Disjointed Kitsch

Wednesday, 02/22/2006

Savannah day. We picked this day to travel to Savannah, GA and tour around the town. We picked a grand day: highs would be in the upper 70’s to near 80 with lots of sun. The plan was to leave around 11:30 AM. We didn’t stick with the plan. We were all moving a bit slower this morning and after the usual chores we got on the road about 1 PM. After stopping for gas and supplies we were on our way.

We decided to take the “blue highways” to Savannah by taking route US Route 287 from Hilton Head Island to SC Route 46. From SC Route 46 we turned onto US Route 17 and took that into Savannah. I believe that it turn into I-16 at the point you cross into Georgia. Trip took just about and hour.

Started off by finding MLK Jr. Blvd. and taking that to the Savannah Visitors Center. We skipped seeing the history show but did purchase a “2 day” parking pass for $8. Not a bad deal. Covers metered parking and designated city parking garages.

We opted for touring the river area first. We parked around Reynolds Square and walked west through Johnson Square. We walked North on Bull Street to City Hall and then East down Factor’s Walk. The squares are interesting places, each one full of it’s own history. Usually a monument, some benches and lots of green trees and gardens. A great place to just sit and watch the world go by.

We descended the stone steps to River Street and strolled along the shopping areas next to the Savannah Harbor. Some great views up and down this street! Hit of the walk was the Candy Factory with its pralines, hard candy and ice cream! We had to buy some pecans and pralines to much on.

We stopped for a late lunch at a New Orleans style restaurant called Hueys, in memory of our lost hamster Huey. Yvette has a fried seafood platter, Grant a NY Strip steak, Hannah some chicken fingers (which were HUGE) and I had a shrimp “poboy”. We all ate our fill between gulps of sweet tea. Hannah and Yvette topped the meal off with a stop at “Ben and Jerry’s”.

Back in the car we headed for Monterey Square, home site of the book “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil“. I had read the book several years ago and wanted to see the houses connected with the story. Monterey Square, on the periphery of the “Down Town” area is quiet and green. A few joggers out in the late afternoon enjoyed the square with us. Mercer House can’t be toured but I got some good pictures of it and the other houses surrounding the square. Hard to believe that this peaceful place was part of a murder scene.

With the Hollywood stop behind us, we were on our way back to Hilton Head by the same route. We arrived back at the villa around 7 PM. Yvette and Grant settled in to watch the Olympics and I headed down to the hot tub with my nightly scotch and soda. After my soaking I finished reading “Air Dance Iguana” and turned in.

Thursday, 02/23/2006

Golf Day!! This was the day I made reservations at Island Golf School for myself. Don’t know what the others were doing today but I was playing golf. I was ready for my 8:45 AM start, but had a little trouble finding the spot. Arrived 15 minutes late, but the instruction was just getting started. We got a few sprinkles but they passed.

We started by working on pitching from which I learned that my arms on my back-swing were too close to my body. I needed to “swing out” more and maintain a constant distance between my arms during the pitching motion. Good to know. From there we went onto sand play were we practiced open and square cub face sand shots.

The driving range was next were my swing was video taped for later analysis. My main problem seems to be in the right knee area. I’m not maintaining my “flex” during the swing. As a consequence my body is not making a full shoulder turn. I’m turning my body AND the shoulders instead of just the shoulders. From there it just goes down hill. I slide my hips forward instead of turning them on the downswing for weight transfer and my arms and hands end up getting caught behind the action. So… we worked on getting the knee/leg to stay flexed. I started to get some of it going at the driving range, but it’s a different feeling. Definitely something to work on.

Some drills he gave me: A shaft on my left side to turn into; swinging the club like a “hockey stick” (left hand on grip, right on shaft); hitting with feet together (that one I’d done before). On a brighter note, my grip and address posture were good as was my tempo (I worked on that last year by myself). On chipping/pitching I learned I need to keep my hands out in front and the ball back. My “chipping stick” will help here.

We had lunch and then played 9 holes with the instructor. The class was at Indigo Run on the Golden Bear course. Defiantly more challenging that Bretwood or Crown Point! Had some additional chipping/pitching instruction as we played the front 9. On the back 9 we were left to our own devices. The afternoon weather was great! Mid 60’s with some “hit and run” sun and a light breeze. I was fine in my short sleeves short and slacks.

In all a great time. I would do it again! Perhaps I can find a golf school in Hawaii. After all, we’re planning on being there 2 week so I should be able to get in more than 1 day of golf.

I was defiantly ready to eat when I got home. We were signed up for the “Pizza and Bingo” night at the resort. We didn’t win but we had a great time. We all ate until we were stuffed.

