Road Trip - Savannah to Charleston
Although the shortest distance route between the cities of Savannah and Charleston would in normal circumstances take a little over an hour and a half, we don't roll that way. So we took the scenic, and then the not-quite-as-scenic route, and managed to take well over three hours for this trip. Along the way we visited Hilton Head Island and Beaufort, SC, just to say we had.Leaving Savannah is impressive because if you're going north you get to go over the Talmadge Memorial bridge which is really best avoided if you're even slightly susceptible to agoraphobia. I liked it bunches though Mary was clutching the dashboard somewhat frantically as she feels that driving and watching the scenery are not two abilities I can perform simultaneously. I doubt I hit a guard rail more than two or three times a year on average.
Hilton Head is a place that I've heard much about over the years, all from friends, acquaintances and occasional enemies that play golf. I do not, myself, play the sport of kings, or is that horseracing? Well, I don't do that either. It seems to be immensely popular with guys who go on golf vacations, which rarely included wives, girlfriends or significant others, so naturally I assumed that the Hilton Head would be chock full of bars, strip clubs, cigar stores and a Hooters on every corner. Imagine my surprise. Apparently, golf vacations are actually vacations where guys go and play golf. I don't think I've ever been so disappointed in my sex.
So we drove from one end of Hilton Head Island to the other and it is attractive in a kind of rigidly controlled way. Most of the buildings look pretty much the same, the landscaping all looks pretty much the same, and the old folks who spend way too much time doddering down the middle of the road around the resorts look pretty much the same.
Mary convinced me we should go by and check out the Disney Vacation Club resort on Hilton Head that is called, I believe, Disney Vacation Club on Hilton Head Island. It's pretty easy to remember. We toured the property and it looks nice and pleasant and not as Disneyfied as many other Disney wholly owned and operated corporate assets. Architecturally, the resort reminds one of a beach house, if they were really big, and held several families each. It looks like just the place to hang if you want to play golf and the rest of the family wants to go to the beach. Golfing, shopping, going to the beach, golfing, and eating at far too many chain restaurants, I think pretty much defines the Hilton Head experience. If that's your thing, enjoy.
After leaving Hilton Head, the GPS receiver and I had a bit of a battle of wills over my desire to wander down the non-preprogrammed road less traveled. We reached a stalemate, which is usually the best I can hope for with a piece of consumer electronics. I also had a battle of wills with Mary over the voice module for the GPS which I lost (naturally), so I had to change the voice from Generic British Female Voice, which I had named Penelope, for the much more authoritative and head-masterish Generic British Male Voice which corrected my grammar and periodically told me to bend over for a paddling. It's not that I minded the corrections and the corporal punishment, I just liked it better from Penelope. Mary disagreed and Penelope was banished to be replaced by Master Reginald Fodderingate-Smythe.
We drove through Beaufort, South Carolina which was the cutest little town. We wanted to snatch it up and put it in our pocket and take it home. I'm guessing that any long term visit, like more than a couple or three hours would result in terminal boredom, but it's still a pretty little town to find oneself in, if one happens to find themselves driving up or down the Georgia-South Carolinian coast.
The rest of the trip to Charleston, for which we did not use the interstate because interstates are kind of boring, was kind of boring, but slower. We did pass what appeared to be approximately one-fifth of the last ten year's total output of prefabricated homes, which are much more popular here in the South than anywhere there's a chance of blizzards, tornadoes, or volcanic eruptions. Other than that though scenery was pretty much limited to trees and trees getting slowly strangled by kudzu. And then there was Charleston - huzzah!
So we drove from one end of Hilton Head Island to the other and it is attractive in a kind of rigidly controlled way. Most of the buildings look pretty much the same, the landscaping all looks pretty much the same, and the old folks who spend way too much time doddering down the middle of the road around the resorts look pretty much the same.
Mary convinced me we should go by and check out the Disney Vacation Club resort on Hilton Head that is called, I believe, Disney Vacation Club on Hilton Head Island. It's pretty easy to remember. We toured the property and it looks nice and pleasant and not as Disneyfied as many other Disney wholly owned and operated corporate assets. Architecturally, the resort reminds one of a beach house, if they were really big, and held several families each. It looks like just the place to hang if you want to play golf and the rest of the family wants to go to the beach. Golfing, shopping, going to the beach, golfing, and eating at far too many chain restaurants, I think pretty much defines the Hilton Head experience. If that's your thing, enjoy.
After leaving Hilton Head, the GPS receiver and I had a bit of a battle of wills over my desire to wander down the non-preprogrammed road less traveled. We reached a stalemate, which is usually the best I can hope for with a piece of consumer electronics. I also had a battle of wills with Mary over the voice module for the GPS which I lost (naturally), so I had to change the voice from Generic British Female Voice, which I had named Penelope, for the much more authoritative and head-masterish Generic British Male Voice which corrected my grammar and periodically told me to bend over for a paddling. It's not that I minded the corrections and the corporal punishment, I just liked it better from Penelope. Mary disagreed and Penelope was banished to be replaced by Master Reginald Fodderingate-Smythe.
We drove through Beaufort, South Carolina which was the cutest little town. We wanted to snatch it up and put it in our pocket and take it home. I'm guessing that any long term visit, like more than a couple or three hours would result in terminal boredom, but it's still a pretty little town to find oneself in, if one happens to find themselves driving up or down the Georgia-South Carolinian coast.
The rest of the trip to Charleston, for which we did not use the interstate because interstates are kind of boring, was kind of boring, but slower. We did pass what appeared to be approximately one-fifth of the last ten year's total output of prefabricated homes, which are much more popular here in the South than anywhere there's a chance of blizzards, tornadoes, or volcanic eruptions. Other than that though scenery was pretty much limited to trees and trees getting slowly strangled by kudzu. And then there was Charleston - huzzah!
