My Travel Memories: Savannah, Georgia

I really thought that I had visited Savannah both before and after 1977, but apparently my two visits were in 1972 and in 1977.  As a result, much like Mammoth Cave National Park, my memories of Savannah are sketchy.

Our trips to Savannah, to some extent, suffered from the same things our visits to South Florida did.  We were visiting family, so, as one of the kids of the family, we spent a lot of time watching television and eating in.  I do remember that while we were in Savannah we ate at three restaurants — The Pirates House (in 1972), a boarding-house-themed restaurant that must have been Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room, and Krystal Hamburgers (both in 1977).

Let me tell you why Krystal made such an impression on me.  I grew up in the Chicago area, and for most of my family and friends, a trip to White Castle Hamburgers was a really good time. I couldn’t stand how greasy they were. When Olestra came out, a spokesperson said that she expected Olestra-based food to sell really well because “it feels like fat in your mouth.”  I can’t think of much that is more disgusting to me than the feeling of fat in my mouth.  And Krystal’s hamburgers were small, like White Castle, but they weren’t greasy.  It was like being in hamburger heaven.

But I digress.  For a city with so much to see, neither my father nor I remember doing much sightseeing.  I remember that on the 1977 trip we went to Juliette Gordon Low’s home.  I was a member of my local Girl Scout troop for longer than I care to remember. The honeymoon between me and the Girl Scouts was not yet over in 1977, though, so when we discovered that Low, the founder of the Girl Scouts of America, had been born in Savannah, of course we had to visit the house.  I have a picture of myself on the porch.

My dad also tells me that we went to Fort Pulaski National Monument, but looking at pictures of the fort, I have no memory of it, so I think that must have been part of our 1972 visit.

(originally posted June 20, 2015)

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