Barbara and Jeri's trip to St. Augustine, Charleston, and Savannah
 

In preparing for our trip, I had valuable input from many under the thread "Suggestions for St. Augustine, Charleston, and Savannah".
Now that we are back, I'm writing a short report. This was started as a continuation of the above mentioned thread. Just thinking, though, that since it is a trip report, it makes more sense to let it stand alone. So I'm copying here what I've already written, and I'll continue with the rest of the report under this heading.
Any who are visiting the above cities would do well to look at the original thread, however, because the contributions from posters contain very useful information.

TRIP REPORT:

Barbara and Jeri’s trip to St. Augustine, Charleston, and Savannah

WHO WE ARE: Two friends who worked together for over 30 years and who’ve traveled together for the past 10 years. Barbara, a retired high school counselor; Jeri, a retired high school teacher and chairman of the social science department.

OUR TRAVEL HISTORY: Last year at this time, Jeri and I were in Egypt and Jordan. We were fortunate with the timing of that trip because a short time after we returned, turmoil in the area broke out and escalated. Had we waited, who knows when we would be able to satisfy our dreams of experiencing what remains of those ancient cultures.

The year before that, we were in Prague for a few days before flying to Budapest where we boarded a riverboat for a Danube cruise, visiting cities in Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, and Bulgaria along the way, with land segments to Varna, Bulgaria on the Black Sea, Romania, and Transylvania.

And the year before that we were in Kuala Lumpur and the Malaysian part of Borneo, visiting places along the coastal strip from Kuching in the south to Kota Kinabalu in the north, and ending with time on the island of Penang.
And so on. Over the years we’ve had some fantastic and often exotic adventures.

WHY THIS TRIP: This short trip of ours to St. Augustine, Charleston, and Savannah was different from what we usually do in that it was domestic. It was time, though, for me to experience more of my own country. I had never been in this region before. For Jeri, though, it would be a re-visit. She had been in each of these cities before, but since it had been at least 20 years, she was looking forward to the trip as much as I.

PREPARATION: Jeri needed very little regarding the history. She was a history teacher and an excellent one. Totally proficient in her subject. I, on the other hand, was lacking. I hadn’t had a US history class since my freshman year of college, half a century ago. Wow. That makes me sound so old. Let it be known that I’m still on my feet and that at least as of today, I have all my faculties. Tomorrow? Who knows?

Preparation for me consisted of three things—this board (and once again, thank you all for your input), the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (Savannah), and the John Jakes’ historical fiction novel, Charleston. I loved that book. It started with the first settlement in Savannah and detailed the history through the Revolutionary War up until after the Civil War. There was obviously a bias—a northern one. And I was on board with that. So any of you are still reading this….Yes, I know. There is another point of view.

Basically, then, my preparation was scanty. Wish it had been more. As always, though, I travel to see and learn new things-- as does Jeri-- and that’s the way we approached this trip.

BASIC STRUCTURE:
Flight. We did a Kayak search and the best fare ended up with Delta flight from Lax to Memphis connecting with an Atlantic Southeast flight to Jacksonville, Florida. And return, of course. Total: $330.
Car. Hotwire. Hertz came up for $336 for pickup JAX on September 18 through drop off JAX on September 29. Toyota Corolla. Unlimited miles.
Hotels. I’ll specify as the report progresses.

OUR TRIP BEGINS:

OMG!! Our family had company the night before we were to leave. I had my bags packed and all my paperwork with the boarding pass, hotel and car confirmations, etc. in a folder, my carry on things and so on ready for my departure early the next morning. I had wanted to be sure all was basically in order because our departure from LAX was at 7:05 AM and we had to be there by at least 5:30 AM. It was midnight, though, before I got to bed. Had to wash dishes and all after the company left. And evidently I did not set the alarm. Thankfully, I woke up about 4:00 AM, half an hour before I was to pick up Jeri who lives half an hour away. I called my son-in-law Danny, who lives nearby and who was to take us to the airport. He, too, had not set his alarm. But he said he’d be right over. 10 minutes. And I just had time to get my clothes on. Contacts, yes. No make-up. And I never leave the house without it. Not even to go to the market. But, oh well…… “Oh, well” is a wonderful expression. It has served Jeri and me well over the years. It signals that we need to go from Plan A to Plan B without getting fussed up, and if Plan B doesn’t happen, then….Oh Well…..

