finished I felt like I had sticky caramel places up both arms, but ooooooh it was worth it. Then we drove out to one of Georgia’s barrier islands, Tybee Island, where they have one of the noted lighthouses on the east coast. Again, we had perfect weather today. To get to the island we had to drive over a low causeway that goes over the salt marshes with signs that warn that the road may be under water at high tide and other signs warning that it is a turtle zone because loggerhead sea turtles come to lay eggs here every year. The little city of Tybee is clearly a laid-back beach playground with funky art shops and kayak rentals and swimwear shops, all painted in brilliant, Caribbean colors, which is quite a contrast to the subdued, graceful, and grand neighborhoods of Savannah. We came back just in time for me to get to my manicure-pedicure appointment while the other two went shopping (and I’m not telling who bought what or for how much -- I’m too good a friend for that!).

While resting up a bit for dinner we decided to rearrange our schedule. Originally, we planned two days each in Savannah and Charleston and then five days in Bardstown Kentucky (KY) doing bourbon tasting. Well, we are having so much fun here, and there are still places we want to eat in, so we are staying three days in Savannah, which gives us a chance to drive to Hilton Head (playground of the rich and famous) for dinner, and another three days in Charleston and cutting down our bourbon tasting to three days. Then instead of driving like crazy for two days to get back to our plane in Dallas, we are taking three days to drive to Dallas and making an overnight stop at Elvis’ house Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee. And no, I do not plan to buy a white, leather Elvis outfit. Also, no, I am not a rabid Elvis Presley fan but gee, how can a girl pass up an opportunity to go to Graceland? And we’re even staying at the Heartbreak Hotel across the street from the mansion -- how fun is that?

OK, now about dinner. We dined at The Old Pink House, which is a lovely, fancy, restaurant in a very old house, complete with amazing history and a ghost. Again, the food is mind-blowingly fabulous and the service is beyond anything I’ve experienced -- everyone takes time to chat and make sure you are taken care of. It was truly a full evening in all ways (we were there three hours) and I almost wanted someone to just pour me into a wheelbarrow and roll me back to my hotel room. I must say, at this point, that although Savannah is the home of Paula Deen of cooking fame and also the site of her famous restaurant, we have decided not to eat there because a lot of reviews on TripAdvisor.com (as well as comments from locals here in Savannah) report that the food is OK but not great. So far we feel we’ve hit the jackpot every place we’ve gone. So tomorrow is another day and another couple of eating opportunities. Still no hush puppies yet!

ROAD TRIP DAY 9 EATING OUR WAY THROUGH SAVANNAH

You can tell we are out of the Louisiana influence because the decorations on the houses are for Valentine’s Day and not Mardi Gras. And, I have to report that I have NOT found any hush puppies yet. My spouse is continuing on her quest for the best lemonade or limeade -- she found a very good, freshly made lemonade today but she reports that it is not as good as the lemonade she found in Birmingham, which apparently was the best ever. We ran across a praline store where they were handing out “free” samples. I say “free” in quotes because the stuff was so incredibly good that we ended up buying a bunch. These were definitely better than the pralines I’ve tasted in New Orleans or from the Praline store in the Atlanta airport (which are supposed to be really good). I think one of the differences in these Savannah pralines is the quality of the pecans (and yes, there is an ongoing discussion of the pronunciation of pecan -- pee-CAHN or PEE-can). Personally, I tend to come down on whichever side is the most irritating to whomever I am conversing with.

We’re staying at a DoubleTree Hotel, right on the edge of the Savannah River. It is a wonderful hotel and I highly recommend it. One cute thing is that they play the sounds of a babbling brook in the ladies restroom in the lobby area. I must say that it is a bit odd to hear it when I walk in -- the first time I used the restroom I ended up checking everywhere for a leaking faucet or a toilet that was running. I finally realized that the sound was coming from the ceiling.

