Tag Georgia

The end of my birthday

Angel Ackerman 4 Comments

The last few days became so busy, both emotionally and professionally, that I never even finished blogging about my perfectly awesome birthday.

(Gayle’s Portfolio)Art by Gayle Hendricks
(Click image for her portfolio)

That may have something to do with the bottle of Vouvray the teenager and her father selected for me to accompany a most amazing cheese and fruit platter with charcuterie that they provided for my birthday dinner.

The meal came courtesy of a trip to Wegmans and included a block of applewood smoked Gouda, dill ha art I, and intense Brie. The fruits were white grapes and some succulent watermelon. A fresh baguette. Some Italian meats, include prosciutto. (Which I love to say in my best Sicilian accent) and silly cupcakes.

And the morning after my birthday I breakfasted like a princess in chocolate dipped fruits and a cookie and a tea from Dunkin’.

And yesterday I made the birthday Spam by mom brought me. On Wonder Bread for the teenager. Me. Accordion was jealous. He offered me some recipes.

This might be why my Corona weight gain is up to 10 lbs.

The artwork featured above is by Gayle Hendricks.

My friend Gayle appears in this blog from time to time, for our silly adventures, long walks or random road trips. She is a fantastic graphic designer with a very clean style. She specializes in typography and can set books in both traditional and electronic formats. I connected her portfolio to the image above, which she made for me representing my flock. (She altered a stock image in Adobe illustrator.)

Please consider her if you need freelance graphic design and know we are available as a team. I handle the editorial and she handles the pretty stuff. And we’re efficient.

And we celebrated my 40th birthday at a Trampoline Park.

Sky Zone (Gayle’s blog—5 years ago!)

More on our silly adventures:

Niagara Falls

Honey Nut Cheerios

State Parks Weekend

Volkssport Trip to Maryland

Littleton, NC

South Carolina

Birds and beasts in Georgia (This was the day I became interested in birds)

Now today:

But back to more memories:

My first visit to Waffle House

The Juliette Gordon Low House (founder of Girl Scouts)

The teenager buys a bugle

Tybee Island

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My chronology is getting out of whack but we visited Tybee Island, the light house and then ventured toward North Carolina (with a stop at Carolina Cider Company for fun sodas, candy and food souvenirs. Hello?!? Sweet potato butter! Pecan syrup!)

We left Savannah via the pretty bridge. Time lapse of us driving over part of the bridge: https://youtu.be/EHNpEvdcxi4

For our visit to the aquarium see here: https://angelackerman.com/2018/06/23/university-of-georgia-marine-education-center-and-aquarium/

178 stairs and some cool souvenirs later we were on the road again…

University of Georgia Marine Education Center and Aquarium

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The girls asked to go to this small aquarium on the campus of the University of Georgia’s marine education center. It was small, but focused on the local habitat. It was beautifully maintained and featured a touch tank.

The grounds had several natural trails.

It was a lovely way to experience Georgia’s wetlands, but bring your big spray. The mosquitoes feasted on us.

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Silly videos from the aquarium:

time lapse of sea turtles:https://youtu.be/wEOAza9gJTA

Striped Burrfish: https://youtu.be/WNeshXxtoFQ

sea horses: https://youtu.be/xlnhigLT0aE

Spiny Lobster: https://youtu.be/u-YtlJDupRY

Octopus: https://youtu.be/lut1QpLBm8U

Lion fish: https://youtu.be/zQ81lW0uPJM

Turtles swimming: https://youtu.be/q2KKFWRviYg

Petting the horseshoe crabs: https://youtu.be/BwF12AwPlA8

Horseshoe crabs: https://youtu.be/OsaaeohWKBE

~ all materials shot with an iPhone X

Leopold Ice Cream And Soda Fountain, Savannah, Georgia

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I ate my way up and down the East Coast. I don’t have a bucket list of things to do, mine contains things to eat.

We were meandering through downtown Savannah and the morning was hot and I was hungry.

I’m always hungry.

In the vicinity of Savannah College of Art and Design, I noticed this ice cream shop and soda fountain.

Leopold’s.