So there I was with just my clothes and my contacts on, throwing my things into the car before getting our way to pick up Jeri. No time to do any last minutes checks to see that all was packed. About a mile down the road I told Danny, “I’m not sure I have my camera”. And a bit later, “I’m not sure I have my back-up contacts”. And, yikes!!, “ I’m not sure I packed my make-up”. And so on. It was going to be a thrill a minute when I finally got unpacked at our first hotel and saw what was really there. Never before have I left in such a hurry.

Bottom line, thankfully we did somehow make it to the airport about 25 or 30 miles away in time to catch our flight

This is the lead-up. The trip report will follow.


Report Abuse

Bo2642on Oct 4, 11 at 6:47am


Just a small correction re the John Jakes book Charleston. Obviously it began with the first settlement in Charleston, not Savannah.

Nothing like a little adrenaline to get your trip started.

What a lead up this is!! Really good writing style, I can picture your panic looking at your clock and seeing what time it is. This sounds like it is going to be good.

One of my biggest vacation fears is oversleeping and missing the plane or being stuck in traffic as I see the plane fly overhead.

And I think your motto of "oh well" is one that all travelers should adopt. I know it is how we travel. If you let yourself get upset by things it can just wind up ruining your day.

Can't wait for the rest of the report. We are going to Savannah and Charleston in 2 weeks and are very excited.
KathyH

Going to Charleston just before Christmas....looking forward to reading the rest of the report!

BTW, I have been known to leave the house/hotel "ugly" and apply make-up and use the curling iron in the airport bathroom. I figure I'm stuck there waiting, anyway, so why not make good use of the time? ;)

palmetto, Barb, Kathy, and ten--thanks for your words of understanding. As I think back on my situation now, it's funny.

Just finishing the St. Augustine segment now. A little slow because my "real" life has resumed. Spent all day yesterday chaperoning my younger grandson's 3rd/4th grade class during a field trip to the Autry Western Heritage Museum here in LA; took both boys to piano lessons today; and as always, there are the etceteras.

I may be able to get the St. Augustine segment posted in about an hour.

ST. AUGUSTINE
Our flight arrived at JAX at 5:10 PM, and after picking up our bags and getting our car, we headed directly to our hotel in St. Augustine. We had reservations at the Courtyard St. Augustine I-95. This is out of town, about 10 minutes from St. Augustine itself, but the reviews on Trip Advisor and other sites as for cleanliness and comfort were great. The list of lodgings in and around St. Augustine goes on and on, and some of the B&Bs especially sound inviting, but we just needed a comfortable and clean place for the next two nights. And the Courtyard did not disappoint. What great beds, by the way. And tons of pillows. Crisp bed linens. I’d certainly go there again. Triple A (AAA) rate for two nights on the Courtyard website--$175.98 (taxes included).
One of the first things I did after checking in was to see what I had actually brought with me. Whew. Yes. I had my camera. And my back-up contact lenses. And, yes, my make-up—everything except lipstick. Whoo Hooo!
There is a CVS drugstore a couple of miles down the road, and I got the lipstick on the way to dinner that night and also bottles of water, enough for our whole trip…and then some. So all was good.
Though it wasn’t our main focus, we chose to include St. Augustine in our itinerary for two reasons. First, being the oldest city in America it is of historical interest, but, in addition, and probably the main reason, it would allow us to connect with our friend Gundy and hubby who live a bit to the south in Palm Coast. We were so looking forward to seeing Gundy. I had “met” her about 15 years ago when I responded to a China trip report she had written right here on these boards. And we have been emailing ever since. Actually she has become Jeri’s email friend, too, and we have both had the pleasure of meeting her in person twice when she and hubby have come to California. Now here was another opportunity.
But let me back up a bit.
By the time we got from JAX to St. Augustine, it was nearly 7, and by the time we started to think about dinner, it was after that. Jeri was hungry for sea food and had chosen a restaurant which had good reviews. It was closed, however, so we settled on what seemed to be a local favorite—Barnacle Bill’s. There was no ambience, and the food was just ok. My suggestion would be to look elsewhere.

