After landing at Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport, I went straight to the Budget Fastbreak area to get our massive Toyota 4Runner SUV. It was a lot of room for the three of us on the trip!
My buddies and I drove down to Savannah the next day to start our Southern road trip. Savannah has lots of cool historic homes with gas lamps.
The pre Civil War buildings in Savannah were really cool.
I can never get enough of old gas lamp buildings.
Forsythe Park had a cool fountain in Savannah.
My amigos and me are posing by the Confederate Monument at Forsythe Park in Savannah here.
Savannah had so much history! President Jefferson Davis of the Confederacy visited Savannah in the 1880s.
River Street in Savannah is an old brick road with historic buildings.
We decided to take a nice cruise on the old paddleboat on the Savannah River.
The historic buildings along River Street where really cool to check out! I was imagining what life was like back during the colonial era.
The paddlewheeler is going underneath the bridge connecting Georgia and South Carolina here.
I had to get a peach daiquiri to keep cool from that Savannah humidity!
This old Confederate fort was a cool site on our cruise.
The boat was pretty big with four levels, and there was plenty of indoor and outdoor seating.
I sat outside for sometime to take in the views, but I had to cool off in the air conditioning inside also.
A lot of people were cooling off by getting a drink at the bar! The lines were pretty crazy when I got my first drink!
We toured an old candy shop on River Street where we saw how they made their sweet treats.
This candy shop was known for pralines! I had to get a bag to bring home!
The old cobbletstone streets of Savannah were neat!
We went to Lady & Sons, which is Paula Deen's signature restaurant in Savannah for dinner!
Paula and I go way back. LOL. All the way to last year, when Joy and I ate at Paula Deen's Country Kitchen in Pigeon Forge, TN.
I loved how masks were not worn in pretty much any place in the south! The meals were served family style. We ordered fried chicken, meatloaf, and chicken and dumplings along with four sides!
Paula's ooey goey butter cake is amazing!
The view from our dinner table was cool. Here is a horse drawn carriage outside on the street.
After dinner, we waited in line for almost 45 minutes to get ice cream at the famous Leopold's Ice Cream Shop. It was worth it! This place is really famous!
I got the toasted coconut flavor ice cream.
That is an actual old fashioned jukebox with vinyl records. I only heard of one of the classic songs. LOL.
The guys are getting ready to party in Savannah's hot night scene!
We went to a roof top bar at a British themed pub called Churchill's.
I enjoyed a local whiskey.
Savannah was very fun at night!
The night scene was pretty cool in Savannah with lots of cute girls partying the night away!
We went to a roof top club called Tree House later that night.
Tree House was packed!
The next day, we drove to Hilton Head, SC. For lunch, we tried a seafood place called Fish.
The seafood was super fresh! I loved these oysters from Virginia.
Piggly Wiggly is a Southern grocery chain.
After being greeted by Beach Ambassadors at Coligny Beach's parking lot with complimentary cold water and hand sanitizer, we headed into the amazing public beach.
This was the cleanest and nicest public beach park that I have seen in the continental US.
My buddy and I are ready to go enjoy the nice weather at the beach.
The beach butler service set up a set of two chairs and umbrella for rent on the beach early that day. It was super nice to have the shade.
This was my view as I enjoyed listening to country music on the well maintained beach.
After changing into my rash guard, we headed out to explore the beach.
We saw lots of jellyfish on the beach.
The beach was super clean, and the people were very nice and not ghetto like the crowds in California.
The Atlantic beaches are much nicer than the colder Pacific beaches!
The beach houses on Hilton Head Island were really nice!
I braved going into the water. The water temperature was around 77'F.
I had a fun time in the water.
The waves were killer man!
I took my waterproof 4K camera into the water with me.
I am enjoying the swinging bench at Coligny Beach Park. We were so amazed at how well maintained Hilton Head was!
We checked out the Harbour Town Light House later that evening. The Southern part of the island was privately owned so we had to buy a pass to drive into that area.
We climbed the stairs up to the top of the lighthouse.
The views of the harbor and the famous golf course were great from the light house.
We checked out the pier afterwards.
We saw Atlantic dolphins from the pier!
After dinner at a nice Japanese restaurant, we got Blue Bell at the local Kroger on Hilton Head Island for dessert. This amazing ice cream from Texas is not available in the People's Republic of California. Boo!
The next day, we drove back to Atlanta through a lot of rural Georgia.
We found an award winning local BBQ place on the drive back.
The food and service was great at this BBQ place. I love Southern accents, and the cashier was so polite saying "yes sir" to all my questions. The banana pudding was awesome, and I do not even like bananas!