Had some running around to do this evening since Yvette was our of yarn and I was out of books. She picked up some knitting yarn at Walmart and I picked up two Lawrence Block novels from Barnes and Nobel. The rest of the evening was the usual - Olympics for Yvette and Grant and a scotch and soda with a hot tub chaser. I’m going to be sore tomorrow.

Tuesday, 02/21/2006

It’s warmer today, although we all slept in this morning. No early morning activities to roust us from sleep. Hannah and I did the chores of dish washing, laundry and general clean up as has become our morning custom.

With the sun peaking out Hannah and I opted for a bike ride to Harbor Town. We rented bikes from the resort, packed the camera, sweat-shirts, water, etc.. and headed out. My guess is that the trip would be about 3 miles, one-way. Not having biked that distance in quite a long time, I expected to have to stop quite a bit between leaving the resort and arriving in Harbor Town. I was suprised.

The trip went extremely well. Hannah and I had little difficulty finding our way there. The terrain was nearly flat, extremely well marked and the bike trail was well maintained. There were a lot of other people out biking. The one-way trip took about 30 minutes.

After locking up the bikes we wandered around the harbor looking at the boats and ducking into the shops. I did find my cigar store there. An interesting little shop called “Match“. We ate at the “Crazy Crab” for lunch. Hannah had her obligitory hamburger while I had “She Crab Soup” and fried shrimp. Quite good. After lunch we walked around a bit more and then headed home.

Back at the resort, I headed to the hot tub with Yvette to relax my sore legs. Started my next book, “Air Dance Iguana” by Tom Corcoran. This is the next in his “Alex Rutledge” mystery series that is set in Key West. I’ve been saving this new book for the last several months.

We decided to try out “Wild Wing Cafe” for dinner. It was recommended by a friend at work and we were not disappointed. I had the 2-Dozen special consisting of “The Boss” and “San” flavored wings. I ate about 15 wings and took the rest home. Grant had some spicy tenders and Yvette had a salad. The onion rings were outstanding.

We intended to go to the “Frozen Moo” for some ice cream to cool down our digestive tracks but it was closed. Instead we picked up some “Ben and Jerry’s” and watched the Olympics. I headed out to the hot tub again with my scotch and soda and a cigar. Quite relaxing.

Read some more in bed and turned out the light.

Monday 02/20/2006

Took advantage of the “Welcome Breakfast” here at the resort. Basically it was an introduction to the staff and activity hightlights for the week followed by the obligitory pitch for touring their new resort, “Surf Watch“. The “Breakfast” was coffee, OJ, danish and bagels served “poolside” at 9 AM on an overcast day. As an added bonus I won one of the “door prizes”: A “Surf Watch” visor! I declined the invitation for a sales pitch at SurfWatch.

Took some time to walk down to the beach and capture some photos. It was a rather lonly beach due to the weather. I imagine the summer time just has this place packed. Back in the villa I straightened up, distributed clean towels, cleaned up from last night, made coffee for Yvette and sat down to finish off “Sins of the Father” by Lawrence Block, my new favorite author.

At 10:45 I woke Hannah to remind her about her “Shark Tooth Necklace” class at 11:30 AM in the Crows Nest. She had a bit of breakfast and we went over. For $5 you get a lanyard necklace with clasp, 1 shark’s tooth and 6 beads. Took all of 15 minutes. Hannah had a good time. Mostly families with smaller children. Hannah was about the oldest non-adult there. She’s at that “in-between” stage of acting like a young lady AND a child. I’m cherishing these days since I won’t seem them again.

Had some lunch when we returned and then Yvette, Hannah and I set out for some shopping. When we went to WalMart yesterday we spotted an “The Mall” at Shelter Cove. Deceided to return today. No Pheasant Lane or Holyoke, but nice. A few speciality shops, but nothing get too excited about.

Across the way was a TJ Max, a liquor store and a “Piggly Wiggly” market. This was a must stop. Yvette needed a TJ Max fix and I need a bottle of Scotch for the rest of the week, given that this was the first day I could actaully purchase liquor in a retail setting. One of these days these old “blue laws” will be gone and people can purchase whatever they want when they want. At any rate I found the “Cigar Malt” scotch that I like, which then ment I’d need.. a cigar.

Lit out for the “Coligny Plaza” to wander the shops and pick up some late lunch/early dinner. We walked around for a bit and decided on “Big Bamboo”, but it didn’t open until 4 PM. We ate at “Steamers Seafood Company” instead and muched on Fried Shrimp and Oysters. They hit the spot.

Back to the villa and time for more reading and a nap. Grilled burgers on one of the numerious gas grills provided by the resort. Met a nice gentleman from Mississippi who was vacationing here with his wife and 80 year-old in-laws. Bless him!

We all tuned in for our favorite TV program, “House” after which I took a scotch and soda and the next Lawrence Block book, “Time To Murder and Create”, down to the down to the hot tub. There were a few other couples down there but it was relatively quiet, except for the drainage system within the hot tub. Man what a racket.