It didn’t open until 11, and it was 10:45. People were lining up outside.

By the time we ate our ice cream, the line was out the door and every table was full.

All-you-can-eat Japanese and bubble tea

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While in Savannah, we took the girls for Japanese since they both love sushi. It was an all-you-could-eat restaurant, which meant every time you finished something you could order another dish.

My daughter ordered so much sushi and appetizers that she forgot to order an entree. And she tried to teach her companion to use chopsticks. She wasn’t a good teacher.

They had a large variety of bubble tea. Gayle got strawberry. I got melon. It was our 16-year-old’s first bubble tea. She didn’t like or dislike it.

Personally I love tapioca in every form.

Birthplace of Juliette Gordon Low, founder of Girl Scouts

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As a journalist, one of the first tricks I learned was to listen closely when people start to whisper.

This served me well at the birthplace of Juliette Gordon Low yesterday.

Juliette “Daisy” Gordon Low died childless and unmarried of breast cancer.

But what they don’t tell you is WHY she died alone and childless. That she was practically divorced.

I overheard the tour guide telling another couple… Well let me tell you the official story first. The family friendly version.

Juliette was a talented artist… she made sculptures and paintings and ceramics. Her parents didn’t approve of her suitor. Took them three years to believe he could take proper care of her.

She married, moved to England to be with her husband, and several years later her husband started having an affair. Eventually he filed for divorce.

But while the divorce was being arranged, he died. He had written Juliette out of his will in favor of his mistress.

She returned to the States with nothing. Lived in her parents’ house as her brothers helped her fight for her share of her husband’s estate. She ended up with her father-in-law’s house in Savannah, the Andrew Low house.

She died there. And founded Girl Scouts there.

The Little Motel That Could

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The Inn at Mulberry Grove turned out to be my little slice of heaven. Perhaps because they had good coffee. Perhaps because it tries so hard to be a fancy little motel.

Pros: Air conditioning was like a refrigerator. Bed and pillows were comfortable. Much better pillows than all our other accommodations. Best coffee ever.

So-so: had to ask for extra towels every day. The hot breakfast was a hot continental breakfast, so the non-carbohydrate breakfast options were minimal.

But my teen got to try sausage gravy and biscuits. That was a hit.

Con: the hotel has a very good location 15 minutes from historic downtown Savannah right off I-95. The motel sits on Rt 21 which is a thin major roadway and the main vein into Savannah. Rush hour traffic is heinous and the clerk says there are accidents every night. It took us 15 minutes to get onto Savannah but more than an hour to get back.

We had two main adventures at this motel. My teen found a feral kitten. And wanted to save it.

And my teen found an old pay washer and dryer. We were trapped at the motel because of the traffic so we went to the Pilot truck stop across the highway to forage for dinner and look for laundry soap.

We paid $10 for small bottles of laundry soap and fabric softener only to insert our money and find out we couldn’t get the washer to work.

This seems fitting for our adventures, not mine obviously: Devil Went Down to Georgia, washing machine cover

Savannah, we are here!

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Day 4

We arrived in Savannah about 4 pm last night and checked into The Inn at Mulberry Grove. The prettiest motel I’ve ever seen.

For less than $50/night, I finally got a decent cup of coffee.

But I digress…

Last night we went downtown and ended up getting New York pizza got dinner at Vinnie Van GoGos. Wonderful artsy pun. I had a local blonde beer: Tybee Isle Blonde.

And then we visited the River Street area and bought sundresses and met a man who made palm roses.

Road Trip Preparations

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My good friend Gayle and I love to have adventures, usually day trips or hikes or going to a trampoline park on my 40th birthday.

Gayle loves a good road trip.

Gayle is a lifelong Girl Scout.

Gayle’s great-niece, Frances, and my daughter, Eva, are in the same Girl Scout troop. Both girls have a birthday next week. Frances will be 16 (ack!) and my girl will be 14 (double ack!). Their girl scouting days are coming to a close and Gayle wanted to take them to see the birthplace of Girl Scout founder, Juliette Gordon Low, in Savannah, Georgia.

We leave on Sunday.