Road Trip, Part 2: Miami

(If you missed part one of the Miami road trip photos, it's right over here.)








Sam's mom lives within walking distance of a historic bar. You wouldn't even know there's a bar there unless you look really really hard. The history is all over the walls and it's still owned and run by the same family that opened it, so we got to hear the whole story from the bartender. I made a feline friend outside, too.








We had breakfast by the marina (pineapple juice and eggs benedict!) and then ventured into downtown Miami. Apparently, i-95 ends and turns into Rt 1! Crazy. I don't really think about roads ending (other than dead ends).










Sam showed me a cluster of artists' studios where they work and display their art (here's a peek) and you can come in and chat with them if they're around. I loved the mosaic entryway! There were some pretty neat artists in there, but most of them were on lunch break, so we just peeked into all the studios.






And that concludes the road trip photos! It was amazing, although I miss my friend dearly now that she's so far away (!) but I can't wait to go down there again - hopefully with Shawn next time, if I can convince him to fly ;)

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Road Trip, Part 1: Savannah

If you've been following this blog for longer than a week, you'll recall that I recently went on a girly road trip with my friend Sam. She made a (semi) last-minute decision to move back to her hometown of Miami and asked me if I'd like to accompany her for the ride. Not wanting to miss out on what may very well be the only girly road trip opportunity that will ever arise in my life, I made arrangements at work and told her very excitingly that I'd be able to come along for the ride!

We had about two weeks to plan the trip, and three days to actually do it. We left Philadelphia at 10am on a Saturday morning and were in Miami by 6pm on Sunday. That left us with all of Monday for her to show me around and then I flew back home early Tuesday morning. We drove about 12 hours on Saturday to make it to Savannah, Georgia (with a few quick stops in between), and then left Savannah around 11am on Sunday to drive the rest of the way. Here's a taste of the first half of our trip. (A few of these photos were taken by Sam, too!)

We saw a few interesting things while on the road. Shawn had also told us to keep an eye out for signs for South of the Border, so of course we had to make a quick stop there too.

Sunday morning we had two or so hours to kill before wanting to get back on the road, so we decided to explore the city of Savannah. Unfortunately for us, most shops in Savannah (or Slow-vannah as a local lovingly called it) don't open until noon on Sundays. So we wandered around along the water and then stopped into a few places that were open. We did manage to buy some jewelry from a fair trade shop and some spices and tea from a neat little spice shop. It's also worth noting that we stepped out of 55 degree weather and into 89 degree weather...















We even made a canine friend and I found places for Shawn and I to work if we ever move down there.... believe me, it's very tempting. That southern hospitality is such a change from the tri-state attitude I've grown up with and am accustomed to. What a beautiful change of pace. I had actually visited Savannah College of Art and Design when I was in high school, but I found it too old and slow at the time... hm, apparently my attitude has changed since then.















I wish we could have spent a little more time exploring Savannah, but we were trying to get down to Miami at a decent hour. More motivation to pay the little city another visit though! I'd love to bring Shawn next time and explore some of the old cemeteries, look at all the old houses, and stop into all the local shops that were closed on Sunday. Savannah, we'll be back one day, you can count on that!

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