I liked rural Georgia. The people in these rural counties probably voted for the man I voted for 2020, Donald J. Trump!
We went to World of Coca Cola once we got into Atlanta.
The Coca Cola Museum had a lot of history of how the world famous recipe was invented and distributed via the bottling groups.
The entrance to the tour displayed these Coke bottles from all over the world which were part of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.
We saw lots of vintage signs and other artifacts on the tour.
This porcelain syrup jug here dispenses the Coke syrup which was then mixed with soda water to make Coca Cola in the old days. It costs five cents for a glass, and it was one cent per ice cube.
This is a replica of an old soda fountain.
This is a nice display of all the brands Coca Cola owns around the world. Coca Cola has bought many local soda brands like Thums Up in India and Inca Cola in Peru!
We saw the bottling process as well. Coca Cola sells the syrup to independent bottling groups which then add soda water to it to make the soda without knowing the original recipe.
We got to try the different Coca Cola brands from around the world. I liked that Sparletta soda from Zimbabwe the most. I had Inca Cola before.
We checked out Centennial Park after the World of Coca Cola.
Centennial Olympic Park was built for the 1996 Olympic Games. The CNN Center is the background. BOO! I hate CNN!
fs
Here is me by a sculpture at the Centennial Park.
The Olympic Rings are displayed at the entrance to Centennial Park.
The College Football Hall of Fame is in Atlanta also.
I treated the guys to nitrogen ice cream in downtown Atlanta as we tried to dodge a thundershower.
This is Mercedes-Benz where the Atlanta Falcons play.
We toured the MLK National Historic Park the next day. This is the church where Dr. Martin Luther King was a preacher.
This flame burns by the grave of Dr. MLK.
This is the house where Dr. King was raised. Originally a white neighborhood, middle class blacks moved into this area in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
The neighborhood around Dr. King's home is a historic area.
I liked this cool old Kodak sign when we were heading from the MLK Center.
We wanted to try Bojangles, a Southern chicken and biscuits place for lunch.
I do not like fried foods usually, but I figured that I had to try the fried chicken and biscuits here.
Before flying home, I was able to enjoy an adult beverage and snacks at the Club @ ATL since I have priveleges there.
Early in 2021, a few
of my buddies wanted to do a Southern road trip in June to explore a
lot of popular destinations like the Smokey Mountains, Nashville,
Atlanta, and Atlantic beaches. Since I already had been to some
of those destinations, I told them that I can fly in towards the end of
their trip and join them for Atlanta and the beach towns. I
suggested we go to Savannah and Hilton Head Island also. Since I
just started my new position as a Medical Specialist at the biotech
company, I did not have as much PTO as I had working for the European
pharmaceutical company, but I was able to work the trip into the PTO I
had accured since the end of March.
I flew into Atlanta on a Friday after coming back from my Memorial Day trip to Colorado with my wife. After landing in Atlanta, I picked up our rental car at the Budget Fastbreak area. They upgraded us to a large Toyota 4Runner SUV. It was nice to have all that extra space for our road trip even though we only had three of us. There was not much to do that first night since I got in late, but we had dinner at Ruby Tuesdays before checking into our hotel. Since I am a HHonors Diamond member, I booked all of our hotels through the Hilton app and was able to find rooms with three beds so we could all be in one large room or suite. Ruby Tuesdays had their self serve salad bar back! While I was getting my salad, I was talking to a young lady from Gainesville, Florida, and she was so happy to be done with the Covid bull shit also. I love how friendly Southern people are in general!
The next morning, we had a full hot breakfast at the Homewood Suites by Atlanta Airport. Masking was not required anywhere we went in Atlanta so far. Governor Kemp was doing a great job at making sure the local communities did not impose any bull shit mask ordinances. I added one of my friends as the second driver so I did not have to drive the whole trip. The nice thing with a 4Runner is that it had adaptive cruise control. As we drove down to Savannah, we kept looking at the county limit signs since Georgia was one of the contested states during the 2020 election, and we were trying to guess if it was one of the "problem" counties which "voted" for Biden. I really do think President Trump won the election, but there was a big conspiracy including the whole Covid bull shit!
En route to Savannah, we stopped for some local BBQ and found a liquor store to get a bottle of Elijah Craig to have in the hotel rooms with us. The roads and infrastructure in Georgia were really good, but that is no surprise. Pretty much all the states have better roads than the pathetic state of Claifornia where we pay so much in taxes yet getting nothing in return.
