Tyminski - Southern Gothic

A couple of months ago I discovered Tyminski (Dan) and his album Southern Gothic. His songs are about all the dark, damp, ghostly, freakish things I love from the south.  The whole album is fantastic.  I'd love to catch him in concert in the future.

I have had the title song from the album, Southern Gothic, on repeat for months.  If you haven't heard it, I suggest you check it out.  The music video is also perfect full of eerie images and scenery.  I sure do love me some spanish moss and darkness...

Savannah, Georgia Mother Daughter Weekend

For my mom's 60th birthday this year my sister and I surprised her with a mother daughter weekend in Savannah, Georgia.  She has always wanted to visit and I happen to love the town as it is at the heart of the south.  To inform her of her upcoming trip, I faked a letter from Paula Deen inviting her to visit her hometown.  The letter also informed her that she had reservations to eat at her restaurant, Lady & Son's on her actual birthday.

We flew into Atlanta and had about a 4 hour drive into Savannah.  Upon arriving, we decided to check out the the shopping areas while we waited for time to check in.  Public parking garages are pretty easy to find although the streets can be pretty congested with traffic at times.  Most people staying near River Street hotels find it easiest to park their car at the hotel and walk or taking public transportation (trolleys) everywhere.

We stayed at Hotel Indigo which was right next to City Market, central to everything.  Parking was only via valet but as I mentioned, everything was within walking distance... if you could stand the heat and humidity!  Our room was nice and the hotel was very pretty. The customer service wasn't so great though - we were originally given a key to a room that had not been cleaned yet that day ...

We ate at some nice places --

Pie Society - A British Bakery that had authentic Pastys and Sausage Rolls.  So good we actually ate there twice!

Tequila's Town - Mexican restaurant with some different dishes than I typically see on the menu at other Mexican places. It was good, not excellent, but good.

Gryphon Tea Room - ran by SCAD students was my absolute favorite place we ate.  The food was excellent as was the tea but the atmosphere was awesome.  Dining tables were set up in a library-like setting, with cases and shelves of books and antique furniture.  I had the Vanilla Lavendar Tea Latte and it was sooo good... even if it was hot tea in Savannah...

Lady & Son's  - Paula Deen's restaurant that serves southern home cookin.  This was my second visit and it didn't disappoint.  I personally liked the hoecakes and biscuits the best but I'm also not normally able to eat carbs so I took full advantage.  The sweet potatoes were really good and the fried chicken was perfect.

Leopold's Ice Cream - My sister waited in the hour long line to get some of this.  I only tasted a bite but it was really creamy and I can see why it was famous.

Wet Willies - technically a daquiri bar but also served food.  We only enjoyed the drinks but they were good... a little to sweet for me so I ended up not finishing my Monkey Shine & Pina Colada mix.

Paula Deen's Creek House - This one has a funny story.  By some dumb luck we stumbled onto this place on our way to Tybee Island on it's grand opening day.  We were seated immediately and joked it would be so funny if she was actually there for her grand opening and given the fact that we faked a letter from her to mom.  Guess what?  She was there!  So was most of her family.  And we got pics with her and my mom fan-girled out.  Paula was so sweet and wished my mom happy birthday.  It couldn't have worked out any better than if we would have planned it!  The food was excellent and I loved the pimento cheese appetizer... I have this thing for pimento cheese.

A Lowcountry Backyard - We found this place as we were pulling into Hilton Head, SC.  We made a day trip of it and drove 45 min north to check it out.  This place was #2 on my list but overall the best food that we ate.  Gryphon won for overall experience but this place had a grilled pimento cheese sandwich with bacon on flatbread... and it doesn't get much better than this.

You might be surprised that neither of the Paula Deen restaurants were my favorite... to be honest it is just reflective of how good the eats were on this trip.  Everything was so so good.

We actually did do more than just eat... if you can believe that.

