Spring Break: Bonaventure

Spring break.  It is now a thing I have to care about.

My kids have been in pre-school for years, but I could always yank em out whenever I wanted for road trips (which was often, cause road trips!). However Zeke has entered the official school system as a kindergartener, so I am now subject to the whims of bureaucrats as to when the kids can go on road trips, which in the spring is limited to a time known as Spring Break.

So now I care about Spring Break like some kind of normal person.  Such is my life - so might as well make the best of it.

So we did.

We decided to spend our Spring Break by heading down to Florida and hanging with the grandparents (who are snow-birding down there, like normal people).  Along the way we'll see mermaids, manatees, visit a land of magical interconnected bricks, and other super fun things.  But first, we'll stop off in the old city of Savannah Georgia and check out the scenery.

Our first stop in Savannah was the picturesque Bonaventure Cemetery.  This cemetery is, according to the claim in the brochure, the most photographed cemetery in the country. It was also the "garden" in the movie Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil.  It is chocked full of interesting headstones, monuments, all set in some amazing landscaping.  The boulevards are lined with Live Oak and Magnolia trees covered in hanging moss, which is highlighted by azaleas.  They look like this:

Some of the grave markers tower into the trees.

As you can see, the mix is quite pleasant to be in. Fortunately we arrived first thing in the morning so we beat a lot of the crowds. The problem with visiting popular areas during Spring Break is that everyone else is also travelling and visiting things, so its best to get out of the hotel quickly.  Tourists tend to show up after lunch. It pays to be a morning person when traveling, because you get to explore amazing areas, and be in amazing scenery, all alone, like this place:

(not pictured:  annoying flock of tourists in a "tour group" who are on a tight schedule, and have no time to display courtesy for the photographers who were there first, damnit!  Get out of my shot! *shakes fist*... oh sorry, is this thing still on?)

The contrast of the stone markers and the landscaping really gives the cemetery a nice vibe, and one gets the sense of walking through history.

To quote Bill & Ted: "...most of the world looked like the cover of the Led Zeppelin album, Houses of the Holy... There were many steps and columns. It was most tranquil."

Bill & Ted had a point.  This place was tranquil. I ended up taking hundreds of shots, way more than can be shared here (you'll see some more after I am finished using them for my mentorship in the Arcanum - stay tuned).

One of the most famous graves is Gracie. Gracie had a short tragic life (that is a Google Search away if you want to read about it), but she has a lifelike semi-cool, semi-creepy tombstone. It is customary to bring Gracie gifts of pennies, toys, or trinkets.  It was customary to rub her nose for luck, but that was rubbing off her nose so they put an annoying fence around the statue (this is why we can't have nice things).

The rumor also goes that the site is haunted (but of course it is!), but thats hogwash (I presume - I didn't see no ghost, and if I did, I know who to call).

We spent several hours walking around Bonaventure, and the kids stayed interested the wholemost of the time. - we could likely have easily stayed a few more hours if we were sans-kids (but we weren't, so we didn't).  However before we left Zeke and I took a bike ride around the place (cause thats how we roll).

So that was our first stop in Savannah.  We have most of a day to go in the area, not to mention a whole Spring Break in Florida to talk about, so stay tuned for some more Adventures in BabysittingSpring Breaking