Once we arrived in Savannah, we wanted to check out Forsythe Park to see the Confederate Monument. Forsythe Park was beautiful with all the Southern willow trees and a large fountain. We were able to find street parking by a row of historic homes with cool gas lamps too. Although Savannah was humid, the walk around town was pleasant since there was so much history to learn about. The Confederate Monument was dedicated to an old Confederate General. We can not ignore our past or erase history. Regardless of one's feelings on the civil war, at the end of the day, both sides were Americans, and we need to respect all American's points of view whether we agree with them or not.
Walking around the area, we saw a monument dedicated to a Polish national as well who helped us during the Revolutionary War. Moreover, we saw a house where President Jefferson Davis of the Confederacy visited in the 1880s. Savannah should be a must see for any American who loves history and wants to learn about the colonial era and the Civil War times also.
Our next stop was River Street which is right by the Savannah River. We booked a trip on the paddlewheeler, George Queen. Apparently, this boat was "blown up" on a recent TV show too, but I forgot which one. The large paddleboat took us up and down Savannah River. The long lines for the bar were not cool, but the tour was nice. I had to get a peach daiquiri to stay cool as I took in the views of the river. We even saw an old Confederate fort along the river which had a moat also!
After getting back to shore, we checked out a local candy shop which made pralines. They were amazing! I ended up getting a bag of pralines for Joy, my in-laws, and my parents too. We saw how they made candy there too.
For dinner, we enjoyed the family style Southern comfort foods at The Lady & Sons, which was Paula Deen's signature restaurant in Savannah! The menu was similiar to Paula Deen's Country Kitchen where Joy and I dined last year in Pigeon Forge, but I think the quality of the food was better here. We ordered fried chicken, meatloaf, and chicken and dumplings as our main dishes. For sides, we got candied yams, creamed corn, and potatoes. All of the items are unlimited, and dessert was included too! I got the ooey gooey butter cake which I had last year too! It is amazing! We loved the view of the street from our table too. There was a pedi-bar going around with a bachelorette party. We also saw a horse drawn carriage.
Someone on Facebook told me to check out Leopald's Ice Cream shop. When we tried to go there earlier, the line was long so we thought we would wait until after dinner. Well, the line was even longer! I waited for about 45 minutes to get my ice cream, but it was worth it. The toasted coconut ice cream was delicious! Leopald's is super famous!
The Savannah night life was amazing! There were so many hot Southern belles walking around. The city is very safe also, and there were not homeless folk around. We ended up going to a roof top bar at Churchill's to start out the evening. Later that night, we checked out some additional bars and went to a rooftop club called Tree House. The clubs and bars were packed! Georgia had no Covid protocols anymore. We did not have to mask anywhere!
The next day, we headed to Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. The border was really close, and we had about a thirty minute drive to the island. After we got on the island, we enjoyed lunch at this seafood place called Fish. Hilton Head was very well planned and clean. The island had lots of high end establishments.
We went over to Coligny Beach after lunch. Two beach ambassadors greeted us with complimentary cold bottled water and hand sanitizer before we entered the beach. I was so impressed with Coligny Beach! The park was super clean! The restrooms did not have a musty urine smell. Furthemore, they had nice adirondack chairs and swinging benches. Moreover, there had changing stations too. I was so blown away and how nice the facilities were at this public beach! California public beaches are full of either hippies or ghetto people who do not keep the areas clean. The East Coast people tend to be of a higher quality than the trash we have in liberal California.
Once we got to the beach, we found a beach butler who showed us to our umbrella and chairs. The beach butlers sets up beach umbrellas and chairs daily for beachgoers for a small fee. It was so worth it! After settling into our area, we walked around the beach. The beach butler told us not to worry about people taking our stuff. I left my wallet and phone even in my bag, and no one bothered them. We saw lots of jelly fish too as we walked around the beach.
After a while, I braved the water, but I was pleasantly surprised! The water was warm! California beaches have super cold water! The water here was around 77'F. We all had fun in the surf, and I took my waterproof 4K camera with me so I was able to capture video and take pictures in the surf! There were lots of eye candy too on the beach. LOL.
After our fun day at the beach, we checked into our Hilton Garden Inn before heading out to the southern part of the island. The Southern part of the island is privately owned so we had to buy a day pass to drive in to Harbour Town. Harbour Town had a nice light house and marina to check out. We even saw Atlantic dolphins which live in the area where the Savannah River meets the Atlantic.
The next day, we headed back to Atlanta via the same highway that took us through rural Georgia. We found a cool award winning local BBQ place for lunch. I was so impressed at how polite the Southern teenagers are still. Our cashier said "yes sir" to any question I had for her. Southern parents raise their kids with family values so I was happy to see that these people will grow up to be solid Americans who will vote Republican and make sure the socialists never win in our nation!
