The Flora and Fauna

It was a bit earie to know that any body of water we passed

probably had a good share of gators in it. I was pretty scared

shootin images of these critters, thank goodness for my

70-200mm.

Loved spotting turtles sunning themselves on the waterside.

This blue heron was stunning. I wanted to watch if for hours.

Hilton Head and Beaufort

Moving along the coast we stopped off at Hilton head for lunch at a marina club, and then stayed the night at a beautiful beachfront resort. It was a serene beach to relax the afternoon away.

On our way to Charlston we stopped off that the very charming town of Beaufort, we took a carriage ride through town viewing the mansions and learning the history. This place is classic, I loved it.

Goldendoodles are amazing.

A hammock on my wraparound porch and a front fence draped on jasmine, yes please.

Our afternoon snack, yes we had already been eating a ton, but if you are already wet, might as well go swimming right? I loved that reece let me choose the flavors, cookies 'n cream, praline and carmel, and vanilla bean.... my favorites. He also let me eat all the cherries.... he's golden.

More Savannah

Just a few more photos from our walks through the town.

I loved the houses and their porches and woodwork,

It was so so hot, and humid. I just wanted to plop down in

one of those rocking chairs, sip ice cold lemonade, with a fan

in hand, and nothing else to do.

But no, we had to keep a schedule.

Im a sucker for the black cats, and luckily I attract them.

This was a sweet lil guy, who was probably hotter than I.

Love this house.

We spent an afternoon picking out Audubon prints from this lovely

couple's shop. They had the most charming southern accents,

impeccable taste, and two beautiful dogs. After all the time

it took us to pick out our prints they invited us up to see their

town house which was above the shop. It was gorgeous.

Full of antiques, art, clean, organized, classic.

Below is a picture of their living room, but I wish I

photographed the porch covered in jasmine.

The man and one of his dogs played a small part in the

movie "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil".

These are the prints that I picked out. After I came home, I designed the framing

and matting and my parents helped me get them framed.

Here they are hanging on my striped bedroom wall.

I loved Savannah and would love to come back again soon.

Next Stop Savannah, Georgia

After an early rise we toured the rest of the Mansions and historic buildings on Jekyll Island and then headed up the coast to Savannah Georgia.

Savannah was so charming. Beautiful green squares like this one (Madison Square ;)) could be seen on every block, canopies of trees dripping with moss over every street, beautifully kept walk-up town houses, wrought iron porches, and blossoms adorning the bushes and trees.

I made it a goal to capture all the "famous southern flowers".....

Azealas

Jasmine and Gardenias

& Magnolias

Our first full day in the town we visited the house of Juliette Gordon Low (the woman who founded the Girl Scouts) Having never been a Girl Scout I didnt know who this amazing woman was but I soon learned. She was extremely talented in the arts. Here talent started as many interests that she pursued and practiced and then eventually she used to found the largest educational organization for girls in the world which has now influenced more than 50 million girls. Her home was full of beauty and many of them her own creations. My favorites were a dresser of drawers that she felt looked too plain so she burned beautiful curling designs into the front of every drawer (looked very professional I was impressed), and the magic photographs on the wall where she had cut up a photograph in strips and glued the strips on their side as a grid on top of another photograph so you could see one picture when directly facing the frame and then another image when viewing the framed image from an extreme angle. Very inventive. I could totally relate to her endeavors and love of learning. I could only dream to be as influential has this lovely woman became.

Then on to something for the men in our group, the maritime museum, where hundreds of different kinds of ship models could be viewed.

The model of the Titanic as it was sinking.

I loved the figures that were once on the bows of ships.

Kate and I also fell in love with these lovelies. They are valentines created by sailors while they were away from their Sweethearts. The longer the time away the more intricate the patterns. They were so beautiful, and were made more so after knowing their purpose for creation.

During our free time Kate, Dad, Reece and I walked and walked. Explored and photographed the town. It was hard to capture the history and the charm that surrounded you all around, but I did my best.

Nothing more perfect than hearing Jazz played in the squares.

We stopped for a treat at the Famous Leopold's ice cream parlor. Even though we knew we needed to save room for the delicious delicious dinner we knew was in store for us, we couldnt help ourselves.

We toured the Davenport house in the evening (I loved the spiral staircase and the fan windows but was not a fan of many of the wall papers chosen for some of the rooms when their restoration was done. I know that faux stone and marble wall papers where fashionable during the original time of the house but the papers chosen were a little too graphic looking and not as realistic looking). The outside of the house was a a dream though. My dream house is red brick white trim and black shutters.

A Madeira Wine tasting was held in the gardens of the Davenport House. We couldnt partake and sipped the lemonade and enjoyed the assortments of sweet cakes though. They did hand out a Georgian eara graph gaging the physical and moral degradation thats associated with the stronger the drink consumed. (kind of validated our standards and made for a good laugh)

Then off to a dinner in an adorable restaurant where we enjoyed some more of that amazing Southern cooking.