An Unexpected Vacation.

This past week I had the good fortune of being asked to accompany a support team for a Target store that had been affect by Hurricane Matthews. Three and a half days in beautiful Savannah, Georgia.  It was a quick drive and the co-workers were pretty damn cool. The driver, a young blonde by the name of Lindsay was especially cute, and being the biggest guy on the squad meant I was the lucky schmoe who got to ride shotgun, what with the need for leg room. For the most part is was get up, go to work, comeback; rinse and repeat with catering from one of the local food chains (Zaxby's, Moe's, and a BBQ joint I can't remember).

A few of the roads were closed due to downed trees and flooding and the power outage knocked out several traffic lights so we were forced to drive through the neighborhood to get to the highway. This gave us a pretty good firsthand look at the damage that was done and safe to say it was more than a little depressing to see. As a countermeasure we made plans to see downtown Savannah and sample what the night life had to offer. The city did not disappoint.

Getting us road ready!

Hello Savannah!

Our first stop was Broughton Street where we (since we already had dinner) decided to have dessert. We found a place called Sub Zero that had quite a novelty: The rear section served seafood while the front served freshly made ice cream. We actually stood there and watched them make our ice cream right in front of us a lá teppenyaki.  This was the first time I actually took a picture of my food. I have no regrets.  Afterwards we made our way to River Street where things were buzzing like crazy. You'd never believe they were hit by a hurricane. I love that kind of resiliency. We came across some wonderful art shops with great paintings. I felt like kid in Toys R' Us (Yeah I'm weird like that). There's was even nice little blues joint.  I could have listen to those guitars all night!

SubZero ice cream shop on Broughton Street

River Street's jumpin'!

After heading down to the dock, we watched a ferry boat dock for the night, and a street musician played them in.  He turned out to be a gifted trumpeter and prompted those who stopped to listen to walk along a promenade while he in turn, played a theme song.  The songs ranged from The Smurfs (and thus Lindsay was nicknamed Smurfette for the rest of the trip), to Michael Jackson’s Black or White (I guess me and my co-worker look good together) to the Imperial March from Star Wars’, heralding an old couple leaving the boat.  We spent the next half hour playing guess that tune and naturally I smoked everyone. It was a fun night capped off by yours truly rocking in the van and apparently the young’un in the driver’s seat enjoyed the classics as much as did. 

The next day at work I was stocking the shelves, in this particular case with ice cream and I wound up making the briefest acquaintance with an older woman. She was one those hippy-dippy flower child types wearing a sundress, sporting a flower vine hibiscus tattoo, dried out peppered gray hair and a nice southern twang to go with it.  She saw me stocking the ice cream and pleasantly chided me:"You are just mean, puttin' that ice cream out where ah can see it.”   It turned out she had been without power all week (which meant no fridge, which meant no ice cream). She even joked that she would pay one of her friends $500 if she could store the ice cream in her fridge. I teased back asking “What would you do for a Klondike Bar” 

Had she taken it the wrong way, I would have been reported and probably lost my job. Fortunately I read the body language just right, as evidenced by her cheerily straightforward response of "Well if we both had the time I'd show you".  A younger version of me would be kicking myself for not 'sealing the deal', and while the pursuit and conquest would have been fine way to cap off my visit, that's not what I was there for.  All the same it feels good flirt, to find a little mutual attraction when least expected now and then. (Side note:  Savannah has a really nice mix of women from co-eds to farm girls, to those southern belles—refined and not so refined)

All in all the trip was more fun than thought it was going to be.  I repped my store well, ate some pretty good food and met some cool people.  If you ever get a chance, visit downtown Savannah. The architecture and roadways are like this really sexy blend of Petersburg, VA and Charlotte, NC and while it’s certainly not New Orleans I’d sincerely recommend putting a visit on your bucket list. 

-Ryan Scales, October 2016

Savannah Sunrise!

Bye bye! See you again someday!