Once we got back to Atlanta, we checked out the World of Coca Cola museum. After learning about how Coca Cola was invented, we got to try different sodas from around the world that Coca Cola owns including one from Zimbabwe which was pretty good. The vault which houses the original secret recipe fo Coca Cola was located at this place also.
We checked out the Centennial Olympic Park afterwards, and as the skies began to pour down rain, we found a local nitrogen ice cream shop to chill at while the rain storm finished. We also checked out Mercedes Benz Stadium where the Atlanta Falcons play. That night, we stayed in Midtown Atlanta at a Home2Suites. There was a guy with a Rolls Royce staying there too so I wanted to get a sneak preview of the car since I hired one for Joy's birthday the following weekend. We enjoyed dinner at a cajun seafood chain called Pappadoux! The food was amazing!
The next day, we checked out the civil rights movement historic area where MLK preached at a Baptist Church. Moreover, we saw the house he grew up in. This neighborhood was a white neighborhood until the late 1800s when middle class blacks moved in to the homes. Dr. King and his wife are laid to rest in this area too.
Afterwards, we saw the Georgia State Capitol and Underground Atlanta. I had to fly home later that day, but I was able to chill in the Club @ ATL before my flight home. Another fun guy's trip was in the books now!
I flew into Atlanta on a Friday after coming back from my Memorial Day trip to Colorado with my wife. After landing in Atlanta, I picked up our rental car at the Budget Fastbreak area. They upgraded us to a large Toyota 4Runner SUV. It was nice to have all that extra space for our road trip even though we only had three of us. There was not much to do that first night since I got in late, but we had dinner at Ruby Tuesdays before checking into our hotel. Since I am a HHonors Diamond member, I booked all of our hotels through the Hilton app and was able to find rooms with three beds so we could all be in one large room or suite. Ruby Tuesdays had their self serve salad bar back! While I was getting my salad, I was talking to a young lady from Gainesville, Florida, and she was so happy to be done with the Covid bull shit also. I love how friendly Southern people are in general!
The next morning, we had a full hot breakfast at the Homewood Suites by Atlanta Airport. Masking was not required anywhere we went in Atlanta so far. Governor Kemp was doing a great job at making sure the local communities did not impose any bull shit mask ordinances. I added one of my friends as the second driver so I did not have to drive the whole trip. The nice thing with a 4Runner is that it had adaptive cruise control. As we drove down to Savannah, we kept looking at the county limit signs since Georgia was one of the contested states during the 2020 election, and we were trying to guess if it was one of the "problem" counties which "voted" for Biden. I really do think President Trump won the election, but there was a big conspiracy including the whole Covid bull shit!
En route to Savannah, we stopped for some local BBQ and found a liquor store to get a bottle of Elijah Craig to have in the hotel rooms with us. The roads and infrastructure in Georgia were really good, but that is no surprise. Pretty much all the states have better roads than the pathetic state of Claifornia where we pay so much in taxes yet getting nothing in return.
Once we arrived in Savannah, we wanted to check out Forsythe Park to see the Confederate Monument. Forsythe Park was beautiful with all the Southern willow trees and a large fountain. We were able to find street parking by a row of historic homes with cool gas lamps too. Although Savannah was humid, the walk around town was pleasant since there was so much history to learn about. The Confederate Monument was dedicated to an old Confederate General. We can not ignore our past or erase history. Regardless of one's feelings on the civil war, at the end of the day, both sides were Americans, and we need to respect all American's points of view whether we agree with them or not.
Walking around the area, we saw a monument dedicated to a Polish national as well who helped us during the Revolutionary War. Moreover, we saw a house where President Jefferson Davis of the Confederacy visited in the 1880s. Savannah should be a must see for any American who loves history and wants to learn about the colonial era and the Civil War times also.
Our next stop was River Street which is right by the Savannah River. We booked a trip on the paddlewheeler, George Queen. Apparently, this boat was "blown up" on a recent TV show too, but I forgot which one. The large paddleboat took us up and down Savannah River. The long lines for the bar were not cool, but the tour was nice. I had to get a peach daiquiri to stay cool as I took in the views of the river. We even saw an old Confederate fort along the river which had a moat also!
After getting back to shore, we checked out a local candy shop which made pralines. They were amazing! I ended up getting a bag of pralines for Joy, my in-laws, and my parents too. We saw how they made candy there too.
