What I Did Over Spring Break Vacation

For many students, spring break equals party time. We even live near the spring break mecca of Myrtle Beach and are not far from the Florida beaches. There was a time not too long ago when a week's vacation would have found us choosing between London, Italy, Argentina or the Orient. But alas, nowadays, I'm content just to make it to Savannah, GA. Even that short trip seemed to take great time and effort, but fortunately not too much money.

Savannah is located about 2 1/2 hours from Columbia. My mom, sister and I had visited there just before I got married and David and I visited once while his sister was living there. It's not really a great kids' destination, but I figured that since I do kid activities all week, I could choose the spring break activities. Note: If you ever visit Savannah, I would recommend that you go in spring or summer when the trees have more foliage. The city looks a little barren and dirty this time of year.

We rode the Old Town Trolley. I chose this trolley because I love their Boston tour, and the Savannah tour was good as well. I think the trolley is a great way to see the city and the drivers were full of information. Historic Savannah has beautiful homes built around little parks. Trivia: It is the setting for the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and is the home of Paula Deen.

It's a hop on and off trolley, but we only got off at the Savannah River, which is an area with shops and restaurants.

Baylie loved walking along the river and was fascinated by the boats.

She and Jalen were even more fascinated by the candy shop we visited. Jalen got a white chocolate covered pretzel, Baylie got a big sucker (why as kids do we love these when they're really not that good?), David had fudge and I had a white chocolate covered praline (awesome!).

One of the popular landmarks in Savannah is the waving girl. David is waving Baylie.

Then we drove out to Tybee Island. It has a great lighthouse. It's been restored so you can climb to the top. We didn't do this since Baylie just wanted to get to the beach. Note: This is where they filmed the Saundra Bullock/Ben Affleck movie Forces of Nature. Ms. Bullock owns property there.

Tybee Island has those awesome beaches that look like something out of a movie or a Nicholas Sparks novel, with dry grasses and bridges stretching over small dunes.

It was freezing cold, but Baylie and I waded anyway. In fact, I couldn't get her out of the water. When it was time to leave, she cried and cried. I told her that she could stay and live by herself on the beach, but the rest of us were leaving. We started to go and she sat in the sand, perfectly happy without us. I finally had to go and make her come - with much drama. (It's scary how much this little girl is like I was at her age.)

On Friday, I decided to braid Baylie's hair. Her hair is actually very long, but it's so curly you can't tell. It took ALL DAY to braid and I didn't part it very well, so I'm not happy with the final results. Oh well, it will have to do for the next several weeks. You can see how thrilled she was at the prospect (and you can also see me stretching out her hair to show its length).

Today was plantation day. I found a website that lists all the plantations in South Carolina. Originally, we had planned to visit this awesome looking plantation called Milford. Unfortunately, it's only open on the first Saturday of every month. We will definitely check it out some other time. I found three other plantations that weren't too far away.

First was the Kensington Mansion. This place was really beautiful. I took awesome pictures, but they ask that you not post pictures on the internet. So if you want to see it, go here. They give tours for just $5.50. My favorite part was the basement kitchen, which features a huge cistern that provided the home with hot running water clear back in the 1800's.

The owners of this plantation had approximately 500 slaves. While there we purchased a book called My Life in the South that was written by a slave that lived on the plantation. What a historical treasure! This book was first published in 1879 when he was 30 years old. He was born into slavery and was not freed until the Proclamation of 1864 (age 15). Note: the Proclamation was actually issued in 1863, but the book lists it as '64.

I was suprised to learn on the tour that a black plantation slave owner had lived nearby. I Googled it when I got home and learned that "In 1860 William Ellison was South Carolina's largest Negro slaveowner." You can read more about this topic here. I was shocked to read that he treated his slaves cruelly. The tour guide mentioned to us that the family always lived in fear that the South would pass a law revoking the status of freed slaves and return them all to slavery. He also pointed out that even though Ellison was wealthy, he wasn't always accepted in society because of his race. Ellison was fortunate in that his neighbor and friend was an influential general.

On the tour I also learned that many slaves that escaped didn't flee north. They set up communities in the forests and swamps. These were called maroon colonies. You can read more about these here and here (scroll down). I don't remember ever hearing about this, but then there is much of black history that isn't taught in schools.

Our next stop was Laurelwood Plantation. Unfortunately (or rather, fortunately), this mansion is being restored. We weren't able to see it. The closest we got was a tantalizing glimpse down a pathway called Laurelwood Lane. This must be really lovely when the trees are green. You can see pictures of the house here or on this interesting blog.

Our last stop was Wavering Place. I love how the plantations all seem to have long sweeping, tree-lined drives. I'm sure this one is also beautiful when the trees are green instead of bare.

It's obvious that this plantation was one of the most impressive at one time. Today it is home to a garden and nursery, but we were sad to see that it was somewhat in disrepair.

We had hoped to get out and walk around, but we found that the "Beware of Dog" sign was true. We were greeted by three less-than-friendly canines.

These three plantations were all within about five miles of each other and only about 10 miles from the Mormon temple. We stopped at the temple to take pictures.

Our favorite thing about spring break was just spending time together.

And somewhere during the course of the week, Jalen learned to say "cheese!".