Saturday, October 2, 2010

Tybee Island

Located to the southeast of Savannah is Tybee Island.  This island contains a beautiful beach and boardwalk area to walk around and just soak in the sun.  The boardwalk has a few restaurants that offer food at reasonable prices.  The "downtown" area though is quite small and only has a few shops and should not be thought of as a place to find tons of stores or restaurants.  You can also find Tybee Island Marine Science Center on the boardwalk, which is a very small aquarium (only three rooms) with some small fish, sea turtle and terrapin specimens.


On the opposite end of the island are some historical places to visit such as the Tybee Lighthouse and Fort Screven, which come with one package price of $7 a person.  If you visit these, please make sure you park in the Lighthouse parking lot for free instead of paying for parking that you see shortly before the Lighthouse.


When you climb to the top of the Lighthouse (178 stairs!), you'll also be rewarded with a beautiful view of Tybee.


Friday, October 1, 2010

Pennhurst Asylum

SHE SAID:
Disclaimer: I’m easily scared, I haven’t been in a real haunted house since middle school, I don’t watch scary movies, and I’m a screamer.

There had been a lot of news surrounding the brand new Pennhurst Asylum attraction in Spring City, so we had to check it out. Once we got there, I stopped and said, “Um, I don’t really do haunted houses.”

While waiting in line to get in, one of the characters came up behind me and was waiting nicely. I turned around to talk to Matt and began to scream. Not a small “Eep!” a full on scream.

The first three rooms are an interpretive display of Pennhurst State School and Hospital with artifacts and information. The night we were there, the attendant in these rooms was a former employee of Pennhurst.

Pennhurst closed in 1987 and has been an abandoned property since.

Once you enter the asylum, the rooms are set up like those of a state hospital – varying between patient rooms and doctor’s rooms.

Personally, I thought the characters playing the patients were the scariest. You cover two floors in the tour. When you head to the second floor, there is a girl standing at he bottom of the stairs looking very forlorn holding a rat.

Or, in one room, there are two patients – one is throwing himself back and forth against the room’s walls and on the other side of the room there is a man behind a cage. Once you walk into the room, the man in
the cage, comes out of the cage and blocks your way out of the room.

I screamed my head off – hid behind Matt scream “No, no! Please, stop!” and when I saw employees that were not characters, asked how far to the end and if there was a way out that wasn’t through the
tunnels. (Lucky for me, they escorted me out so they last couple of characters didn’t bother us.)

My knees were shaking, I was almost crying – I was terrified! And, even with me almost crying and asking the characters to stop, they stayed in character the entire time.

HE SAID:
For me, this was no different than any other haunted house tour I've ever been on.  People pop out at you from hidden corners trying to scare you and they do a great job of staying in character.  Maybe it's just me, but knowing that they are all actors just makes it un-scary to me and I laughed most of the time.  I know Leann was quite scared for most of it, but for me it was just a stroll through a house.

I think for people that like Haunted Houses, this is a great attraction, albeit a little pricey.  However, if you aren't into Haunted Houses, I don't think you'd find it too entertaining.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Mighty 8th Air Force Heritage Museum

Right outside of Savannah, in Pooler, GA, is the Mighty 8th Air Force Heritage Museum, which is located right behind the airport.  As soon as you pull into the parking lot, you are greeted with planes from the World War II era.

Inside of the museum, you'll see in an airplane hangar other planes from the era, as well as other artifacts such as bomb shells, uniforms, etc.  In addition, you'll be able to learn about the history of the Air Force in relation to World War II and see the contributions by various groups of Americans.  You'll even have the opportunity to enter a Gunship Simulator and show off your fighting skills on the gun.

For a $10 admission, this is a museum that definitely provides value.  Also, since it is right near the airport, it's a great place to stop for an hour or so before you'd head to the airport to catch your flight home.




Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Andrew Low House

The Andrew Low House has tours every half hour from 10 AM to 4:30 PM on Monday through Saturday (except Thursdays) and noon to 4:30 PM on Sundays for $8 a person.  The tour gives you a history of the house as well as the residents it housed, Andrew Low and Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of the Girl Scouts.  It's an interesting tour that is quite similar to the other house tours in Savannah.  If you've enjoyed others, you'd like this one as well.  If you were not a fan of the other house tours though, this probably wouldn't be your cup of tea.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Savannah River Boat Cruise

For $18.95 per person, this is a River Cruise we'd highly recommend skipping.  The Savannah River Boat Cruise takes you along the Savannah River while the captain gives you a history of the city during the time.  The part that is very disappointing is you can't really see much from the river.  Most of what you see, besides River Street, are a bunch of industrial portions of Savannah.  This is not a scenic ride at all, and if you stay in the inside portion of the boat, there is a funny smell there.  They offer dinner cruises as well, but with the smell that exists in the boat, we can't imagine it being too enjoyable of a dinner.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Jepson Center

The Jepson Center is a very modern building in the middle of the historic district of Savannah.  Compared to the other buildings it looks a bit out of place, but since it does hold modern art inside of it, this does make sense.  It is affiliated with the Telfair Academy so that you can pay one price of $15 for admission to both, as well as admission to the Owens-Thomas House.

We both found this museum to be quite nice with the exhibits that are permanent inside.  The temporary exhibit there was on photography while we went and honestly, what we saw wasn't very impressive.  However, that floor is always changing, so hopefully when you visit you'll have something more appealing waiting for you there.