Day 8

 Day 8

We resumed our travels south today with our ultimate goal Georgia’s Skidaway State Park Campground which is only 15 miles south of Savannah.  Mila put together a wonderful breakfast of frittata and oatmeal, and even a tiramisu birthday cake that she baked for Joni.  Borrowing a phrase from the old Topper TV show, Mila is truly the “hostess with the mostess”.    

Mila was not certain how old Joni was, so the second digit is a question mark.  For the record Joni turned 75.

Chef Mila

We were on the road by 9:30 AM, heading for Charleston where we planned to have lunch at the “Swig and Swine”, a barbecue restaurant that makes the absolute best corn pudding.  We arrived there around 1 pm, fortunately the restaurant wasn’t too crowded so we got a table immediately.  Our meal was as good as we remembered.  

Pulled pork, sausage, corn pudding, and hash & rice.

A mango spritzer!

After lunch we decided to take a driving tour of old Charleston; it’s such a beautiful city with incredible architecture.  We’ve been there before but I never get tired of seeing all those gorgeous homes.  Charleston has become a very common locale for bachelorette parties,  so we saw many groups of 20 something women, all dressed alike, roaming the streets and riding in the horse drawn carriages.  Since it was Saturday we also saw a number of wedding parties too.  Charleston is certainly a happening place!

Returning to the open road, our next stop was Savannah, where we arrived around 5 pm.  We had dinner reservations for 7 PM, but we were so stuffed from Mila’s breakfast and the “Swig and Swine”  barbecue that Joni decided to opt for a birthday dinner at Leopold's Ice Cream parlor where we both had hot fudge sundaes.  Leopold’s is a popular institution in Charleston; so the line was long extending out the door and down the street, but it moved fast.  Their staff is very well trained.

Leaving Leopold’s around 6 pm, we drove further south to Skidaway Island State Park Campground.  Of all the campground we’ve visited, this easily makes our top 5.  The entrance is a beautiful tunnel of trees covered in Spanish moss.  

There was just enough daylight to get our van set up and settle in to an evening with the Red Sox, but apparently it’s raining in Boston and the game was canceled.