We visited Wormsloe Historic Site which was so beautiful.  It would have been nice to be able to walk around but it was hot and I knew there were probably all kinds of snakes around... I saw a snake book a la bird seeker book and thought to myself, no way, no how.

We visited Bonaventure Cemetary.  I love this place. I could stay there all day... so beautiful and creepy all at the same time.  The epitome of southern gothic.

We did the Ghost and Gravestones trolley tour. I've done a different ghost tour on a prior visit and I thought this one was a bit hokey but I still had a good time.

We drove out to Tybee Island.  Some people just use golf carts to get around here.  I'd love to spend more time on this island, seems very laid back.

We did plenty of shopping.  Some our favorite places were: Savannah's Candy Kitchen... I ate a lot of pralines...The Spice & Tea Exchange, The Paris Market... my favorite shop in Savannah, Byrd's Famous Cookies and  Savannah Bee Company... all things made of honey.


On our way back to Atlanta we stopped at a little french restaurant with a bakery and gift shop attached.  I can't find the name of it now for the life of me but I really enjoyed the Croque Monsieur I had there as well.

Literary Tour Guide to the United States Books - THe SOUTH! NORTHEAST! MIDWEST!

This weekend my husband and I went out and hit up some garage sales.  It was a nice Saturday for getting out and we hadn't been to a  garage sale in a long time.  We hit up about 10 different sales and found a few good deals.  While visiting one sale that I believe belonged to a former English teacher, I came across three books that I was obviously meant to find.  I had never heard of the "A Literary Tour Guide to the United States" books before. They are a part of Americans Discover America Series. There were three of them - The Northeast, The West and Midwest, and South(!) and Southwest.  I was surprised to see Target stickers from long ago still on the books. The books are in excellent shape considering the age. 

I had to check out my own state of Kansas in the West and Midwest volume (by Rita Stein) to see what was highlighted.  It is a sad little chapter that focuses mostly on William Allen White but makes mention of Langston Hughes growing up in Kansas for part of his life. 

I checked out the South and Southwest volume  (by Rita Stein) most extensively as my southern literature, southern gothic in particular, is my absolute favorite genre.  There was mention of many of my favorites including William Faulkner, Eurdora Welty, and Flannery O'Connor. Flannery O'Connor is an absolute favorite and I have visited one of her homes in Savannah Georgia which has now been made into a museum.

The Northeast volume (by Emilie C. Harting) covers many places that my husband and I toured when we did our Literary New England vacation a few years back.  Walden Pond (Thoreau), Wayside (Nathaniel Hawthorne's home), Old Manse (Ralph Waldo Emerson & Hawthorne lived there), Louisa May Alcott's house (now also a museum) and the resting place of many literary greats all are in Concord, MA.  If you love that kind of thing, it is a truly memorable experience. 

I can't wait to dig into these further and plot our next vacation spots!

True Blood: An Addiction

There aren't many shows that I get really excited for these days.  And I don't know that I've been been so into a show that I'd consider going to a Con just to meet some of the actors, writers, etc. until now.  I was late to the game with True Blood and started watching the show in 2011 via DVD.  A friend had recommended the show to me and even mentioned that there was a series of books written by which the show was based.  I made a mental note and went on watching back episodes of Lost, Super Natural, and Veronica Mars.  Then came the day when I needed a new show to watch.... so I thought, why not? 

I had no idea that the show was a southern gothic tale of vampires, witches, and other supernatural creatures.  Imagine my suprise when viewing the intro with its catchy tune by Jace Everett and realizing what kind of story was beig told.  I was immediately hooked.  Fast forward to now.  I'm caught up.  I finished Season 4 today and I want MORE!  Unfortunately, I've got a long wait ahead of me.  We don't have cable which means I'll be waiting for the DVDs once again...sigh.  I guess in the mean time, I'll just have work my way through all 4 seasons again.

I did try reading the Sookie Stackhouse books written by Charlaine Harris but just didn't get into them like I thought I would.  Maybe it's time to try them again to help tide me over.