Continued from an email sent today...
I forgot to mention that Savannah is breathtakingly beautiful. Since it is on the coast, there are a bunch of islands and the marsh kind of creeps around the entire town. I don’t think there is anywhere in Savannah where you are more than a ten minute ride to some body of water, be it a creek, river or the ocean. Savannah is also the first city of Georgia, meaning when they landed in Georgia and set it up as a colony, Savannah was the first place they landed and set up shop. Also, during the Civil War (people say that they call it “The War of Northern Aggression” down here, but I have never heard anyone call it that in a serious way) when Sherman set fire and pillaged everything in Atlanta and east, he stopped when he got to Savannah. Tour guides will say that he got to Savannah and said it was too beautiful to burn and presented Savannah to Abraham Lincoln as a Christmas present. The crap-load of cotton bales stockpiled here probably didn’t hurt to spare the city either. So like I was saying about the beauty….
Three of my favorite things to look at here are the coast, the trees and the old buildings. Since Savannah wasn’t burnt during the Civil War, there are a ton of really old buildings, which have been renovated, as I alluded to yesterday. Also, Savannah was one of the first “planned” cities in America, and the basic street design has stayed relatively similar to the way they were laid out way back when. So, there is a colonial vibe to certain parts of downtown. The other thing I love is the coastal views. The sunrises and sunsets just look so great on the water. It must go back to man’s primal needs to be near a source of water, but being around the water is just really calming. Since I live on an island, it is pretty difficult for me to go anywhere without driving over a bridge. Even though I have driven over these bridges thousands of times, I still take in the view, every single time. Tybee Island is probably my favorite place in the world. I told one of my friends that came down here to visit that if I won the lottery and could get a house anywhere, I would get one on Tybee. He said he would get a house somewhere exotic or in a big city, but I stuck to my guns, because I already know how much fun I will have on Tybee.
There is this poet from Georgia named Sidney Lanier and he wrote an awesome poem called “The Marshes of Glynn” that is just awesome. Glynn County is about an hour south of Savannah and the marshes are pretty much identical. http://www.bartleby.com/42/809.html check it out if you feel so inclined. The poem is basically about walking through the woods to the marsh and it just describes it so well…I think the poem acts as a metaphor comparing the struggles of life to that of a nature scene. I can let you read some paper I wrote on it, someday. The trees down here are mostly covered with Spanish Moss, which is this stuff that looks like a really old woman’s hair. It is really strange; it isn’t connected to the tree, but somehow, it accumulates on them. Someone smarter than me would be able to explain it better. When I was little, I used to put it on my head and pretend it was a wig. They are full of small bugs, so I learned that lesson the hard way. Anyway, the wooded areas are just awesome down here. The trees grow differently than the woods in Pennsylvania. The wooded areas are thicker because the trees don’t necessarily grow straight up, but rather, intertwine and snake around each other. It seems more like a jungle than the woods. That may be because we are closer to the tropics here. I have no idea.
I know that these words will not really do it any justice. Rather, these words are really just to whet your appetite until you come see for yourself.
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