Back in the room by 10 PM when the tubs closed down and was in bed by 10:30 PM all worn out by shopping and the hot tub. Hope tommorrow is warmer and there is more sun.

Saturday, 02/18/2006

Completed necessary chores before going. Rick picked us up in the Suburban around 1:30 PM and we were off to Logan. Arrived in plenty of time to check in, have an early dinner, move through security and be at the gate 45 minutes before boarding. This was our first time flying AirTran so we didn’t quite know what to expect from them. Push-back was roughly “on-time”. The full flight to Baltimore was smooth and uneventful. We were not scheduled to change planes, but a “tail swap” by AirTran necessitated a change in schedule. Although we had no problems boarding the new flight to Charlotte, we were about 30 minutes delayed in leaving Baltimore. The full flight to Charlotte was uneventful, but we got in later than scheduled at 9:40 PM. Getting our bags took almost 30 minutes, so we didn’t clear the airport until about 10:15 PM

Dollar rent-a-car picked us up right away which was great since the weather in Charlotte was quite cool and breezy, although I’m sure it wasn’t a cold and windy as Keene at that hour. It took a while at the rental counter since the Jeep Grand Cherokee wasn’t ready when we got there. We had our doubts about getting our 5 bags plus golf club bag in the back, but we made it fit. Left the parking lot around 11 PM with a 4-5 hour drive ahead of us to Hilton Head Island.

After a few minutes of trying to find an open fast food joint in Charlotte, we gave up and hit 77 South. We eventually found a Wendy’s with an open drive-through at around 11:30 PM. 77 South dumped us onto 26 East in Columbia and we followed that until is intersected with 95 South. Stayed on 95 South until exit 8, where we picked up US Route 278 East into Hilton Head. Got turned around a few times on the island looking for the Marietta “Welcome Center”, but we did find it. Checked in about 3:45 AM and were in our room around 4 AM. We quickly hit the bed. Quite a long day.

Sunday, 02/19/2006

Slept until about 10:30 AM. Organized our belonging and checked out the villa. It’s quite a large complex and the villas are equally spacious. Large entry area with the smaller of the two bedrooms just off the entryway to the left. Washer and dryer in a utility room on the right. Also on the left is an entrance to the smaller of the two bathrooms - shower, sink, etc. Down the hall and the villa opens up in to a spacious kitchen, with a bar eating area and a 6 person table beyond. The living room area is just beyond that. Deck area is off the living room. To the right off the living room is the master bedroom with a Jacuzzi style bath tub, double sinks, and a shower stall. The “bathroom area take up more than half of the master bedroom room area.

The villa we are in is well appointed. Furnishings are well maintained, with a few exceptions - 1 chair in living room sits odd, a few of the drawers in the dresser stick and the master bedroom closet sticks. There appears to be some rather serious water damage in the master bath area around the lower part of the door frame that leads to the toilet area. However, when that door is open, the damage is not noticeable. The kitchen is fully equipped with a stove, microwave, refrigerator, dish-washer, double-well sink, utensils, dishes, etc.. A blender, toaster and coffee maker round it all out.

Each bedroom has a television in addition to the TV in the living room area. The living room TV has a DVD player hook up. Grant was able to hook up his PS2 to the television in the room he and Hannah are staying in. There is also wireless internet access!

As a trade-off for the washer and dryer in the unit, there is no housekeeping service. We’re responsible for washing towels, making beds and taking out trash. Different levels of housekeeping services can be purchased for a nominal “daily” charge, ranging from $9/day for trash removal and fresh towels, to $40/day for the “works”. I think I can keep up with the trash, towels, and cleaning for a week. This is in contrast to our stays in Cancun and Hawaii where housekeeping was included with the resort visit.

Kids were up by 11 AM and Hannah and I went off exploring the resort around 12:30 PM. We walked the resort sidewalks and visited ever pool and hot tub in the complex (4 outdoor pools, 1 heated; 1 heated indoor pool and hot tub; 5 heated outdoor hot tubs). There are a number of gas grills available for use, a fitness room, bike rentals, a putting green, beach access, and out door dining and drinking spots, although the outdoor refreshment areas were closed in February.

Not having stocked the kitchen yet, we opted to visit the “on site” store, which includes a Pizza Hut. We opted to get a couple of pizzas for our 2 PM lunch. Yvette, Hannah and I took off for Walmart and Publix, returning at 4:30 PM with our supply for the week.

We all “crashed” when we got back. Hannah and I went to the putting green around 5:30 PM but didn’t stay too long. The cold wind and cool temperatures were a bit bracing for being out. The day was actually in the mid-50’s for most of the day, but the chilly wind made a light jacket a “must have”.