American Cruise Lines - Day 11 - Savannah, GA (Part 2)

Once back on the ship, I reunited with Dad to join a table in the dining salon for lunch. Dad was in no hurry since he had the afternoon tour planned but I was itching to get back out there and start riding the trolley to explore on my own. I learned that Dad had used part of his morning alone to wander up the road to the nearest candy store, River Street Sweets, and tend to his need to get small bills. Such an effort that he had to reward himself with 2 mega sized tootsie rolls and 3 packs of Chuckles while he was there.

As is the case on any cruise line with shared tables, they will try and keep everyone on the same food course. It can seem tedious and a little uncomfortable when you're sitting there watching others eat because you chose not to get an appetizer. Since I wanted to get back out on the town especially with the sky starting to darken, I asked our waitress today to bring my Chicken Caesar Salad with everyone else's appetizers. This was of course no issue but if you don't ask, they'll follow the other protocol. 

This time I didn't have to feel sad about missing dessert but it was nice to see a truly local offering of pecan pie. 

As soon as I could wolf down that salad, I left Dad to finish his lunch and ran back to the cabin to grab my raincoat, travel purse, and thought ahead about finally using the drawstring backpack we normally take with us on all tours but hadn't yet this trip. I returned to the spot where we'd been dropped off waiting for a trolley to come along. After 15 minutes pass and no trolley shows (I had thought they'd continue stopping here while our ship was in port), I walked up a few blocks along the shops until I reached the "Bob's Your Uncle/Fannie's Your Aunt" duo of souvenir shops that I knew from the morning tour was the nearest regular stop to the ship. Thankfully I didn't have to wait too much longer before a trolley showed up. This area is known as stop 10 River Street on the trolley map's list and my initial goals for today was to check out The Lady and Sons restaurant (Mom's a fan of Paula Deen), possibly return to the Juliette Gordon Lowe house, and of course seek out another wooden magnet. I was also enjoying the taste of solo travel and wished I could just keep on exploring.

I rode on this trolley until stop 13 known as Ellis Square and it took walking a couple blocks in the direction our driver pointed out to reach the Lady and Sons Restaurant. I was tempted to go inside and order something just so I could say I ate there but I didn't want to take the time to wait and be served. I could tell the weather was not going to be on my side for much longer. 

With that stop checked off my list I managed to get myself a little turned around trying to walk back to where we'd been dropped off. On the map, it looks like the Juliette Gordon Low house is only a few blocks away from the restaurant but after a bit of walking, I gave up. Turns out I went .2 miles in the opposite direction. If I'd gone in the right direction, it would have been a .4 mile walk. You'd think I'd have just used Google Maps on my phone like I tried to in the other ports looking for a drugstore but that of course would have been too intelligent. In my wanderings I stumbled upon a small gift shop and settled on a regular magnet that I thought looked pretty. This magnet collecting hobby could end up putting a dent in my cruise budget. This single magnet cost $6.41 with tax. 

As I continued to walk, I came across the City Market area. Oh look, they heard I was coming to visit:

And spotting these gems for sale made me think of cruise vloggers, ParoDeeJay and Jay's love of crazy socks:

This is also where the Prohibition Museum is located. I didn't bother to go inside the museum but I checked out the neighboring gift shop.

The mannequin sitting inside this car looked so creepy I thought it was a real person at first.

The gift shop was full of fun treats and plenty of the wooden magnets for which I'd been searching. When I went to purchase one, I was redirected to the neighboring store via inside passageway of the Trolley Stop Gifts to make my purchase. As I finished my transaction, a couple other ladies who had been riding the trolley of their own booking approached the counter asking to show their ticket in exchange for free bottles of water. Hmm, would have been nice to know that was a perk from our driver! My proper wooden magnet showcasing the famous fountain from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil plus a carriage ride cost me $7.48 with tax.

As I continued my walk a block or two, I came across a location I'd remembered from the morning tour - a McDonalds with a true walk up "drive-thru" window. 

I went inside and it was packed so I used the touch screens to order a McCafe Fruit Punch Slushie for $3 after electing to round up my total with a Ronald McDonald House Charities donation. Little surprising that it still took 10 minutes to receive my order. I took it outside and sat on a bench outside Trolley Stop Gifts to wait on the next trolley. By now it had started drizzling off and on so I was glad for the cover of the awning. 

By now with the rain picking up and my energy fading, I was beginning to wonder if I had another wrong trolley stop spot since I'd been sitting there a long while and had seen a couple trolleys come close but keep on going past. I walked about 20 yards back to the information booth in the City Market (right by the car pictured above) and asked the nice lady there. She checked on her computer and was able to see that not only was I in the right spot for a stop but trolley # such and such would be arriving there in 10 minutes. I loved the efficiency of their system. I thanked her and returned to the bench where the trolley soon pulled up. 

This trolley ride (thankfully with the plastic curtains down already as by now I'd stuffed everything but my slushy inside the backpack to keep dry) driver was very gregarious and even let a few people on though they didn't have the ticket to show him. He didn't want them to stand out in the rain trying to find their ticket. I got off at the River Street stop once again and at this point needed some comfort snacks of my own. I popped into the actual Savannah's Candy Kitchen on this strip of shops and browsed the bulk bins to make my own candy mix of gummy treats. This bag at least lasted even after I returned home. :) I had a lovely chat with the employee who rang up my purchase about the places I'd visited today. She talked about how despite living in Savannah all her life, she'd never bothered to check out these places. I empathized with her as I often have the same sentiment about being so close to American history both in Baltimore and DC. The few times I've been anywhere here is because of school field trips but it still boggles the minds of some out of town friends who are shocked to hear that I've been to Washington, D.C. 

Now with the bag of candy added to my backpack contents, I flipped up my raincoat hood and started powerwalking the couple blocks worth of distance back to the ship. By now the rain was a soaking deluge and even my raincoat was little protection from the elements. Thankfully, the backpack worked out great and all of the contents inside stayed dry. Once back at the ship I was helped onto the now 2nd level gangway by the same deckhand I'd chatted with on the way out about getting my exploring done before the rain hits. He playfully teased me about "making it back before the rain." 

By now Dad had left for his afternoon tour (which was thankfully all indoors) so I went straight to the cabin to change clothes and dry out as my raincoat was completely soaked through. Once I felt human again, I headed down to the Chesapeake Lounge for a soda and ran into Kathy from the tender ride. After a nice chat with her, I headed back upstairs to the 3rd deck lounge to use the internet and wait for today's scheduled Pilot House tour at 5PM.