Travels

We had our 27th wedding anniversary this year.  To celebrate we took a trip to Savannah for a long weekend in September.  The weather was warm, but not too warm.  We stayed across the river from the city.  Whenever we wanted to go downtown, we took a ferry to River St.  We also had a rental car that permitted us to venture a little farther away.

We drove out to Tybee Island one afternoon.  We climbed the lighthouse, grabbed some lunch and then visited the beach.  We didn't bring our swimsuits with us so a stroll along the sand was all we did.

We also visited Bonaventure Cemetery.  It is a beautiful, old cemetery.  It was a cloudy day, so the colors are not as vibrant.  This is one of my favorite tombstones.  I was hoping to find the iconic bird girl from the novel "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" but we learned that it has been relocated to a museum to protect it.

We spent one evening at the Savannah Smiles Dueling Piano bar.  This establishment is co-owned by some people from my hometown, so I knew we needed to stop in for a visit.  It was a lot of fun.  We go there just as the doors opened and of course the place was a bit empty, but as the evening went on more groups showed up.  Around 11 we called it a night so that we could catch a ferry back to our hotel.

It was our first visit to Savannah and won't be our last.  We fell in love with the place.  I hope the town didn't suffer too much damage from Hurricane Matthew this past weekend.   I'd like to go back and explore more of the parks and historic districts.

The week after we were home, we attended the charter initiation ceremony for the Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society at Trisha's college.  She was inducted as a charter member.  We are very proud of her.

Then the next weekend we went to Cincinnati to visit Blake for Parents' Weekend at University of Cincinnati.  He took us on a tour around campus and showed us his skills on the rock climbing wall.  We had to cut the visit short, though, because I had a terrible head cold and wasn't energetic enough for too much activity.

I took advantage of feeling sluggish to finish up Blake's Gradient Blanket.  He'll be home next weekend for a mid-semester break so he'll get to take it back to school with him.  I need to send it on a trip through the washer first so that he doesn't also take back some of the germs I had.

Vine Street Vest was my take-along project for the Savannah trip.  I am probably a third of the way through.  I'm anxious to get this done to wear over some long sleeved tops.  There is starting to be a little chill in the air.  This is perfect for those crisp fall days.

Fall weather also means it is time to make a batch of goetta.  Goetta was a staple of my childhood and my children have adopted a love for the dish. My mom made her own from scratch, but there are commercial varieties available.  Cooking up a batch is a 4-5 hour process, so it is a good activity for a cool, fall weekend.  A big batch will last us several months since it can be portioned and frozen.  The traditional recipe calls for beef and pork, which is the way my mom made hers. I make mine with beef and ground turkey.  Kristin says mine isn't quite as good as Mammaw's, which is probably the difference of the meats.  Maybe this year, to honor my mom, I'll use pork.  In fact, I think I will.

All this talk about goetta is getting me hungry.  I better get it started or else I'll be up late waiting for it to cook.  Time to goetta to it!