For any who would like a comprehensive list from a Fodorite of St. Augustine attractions, there’s a wonderful trip report by bachslunch on these boards. An easy way to get to it is to go back to the Florida board under our Suggestions for St. Augustine, Charleston, and Savannah. Then find her reply which is number 2 or so; click on her (his?) name, and look for the St. Augustine trip report. You’ll find that she/he (bachslunch—who are you?) put a lot of energy into experiencing St. Augustine in depth, and the personal reactions to the sites visited give valuable input to potential visitors, especially those who will be there for two or more days.
Also Orlando_Vic and others on the same board have given good recommendations re restaurants. If St. Augustine is in your plans, check them out.
Jeri and I, though, had only a few hours to be in St. Augustine. At the end of our one full day in St. Augustine, we were to be at Gundy’s for dinner in Palm Coast at 5:00, so, knowing that we would only be able to scratch the surface of all that was to be seen, we took the pressure off of ourselves by deciding that what we would be able to do would be quality things, few as they might be. Over the years we’ve learned that when traveling you can never see everything in the time allotted, so we pick and choose and enjoy.
We decided on two “must dos”, the Castillo de San Marcos and a visit to a historical house, possibly the Gonzalez-Alvarez House, the oldest surviving home in the area, leaving the rest to chance, and we resolved that the things we did not have time to see or do….well, the hope of the traveler is always “next time”.
It was a beautiful morning as we arrived at the parking structure in St. Augustine. The rain of the night before had dissipated, and the sky was deep blue with puffy white clouds though dark clouds were on the horizon and we knew that eventually there’d be more rain.
Our first destination was the Castillo de San Marcos, which is one of the oldest standing structures in North America. Construction began in 1672 by the Spanish to protect their holdings in the new world. Not only is this fort strategically placed overlooking the entrance to St. Augustine’s harbor, but it has a unique design. As a paragraph in the Self-Guided Walking Tour which you pick up upon entry explains, “Engineer Ignacio Daza incorporated a type of fortress construction called the ‘bastion’ system. The star-like outline of the Castillo is formed by diamond-shaped projections or bastions at each corner of the fort; this design eliminates blind spots for the guards in the garitas or sentry boxes at each bastion point and increases the fort’s firepower by allowing multiple cannons to fire on the same target, creating a crossfire effect.”
We took our time following the self-guided tour, visiting the rooms where the soldiers were quartered, the kitchen and dining hall, the chapel, storage rooms, the “jail”, and exhibit rooms containing artifacts of the powers the Castillo served beginning with Spain and continuing after it left Spanish hands—Great Britain, the Confederacy, and the United States.
There was also a very interesting movie showing in detail the drill regimen the Spanish soldiers were put through. It was all about loading and shooting the cannons. I almost had to laugh. I know repetition makes for perfection, but there were so many steps to the drill and the soldiers portrayed were totally decked out with heavy coats and brass, frills and hats and all, that it seemed that by the time they could get themselves together enough to shoot, it would be too late.
We spent the last half hour at the top of the fort where cannons and cannonballs were strategically placed and where we could see and appreciate how the bastions were indeed advantageous for defense.
After the Castillo, we walked over to St. George Street, one of the original settlement thoroughfares. It is now lined with shops and restaurants and has become the main tourist walking street in St. Augustine. We did some browsing as we made our way along, and along with the tourist trinkets and t-shirts there were some shops featuring quality jewelry and blown glass. Though I hadn’t really planned to buy anything, I did find a perfect purse for my daughter Susanne at the Bag Lady’s. It is fun and dramatic and suits her.
Lunch time: I know this didn’t quite make the cut in Orlando-Vic’s list of favorites (see his recommendations on the original thread) but Jeri and I found the Columbia restaurant to be lovely and good. It is located right on St. George Street, very easy to find. How nice it was to step out of the steaming heat into its cool entryway, and how pleasant it was to sit in the dining room filled with palms and beautiful tile work. And the food was just right. I had their 1905 Salad with the house dressing—so yummy if you don’t mind being garlicked up—and a Cuban bean soup. Jeri also had the soup but paired it with a Cuban sandwich. The menu is extensive and we’re not above peeking at what others are having. All looked good. Go to columbiarestaurant.com and click on the St. Augustine location for the menu and photos.
Upon leaving the Columbia Restaurant, we stopped at the Pena-Peck House. We had planned to tour at least one house, but hadn’t considered this one. This one came to us by accident, and we’re glad it did because it was extremely well preserved and interesting. We almost missed it; it is a very simple black-shuttered white and gray rectangular building sitting right on St. George Street with little to attract our attention except for flags outside the door. At first it looked like the door led only into a little shop on one end of the building, but as we entered—yes, there was the shop to the right of the entry, but as we looked straight ahead we could see that we had stepped right into a house.
A lady came to greet us and invite us into the shop to see to see an abundance of handicrafts for sale. She said that this was a woman’s exchange which had been operating for over a hundred years, a place where women could bring their work to sell and earn a little money for their efforts.
Then before we knew it, a docent came and told us she would be glad to start a tour with us. Er….well, OK. And it turned out to be a wonderful tour with just the two of us and our docent Sam. She had passion for the house and the history, and one of the first things she did was put on a pair of white gloves saying with a wink and a twinkle in her eye, “Now we can get into things.”
Bachslunch put it very well in her St. Augustine trip report: it’s the closest one gets to touring a non-opulent era fancier house in the city. We enjoyed the hour and a half we spent there very much.
Go to staugustinewomans-exchange.com for information about the exchange and photos and information about the house.
Upon Sam’s recommendation we continued on St. George Street past the point where it was no longer a pedestrian street and wandered through the older non-commercial section of the area. This gave some balance to the refurbished/restored things we had been passing, and then doubling back we found ourselves at the Flagler College campus. This is a liberal arts college situated on the grounds of the original Ponce de Leon Hotel built in 1888 and renowned for its opulence. We were too late for a tour, but we were able to enter the lobby where we oooed and awed over the warm woods, the murals, and the stained glass. Well, I think there was stained glass. That’s how I remember it. At any rate, the whole interior was extremely beautiful and rich.
At his point it was time for us to go to Gundy’s. It took us about a half hour to get there, to Palm Coast, from St. Augustine, and we arrived right on time at 5:00. What a great reunion we had. Good company and conversation and a great meal. How nice that we were able to experience a bit of St. Augustine and have the day capped with a celebration of friendship.