We took a three-hour tour of the city with Old Savannah Tours. Wow, one of the best tours I’ve ever been on. The tour operator talked almost nonstop the whole time and packed in more history and odd bits and stories than I could possibly remember, but it was fascinating. The old, historic part of the city, which is where we are staying, is laid out in wards. Each ward consists of a city block-sized central square (a park with gorgeous, big, old oak trees, lots of landscaping bushes, other trees dripping with Spanish moss, usually a monument of some kind, often some interesting iron fencing, and some benches) and the houses that surround it. So the historic district is full of these central squares. The tour went around almost every one, describing interesting bits about the history of the square and some of the surrounding houses. This part of the city is absolutely lovely -- I already want to come back again for a more leisurely look. And yes, we saw the house that was written about in the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and also the house where the founder of the Girl Scouts grew up.. One interesting tidbit we learned is that when the Georgia colony was formed (it was the last of the original 13 colonies), it was almost located in northern Maine but it was decided to locate it much further south, and one of the original rules was to ban slavery. That rule only lasted for 17 years but at least they tried. After the tour, we had a bite of lunch and then got the car and drove back to some of the squares to walk around and take photos. The weather was a perfect 70F and sunny -- couldn’t have ordered up anything more perfect.

We’re doing our best to keep Savannah green, if you know what I mean. I walked by a small shop that sold paintings by a Haitian artist -- the artist was sitting in the shop painting. His work is in a traditional folk-art style -- vibrantly colorful and detailed depictions of village life. I’ve always liked that style of painting but haven’t fallen in love with a particular work that I can afford. But I really like this guy’s work. So I hemmed and I hawed and then I asked the price of my favorite piece (which was way more than I was willing to pay) and then I started negotiating the price down, trying to carefully walk that line between getting the price down but not being disrespectful to his work. We reached an agreement and so by the time I get home, I’ll have a delightful new piece to hang on my wall. After I left the shop, my spouse wandered into the same shop and ended up going through the same negotiation process to buy a Gullah-style painting, which I had seen and also liked. The Gullah people live on isolated islands off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina and have their own language and culture. Their art style usually depicts people in silhouette, never showing facial or other detail, and is almost art deco in style. I think we have to stop shopping now.

Dinner was at a rather touristy place called The Pirate House. Ordinarily, my expectation is that food in touristy, gimmick restaurants is never very good. But Savannah seems to have a magic touch when it comes to food. Dinner last night was fabulous. Dinner tonight was amazingly fabulous. First of all, they brought a basket of buttermilk biscuits and cornbread muffins. I’ve never had biscuits that were so light and fluffy and flavorful, and the cornbread was also out of this world. I ordered fried chicken with a pecan crust that was definitely in the oh-my-gawd category, not to mention the onion rings (best ever), and even the spinach. Everything was pretty salty but otherwise it was cooked perfectly with amazing flavor. My friends ordered grilled shrimp, tilapia, and crab and they were bowled over by the food. Oh, and we had deep fried pickles again -- what a hoot and oh, so good. I hope I still fit in the seat on the plane when we fly home.

ROAD TRIP DAY 8 HEADING FOR SAVANNAH

Today we drove across Alabama and into Georgia -- another 7-hour driving day. The highways from Texas to Savannah are amazingly unclogged with traffic and smoothly paved, with a 70 mph speed limit, flat and almost straight. It is difficult not to get sleepy so I spent my time either driving or looking up interesting things along the way and reading tidbits out loud. We passed by Dallas GA (something of a space warp since we left Dallas TX several days ago), and drove past Dublin, Eastaboga GA (what kind of name is that?), Bugtussle (need I say more?), Hogjaw (the names just keep getting better), and Vidalia (yes, the home of the Vidalia onion -- can you name the two other types of sweet onion?……..Maui and Walla Walla). It turns out that the sweetness of the onions is due to the low sulfur content in the soil. We passed up the opportunity to visit the Videlia onion gift shop.

