You Win Some, You Lose Some

View from our Condo on Tybee Island, Georgia

Last Wednesday was the long anticipated trip to Savannah, Georgia for the fall TTA meeting.  Often these meetings are an opportunity to get together with some industry friends and go fishing, which we have done quite a few times now.  This trip to Savannah was a perfect time to go fishing as we have done when the conference was in Charlotte, NC and we fished Charleston for Sheepshead.  When we had our conference in Ponte Vedra Beach we fished the breakwaters of Mayport Florida so we were looking forward to fishing these Georgia marshes for redfish, sea trout, black drum, and sheepshead.  It was all set, my friend Phil rented two condos right on the Atlantic Ocean on Tybee Island, 20 miles east of Savannah.  Taking it easy on Friday night, 5:00 would come early as we had to be on the dock by 6:45.  The weather stated a 90% chance of rain however this was forecasted for the afternoon, our trip was 6 hours, and would end at 2:00 so we weren't too worried.  Getting ready to leave at 6:30 the cell phone rang, it was Miss Judy stating that there were small craft warnings as it appeared as though we had severe thunder storms both to the north and south of us, with the one to the south, substantial lightening.  Stating that we can't go out at 7:00 we should wait until 9:00 and see where we were at weather wise.  We talked again and reiterated that we just wanted to go out, any change would be good for us, we could do only 4 hours, anything to get out however at 8:30 she officially cancelled the trip.  Admittedly we were pretty disappointed yet we understand that it's up to the captain of the boat to decide the safety of it's guests and crew.   Personally I think we could have

Fresh Raw Oysters, Fabulous!

gone but there are 2 things about that thought, first it's not my decision and secondly hindsight is 20/20!  The end result is we had a great breakfast in a breakfast cafe on Tybee Island, I had one of the best omelet's ever, an Irish Omelet with swiss cheese, corned beef, and fried onions.  After the bad news regarding our charter we decided to head into Savannah and seek out Sorry Charlie"s Oyster house for some fresh Oysters and some locally brewed beer.  There was an Orvis Store near there where I decided to spend the money that was dedicated for the charter and by some nice fishing clothes.  Savannah is quite an interesting city, especially coming from here in Minnesota where the temperatures are in the 20's during the day and teens at night.  For us it was short sleeve weather, yet I was surprised that the morning temperatures were in the low 30's.  Even with the freezing temperatures in the morning there were palm tress and the beautiful Southern Live Oaks with significant clumps of Spainish Moss hanging from them.   Still, a heck of a lot better than having snow on the ground, even though ice fishing can't start soon enough!!!  On other experience that I thought was interesting, on the way to Tybee Island we stopped at a roadside produce stand and along with fresh vegetables they had a variety of Georgia made products.  I could not resist getting some Peach and Bourbon Barbecue Sauce for my neighbor Tim.  Spotting what looked good was a jar of Southern Pickled Brussel Sprouts.  The gal at the counter sensed I wasn't from around there, maybe the Green Bay Packer Hat was s dead giveaway, so she asked if I knew what these were and if I liked them.  Saying they looked interesting, she said ok, I'll do on better, took the jar that I go from the shelf, went in the back room and came out with a pint mason jar of pickled brussel sprouts, with some green beans and sliced red peppers and onions, no label and said here, you'll really like these.  Not asking anything I settled up while the rest of the guys bought some boiled peanuts, admittedly I would not go out of my way for those, I did eat a few!!

Little Gracie Watson

Savannah is a very historical city, in fact it has the largest area designated as a National Historic District of any city in the United States.  It was surprising to learn that it also serves as the third largest shipping port in the United States.  Savannah was an important port as it had deep water access via the Savannah River.  It was an important port for the British prior to the Revolutionary War as it served to be the main shipping point for cotton and tobacco, both products that were important to the British economy.  Georgia was in fact named after England's King George.  Savannah is known to be a haunted city with many famous areas that are associated with ghosts and spirits.  One such area is Bonaventure Cemetery on the east side of Savannah.  Located on an old plantation it was very interesting to go through this amazing 160 acres of land and see how different these are from what I am used to here up north!  Our personal tour guide Phil is very familiar with some of these interesting places in the area and he brought us to a number of unusual grave sites including that of Little Gracie Watson, an amazing story in itself.  This grave sites are fairly large, often a whole family is interned withing the boundaries of their plot.  In the case of Little Gracie, her site includes a marble carving of her story as well as this statue of her.  The story is that she was born in 1883, the only child of Mr. Watson, who was the manager of the famous Pulaski Hotel in Savannah.  Little Gracie basically had the run of the hotel and had become the admired and beloved child to many of the guests.  Two days before Easter in 1889, Gracie died of pneumonia at 6 years old.  She was buried at Bonaventure.  In 1890 a famous sculpture, John Walz moved to Savannah and Gracie's father had him carve a statue of Gracie from a photograph that he had.  The grave was so popular that the cemetery had to put a fence around it to protect it from visitors as they would rub her nose thinking it

Little Gracie's Story

would give them good luck (See the link).  Phil also explained that people often leave gifts such as toys, flowers, and other childhood items, especially at Christmas.  Phil was surprised to see that there was none at the time of our visit.  It was often said that the spirit of Gracie can be felt at her grave site, I cannot attest to that but honestly it was quite touching and a sad but beautiful story.   Other notables that reside in Bonaventure were Johnny Mercer, a very famous composer of music in the 1940's and 50's as well a number of Civil War heros.  I definitely regret not going fishing but honestly had a really fun time exploring Savannah and it's history.  I would highly recommend to put this city on your bucket list, as there is so much to see and do, plus the food is outstanding!!! Maybe one day there will be the chance to try fishing again.  Unfortunately we just got word that there will be no driving on Red this weekend, Oh well.