Next segment: Charleston

well, we're leaving for Charleston and Savannah in two weeks, also, so we're looking forward to hearing the rest!

We are too! Leave the 22nd, three nights in Savannah and four in Charleston. Can't wait!

@gailw and KathyH

Hi, you two. I'll try to get the Charleston segment posted by tonight. In the meantime, though, you will find tons of useful information on the thread Suggestions for St. Augustine, Savannah, and Charleston. The thread is tagged for Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. So many fellow Fodorites posted tips and suggestions as we were preparing for our trip.

And if you go to that thread, do click on the names of the contributors because they have posted in other places, too, and you will find so much which will serve you well as you prepare.

Also, I would like to say again how much the John Jakes book Charleston helped me with insights into the historical context of Charleston. It is fiction, yes, as regards the main characters, but the history has been well researched. Begins before the Revolutionary War and goes through the generations past the War Between the States. My enjoyment of Charleston was enhanced for having read it, but history aside (well, I guess I really can't say that...but I will), it's a really good read in and of itself.

Where was dinner in Palm Coast, anywhere special. I don't live to far from there and am always looking for good food.

Dinner was at our friend Gundy's house. It rivaled anything we might have had at a restaurant and then some, but as of now she hasn't hung out her shingle.

We got lots of suggestions for St. Augustine on this board. Why don't you post and ask if anyone out there has Palm Coast suggestions?

Savannah and Charleston are on our agenda for next year, so looking forward to your post.

CHARLESTON—beginning October 20, 2011

Since we had to return to JAX for our flight home, we decided to put in a long driving day after leaving St. Augustine, bypassing Savannah and heading directly for Charleston. Leaving Savannah for last would put us closer to the airport as our trip came to an end.

Rain was with us most of the way, sometimes heavy bands of it, and it became a little monotonous traveling in the green tunnel formed by densely packed trees lining the sides of the highway. We made one stop for gas, but not to eat. Gundy had sent a care package along with us—apples, crackers, cheese, nuts, and cookies, so there was plenty to munch on. She also sent a bottle of good red wine, but…you know. The drinking and driving thing. We would save the wine for something special later on.

We really needed a break, though, and following the prompt of paulhelmick, soowoo, and others on our thread asking for suggestions regarding our trip, we turned off the main highway sometime after passing Savannah onto a road leading to Sheldon where some interesting ruins of an old church can be found. The following link was supplied in a post by paulhelmick. Click on it to find photos of the church, information regarding the history, and driving directions.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/onasill/4748908122/

This stop for us was a nice diversion. Instead of being confined to the green tunnel, we were finally able to see the countryside as we turned off the main highway. And the little road leading to the ruins was quite beautiful, all lacy with Spanish moss hanging from tree branches as we approached the site. This was my first experience actually seeing Spanish moss, and it was pretty exciting, every bit as lovely as photos show it to be.

It had stopped raining by the time we got to the ruins, and we were able to take our time exploring not only what was left of the church, but also the grounds themselves. What I found really interesting was that instead of having a specific burial section, there were graves here, there, and everywhere, some dating back to the early 1800s, and, surprisingly, some dating well into the 1900s.