We passed by the Ocmulgee National Monument -- yet another monument I’ve never heard of and also another site of earth mounds from a culture long ago -- approximately 12,000 years ago. The archeologists think these mounds are temple mounds, built originally by ice age hunters who migrated into the southeast. I was sorry that we didn’t have enough time to explore these sites. Other interesting southern sights: a couple of anti-abortion billboards, several large (very large) Christian churches and schools (in MS, AL, and GA), and a wonderful pink billboard in GA that said “Shared memories: prom and pageant gowns.” Yes, the south is the center of beauty pageants and if you ever have a need for a pageant gown, you know where to shop!

Great idea for a trip: fly to Savannah and then drive up the east coast. That would be great fun! Driving through GA, think thick, piney woods with spindly trees that are harvested for pulp..

Savannah is, indeed beautiful. We had a balmy 77F today, which was lovely. After checking into our hotel, we availed ourselves of the concierge service, who booked a reservation for us at a wonderful restaurant, The Chart House (yes, it is a chain but this particular restaurant was spectacular). Some of the southern specialties on the menu were (1) blackened shrimp over yellow stone-ground bacon garlic grits (oh my gawd!) and pontchartrain sauce with corn fritters (another oh my gawd) on a bed of tomato jam; (2) fried green tomatoes (best I’ve ever had, by far); (3) she-crab soup; and (4) carmelized catfish with jumbo lump crab and spinach served over the same bacon garlic grits and smoked tomato gravy. I, of course, ordered chicken, which wass fabulous. We began our meal with cocktails (manhattan for me, of course), ordered a bottle of pinot noir with dinner, and ended with a peach cobbler and a shot of chilled Southern Comfort. A perfect meal although I am still hoping to find hush puppies (how much more southern can you get?). Luckily, we only had to walk two blocks back to the hotel.

ROAD TRIP DAY 5-7 PLAYING AROUND IN TEXAS & HEADING EAST

With Girlfriend Weekend over, we had two full days to relax and see the sights. High on our agenda on Day 5 was the singularly Texan experience of getting (and drinking) cocktails from a drive-through kiosk. They have an extensive list of cocktails, all served over lots of crushed ice in to-go cups with a piece of tape carefully placed over the top of the cup, just to one side of the hole for the straw. This pays attention to the no-open-container law but also gets around it by allowing you to insert your straw and immediately start to enjoy the drink as you drive off. I rapidly figured out that the crushed ice serves an important function -- you simply cannot drink the cocktail very fast because the ice gives you “brain freeze” if you try. By the time we arrived at my friend’s house, about 20 minutes later, I had finished my drink and was definitely aware that I had imbibed a strong drink. Great fun! We ended up spending the evening playing golf on Wii (I lost -- bummer).

We also seem to have found a worthy quest for our trip -- finding the best freshly-made lemonade and limeade. In Jefferson, the drugstore downtown has a lunch counter and they make limeades from scratch. We even tried cherry-limeades. Worth a definite rave! Which reminds me that east Texas is Dr Pepper country. If you order a “coke” they ask you what flavor coke you want -- Coca-cola, Pepsi, or Dr. Pepper. Cute.

On day 6, a Monday, we went to see a model train layout that was absolutely fabulous. This is a huge layout that was lovingly built by two men who, upon their deaths, wanted it kept intact and moved to a place where it would be appreciated and well maintained. A few model train enthusiasts in Jefferson, TX were able to convince the family that Jefferson (population 2,000) was a worthy location (rather than New York or Dallas). The town hastily built a new building to house the trains and the result is impressive. The detail is amazing -- inside every building are scenes with furniture and people. The layout includes two small towns, with all the details you might imagine.

Then we drove to the only naturally-occurring lake in Texas, Caddo Lake, which is so large that it is in eastern Texas and also in Louisiana. Part of the lake is a large open water section and part is classic Louisiana swamp, with cypress trees draped in Spanish moss, green-brown water, and an eerie feel. We looked at some of the swampy bayous, although the bugs and other animal life remained hidden because it is winter and the weather has been especially cold for the region. We drove by a couple of towns with names that make me laugh -- Karnack (think Johnny Carson, and if you don’t know who he is then look him up), and Uncertain. I’m not joking -- these are real places.