For dinner, we enjoyed the family style Southern comfort foods at The Lady & Sons, which was Paula Deen's signature restaurant in Savannah! The menu was similiar to Paula Deen's Country Kitchen where Joy and I dined last year in Pigeon Forge, but I think the quality of the food was better here. We ordered fried chicken, meatloaf, and chicken and dumplings as our main dishes. For sides, we got candied yams, creamed corn, and potatoes. All of the items are unlimited, and dessert was included too! I got the ooey gooey butter cake which I had last year too! It is amazing! We loved the view of the street from our table too. There was a pedi-bar going around with a bachelorette party. We also saw a horse drawn carriage.
Someone on Facebook told me to check out Leopald's Ice Cream shop. When we tried to go there earlier, the line was long so we thought we would wait until after dinner. Well, the line was even longer! I waited for about 45 minutes to get my ice cream, but it was worth it. The toasted coconut ice cream was delicious! Leopald's is super famous!
The Savannah night life was amazing! There were so many hot Southern belles walking around. The city is very safe also, and there were not homeless folk around. We ended up going to a roof top bar at Churchill's to start out the evening. Later that night, we checked out some additional bars and went to a rooftop club called Tree House. The clubs and bars were packed! Georgia had no Covid protocols anymore. We did not have to mask anywhere!
The next day, we headed to Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. The border was really close, and we had about a thirty minute drive to the island. After we got on the island, we enjoyed lunch at this seafood place called Fish. Hilton Head was very well planned and clean. The island had lots of high end establishments.
We went over to Coligny Beach after lunch. Two beach ambassadors greeted us with complimentary cold bottled water and hand sanitizer before we entered the beach. I was so impressed with Coligny Beach! The park was super clean! The restrooms did not have a musty urine smell. Furthemore, they had nice adirondack chairs and swinging benches. Moreover, there had changing stations too. I was so blown away and how nice the facilities were at this public beach! California public beaches are full of either hippies or ghetto people who do not keep the areas clean. The East Coast people tend to be of a higher quality than the trash we have in liberal California.
Once we got to the beach, we found a beach butler who showed us to our umbrella and chairs. The beach butlers sets up beach umbrellas and chairs daily for beachgoers for a small fee. It was so worth it! After settling into our area, we walked around the beach. The beach butler told us not to worry about people taking our stuff. I left my wallet and phone even in my bag, and no one bothered them. We saw lots of jelly fish too as we walked around the beach.
After a while, I braved the water, but I was pleasantly surprised! The water was warm! California beaches have super cold water! The water here was around 77'F. We all had fun in the surf, and I took my waterproof 4K camera with me so I was able to capture video and take pictures in the surf! There were lots of eye candy too on the beach. LOL.
After our fun day at the beach, we checked into our Hilton Garden Inn before heading out to the southern part of the island. The Southern part of the island is privately owned so we had to buy a day pass to drive in to Harbour Town. Harbour Town had a nice light house and marina to check out. We even saw Atlantic dolphins which live in the area where the Savannah River meets the Atlantic.
The next day, we headed back to Atlanta via the same highway that took us through rural Georgia. We found a cool award winning local BBQ place for lunch. I was so impressed at how polite the Southern teenagers are still. Our cashier said "yes sir" to any question I had for her. Southern parents raise their kids with family values so I was happy to see that these people will grow up to be solid Americans who will vote Republican and make sure the socialists never win in our nation!
Once we got back to Atlanta, we checked out the World of Coca Cola museum. After learning about how Coca Cola was invented, we got to try different sodas from around the world that Coca Cola owns including one from Zimbabwe which was pretty good. The vault which houses the original secret recipe fo Coca Cola was located at this place also.
We checked out the Centennial Olympic Park afterwards, and as the skies began to pour down rain, we found a local nitrogen ice cream shop to chill at while the rain storm finished. We also checked out Mercedes Benz Stadium where the Atlanta Falcons play. That night, we stayed in Midtown Atlanta at a Home2Suites. There was a guy with a Rolls Royce staying there too so I wanted to get a sneak preview of the car since I hired one for Joy's birthday the following weekend. We enjoyed dinner at a cajun seafood chain called Pappadoux! The food was amazing!
The next day, we checked out the civil rights movement historic area where MLK preached at a Baptist Church. Moreover, we saw the house he grew up in. This neighborhood was a white neighborhood until the late 1800s when middle class blacks moved in to the homes. Dr. King and his wife are laid to rest in this area too.
Afterwards, we saw the Georgia State Capitol and Underground Atlanta. I had to fly home later that day, but I was able to chill in the Club @ ATL before my flight home. Another fun guy's trip was in the books now!