Back on the highway again. It was about 3:00 PM when we approached the Charleston city limits, and we were hungry for something other than snacks. As we were looking for some place to stop where we could get in and out of fairly quickly, we saw a barbeque place called Bessingers. We took a chance. Our barbeque sandwiches were OK but nothing to write home about. No problem; we had no expectations. Later we learned that Bessingers is quite an institution and that people often travel distances to enjoy the food there. Is there something wrong with us?

www.bessingersbbq.com

Our Charleston Hotel for 3 nights was the Mills House. Booked on hotels.com for $153 a night; total for the three days--$523.17 including taxes. I know other posters have sometimes done better, but this was the best rate we could get at the time. Further, only the first three nights of our Charleston stay were available. We really wanted this hotel, though, for the historical significance as well as the location, so we took the three, and we booked lodgings in Mt. Pleasant across the bridge for the remaining two nights that we had planned to stay in Charleston. During that time we would be visiting Fort Sumpter, and the boat taking tourists across the harbor to the fort can be boarded in Mt. Pleasant as well as downtown Charleston.

Link to Mills House http://www.millshouse.com

There is a parking structure directly behind The Mills House with a passageway leading from the structure to the interior of the hotel. Very convenient. Also very expensive. Rates run $21 for 24 hours, no in and out privileges; $24 if handled through the hotel valet service, in and out privileges.

We parked there for the short time it would take us to check in and get our bags to our room ($2 or $3). Then we drove over to the Visitors Center a couple of miles down Meeting Street, the same street the hotel is located on. We could park our car in the adjacent parking structure there for $10.00 per 24 hours. This worked out very well for us since only once during our stay did we take the car out, and that was to go to Drayton Hall on the Ashley River Road and after that the Middleton Place a bit further down the same highway.

This is a good time to talk about DASH, a free trolley service offered by the city. You can see the route maps by clicking on http://www.discovercharleston.com/maps (See Maps and Transportation) to help with planning, and, of course, you can also pick up a route map at the Visitors Center, 375 Meeting Street. There is short term parking in front of the center.

I can’t tell you how many times we used this service as we explored the historic district. There are three routes, but for our purposes, we kept to the Meeting/King Shuttle which had a stop right by our hotel.

After parking our car in the structure adjacent to the Visitors Center, we walked over to the center itself to gather information which would be useful to us. There was the DASH map, of course, and there were some things with general information. There was also a movie which gave us an overview of the city; I felt it helped us get centered.

We left the Visitors Center planning to catch a DASH trolley back towards our hotel, but we had just missed it and another wouldn't be by for 15 minutes. It had started to rain, so we began walking rather than just stand in one place waiting, and as we walked along we were thinking about dinner. We had no reservations anywhere, and we were in the same clothes we had been driving in all day, so it had to be someplace casual. We passed Jestine’s and thought we remembered good reviews regarding its traditional local fare, but it was crowded to the point where people were waiting outside, so we moved on. Maybe just as well. Reviews we’ve since looked up indicate hit and miss re the food. After a certain point, though, we were really hungry and began to look for casual dining places as we drew closer to our hotel. It had stopped raining by the time we came upon a huge sea food restaurant—Hymans.

Please, nobody wince. This does indeed have all the markings of a tourist trap, but there is a window onto the street where you can look through to the kitchen and see the fish being prepared. Fish of all kinds, shapes, and sizes, and it all looked very fresh. You know, clear eyes on the fish and such, so we put our names in and waited about 10 minutes to be seated.

Click on http://www.hymanseafood.com/

In truth, there was no sophistication here, but it was a very fun place, and very welcoming. My swordfish was firm and moist and wonderful, and Jeri’s flounder, she said, was great, too. I don’t hesitate to recommend to those who are open to a big restaurant which lacks intimacy but which serves up a quality fish dinner.

I was hoping to get the full Charleston report up tonight, but I just can’t. I’ll post the above and hope that tomorrow I can get to the rest of it.

So glad you enjoyed Sheldon Ruins. It's really worth the time. The light there is beautiful.

I'm not nuts about Bessinger's either, but I am BBQ snob lol!

I'm enjoying your report! Thanks for sharing it with us.

Ahhh, we're finally in Charleston! Don't stop now!

I have a question about DASH -- it looks like the routes are circular, so if you want to go a short distance "back", you'll have to make a full loop. Is that correct?

Right. The circle takes aboutr 26 minutes. We took a full tour early on just to get a handle on the route. Also, if you miss the trolley on Meeting Street, for example, you can cut across and pick it up on King Street which might put you closer to your destination without having to do the whole circuit.

Right. The circle takes aboutr 26 minutes. We took a full tour early on just to get a handle on the route. Also, if you miss the trolley on Meeting Street, for example, you can cut across and pick it up on King Street which might put you closer to your destination without having to do the whole circuit.

Sorry. I got distracted and wasn't tuned in to the fact that I had already posted.