We celebrated our final evening by going to a Texas steak house -- nice-sized and delicious ribeye steak with baked potato and creamed spinach is $16, which is at least half of what I would pay at home in California. We tried something new -- deep fried pickles with ranch dressing for dipping sauce. YUM! I know, it doesn’t sound very good, but it was.

Today is day 7, a Tuesday, and we took off for Savannah, Georgia (GA). Because it is a 14-hour drive we decided to stay at the halfway point which is in Birmingham, AL. So today we drove across Louisiana (LA) and Mississippi (MS) and partway into Alabama (AL). In LA, we passed Poverty Point Monument, which is the site of very early earthen mounds (as early as 700 BCE). Apparently archeologists discovered this site in the early 1900s and to this day are not entirely sure what the purpose of the mounds are. Look it up to find more info. None of us had ever heard of this and to learn that it is a national monument with such an interesting mystery was very exciting.

Interesting sighting in LA -- driving down the highway in the middle of nowhere there was a yellow diamond-shaped highway sign with a silhouette of a bear and the word “BEAR.” Bears in LA??? There were only scrub trees and swampy land for miles. Who knew?

More fun place names in MS: Bovina (who would name a town Bovina?), Chunky (yup, I’m not lying), Rhymes, and Van Winkle. We lunched in Pearl, MS and had chicken and dumplings smothered in gravy -- a totally Southern experience. On our route today, we’ve apparently been all over the world -- drove past Delhi, Quebec, Cuba, Canton, and Carthage, not to mention Eutaw in AL (yes, that is how they spell it). We ended the day with Manhattans, which are the perfect ending to any day.

DAY 2-4 GIRLFRIEND WEEKEND FRENZY

Three days of books, authors, and zany women. Who could ask for more?

I’ve blogged before about Girlfriend Weekend (see http://www.willworkforairfare.blogspot.com/2011_01_01_archive.html ) and this year was no exception. It began with an “author dinner,” which means that the local BBQ restaurant (best BBQ I’ve ever had) catered a dinner for the conference attendees and that dinner was served by the featured authors for the weekend, all dressed in Charlie Chaplin-style costumes. Apparently the authors love this event because they get a chance to meet and chat with other authors and also with readers in a very social environment. Friday and Saturday are crammed all day with 45-minute panels of authors followed by a little break for book signings. It is absolutely wonderful to hear authors talking about what inspired them to write their latest book, the back story for the book (many fiction books are based on real events, which always makes the books more interesting to me), and how they got started writing in the first place. Many of the authors and the books fall into the category of Southern literature, some of which is on the fluffy side (feel-good, motivational, good, clean Christian stories, and so on) and some of which is truly good literature and good reading (nonfiction accounts of famous people and events, fictionalized treatments of true events). Of course, you can buy the books at the conference, but because I don’t want to ship a ton of books home after the weekend, I look up each book I’m interested in to see if it is available for download onto my Kindle. Luckily, everything I was interested in is downloadable!

Girlfriend Weekend is an event put on by the Pulpwood Queens book club which aims at getting more women, men, and children to read and to introducing them to engaging and even life-changing stories. And it is working. There are more than 500 chapters in the USA. Women come to this conference from all over the south and often groups from the same book club wear some kind of fun, identifying clothing. This is an event where women can kick up their heels and be playful and zany, so I saw women wearing tiaras (I wore mine!) and lots of hot pink, leopard print, and sparkly bling. Who says reading has to be solemn and boring? Saturday night is a big party where women dress up in costumes of the theme for that year (this year the theme was The Guilded Age so we saw lots of flappers), book clubs adorn their tables with amazingly elaborate decorations, and women drink and dance and have a great time. Authors also join in, in costume, and seem to have a wonderful time.

Books that really interested me this year are:

    A Silence of Mockingbirds A Memoir of a Murder by Karen Spears Zacharias (true story)
    You Believers by Jane Bradley (true story)
    The Iguana Tree by Michel Stone (true story)
    Faith Bass Darling’s Last Garage Sale by Lynda Rutledge (based on true story, light read)
    Roses by Leila Meacham (light read)
    Into The Free by Julie Cantrell (about American gypsys)
    Let the People In: The Life and Times of Ann Richardson by Jan Reid (biography and a good one)
    American Ghost: A Novel by Janis Owens (based on a true story)
    A Rare Titanic Family: The Caldwell’s Story of Survival by Julie Hedgepeth Williams (true story)
    Ghost on Black Mountain by Ann Hite (rare look into Appalachian culture and beliefs)

So here I am eating southern food, being called “hon” and “sweetie” by wait staff in restaurants, trying to remember to specify “unsweet” tea when I order iced tea, and trying to get used to the fact that no vegetable is worth eating unless it is cooked limp with lots of salt, some bacon or ham, and a wee bit of sugar. People in Jefferson are unfailingly friendly and polite and we are getting a small taste of New Orleans because many shops and houses have Mardi Gras decorations up -- Jefferson is so close to Louisiana that it is considered to be “Louisiana West.”

Tomorrow we get to rest up -- and we need it!

ON THE WAY TO TEXAS

To get our trip off to a great start, we decided to splurge by flying to Texas first class. Wow, what a difference that makes. We arranged to be picked up at home by a limo -- the driver was on time, courteous, a great driver, and very personable. What luxury! And then it got even better when he told us that first class passengers have their own curb-side check-in spot at the airport. Our bags were checked in and we were done in minutes! Then the skycap told us that first class passengers have their own, separate security processing. We walked into the airport through a special first class door and discovered a relatively short line. That is so much nicer than the security lines for coach passengers -- it was a real treat. So by the time we got to our gate, we had plenty of time to get a little breakfast before taking off.

For those of you who have never flown first class, here is what our experience was like. Of course you know that the seats are roomy and comfortable. Each pair of seats gets a separate overhead bin for storage. And as soon as we sat down, the flight attendant brought us drinks. After the plane took off, we were offered little bowls of mixed nuts and more drinks. Then we had our choice of two entrees for lunch, which was served with cloth napkins, metal cutlery, and real plates and bowls. And the food was quite nice. Dessert was a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie. And the flight attendant kept coming around to check that we had everything we needed. At the end of the three-hour flight, we were first to walk off and first to get our luggage at baggage claim. We arrived in Dallas rested, refreshed, and ready for our three-hour drive to Jefferson, which is way on the eastern border of Texas, almost into Louisiana. I wish I could afford to fly first class all the time!

We made it to the shuttle that took us to the rental car office, but with difficulty. OK, so we have too much luggage. I admit it. But really, we had to pack stuff for cold weather (highs of 35 F) and for warm weather (highs of 72 F). And a girl needs a few shoes to go with different outfits. Well, you get the picture. Anyway, we finally got ourselves settled into our mini-van and set off……and then got a bit lost trying to get out of the airport despite the fact that we brought a navigation device to prevent this very situation. But after going in circles a couple of times, we managed to find our way out and onto the highway, just in time to hit Dallas commute traffic. Sigh After about 45 minutes, we finally got free of the traffic and started experiencing typical Texas driving, which is broad, smooth, many-laned highways with almost no cars, and a 75 MPH speed limit. We arrived in Jefferson, met up with old friends, had a late supper, and fell into bed at our B&B.

ROAD TRIP TO SOUTHERN USA

It's time -- way past time, if you ask me -- for another trip.  This time I am going on a road trip with my spouse and a long-time friend.  The three of us are flying to Dallas, then driving to a little town in Eastern Texas, called Jefferson -- been there before.  We're attending a Pulpwood Queen book club book and author convention for 3 days, then taking a couple of days to recover and eat ribs, and then we'll take off for points south.  Our plan is to go to Savannah, GA, then Charleston, SC, then loop up through Tennessee to bourbon country in Kentucky for some serious bourbon tasting.  Stay tuned.