Collard Greens 'n' Drag Queens

This weekend marked the first occasion that the Mister and I took advantage of some of the travel options available to us regionally. It's kind of fun when you move to a new part of the country... all of a sudden some great little finds are easily accessible by car when just a few months ago, we were talking plane tickets, hotel rooms, bad airport food and a Kia Rio from Avis. We headed to Savannah, Georgia this weekend: home to such famous Georgians as James Oglethorpe (founder of the colony of Georgia) as well as everyone's favorite Suthanuh, Miss Paula Deen herself ya'll. Savannah itself is such a picturesque town. Residents have done an outstanding job preserving the city, considering it was settled in 1733. The Savannah College of Art & Design is also credited with much of the building restoration and preservation in Savannah, for which the town is quite grateful. Pictured above is just one of the many bed & breakfasts nestled throughout the boulevards of the town. Much to my delight, they ain't skeered o' no booze in Savanney. We arrived in town on Friday night and noticed quite a few lads and lassies walking around with beverage in hand. I'll tell ya what, the absence of an open container law sure does make it easier on a regular alchy like me. Finished with dinner, ready to hit the next bar but still have a Cap'n & Diet to finish? No problem! Pour 'er in a plastic cup and you're good to go. Not to mention, it sure is nice to take an evening stroll with a cold one as your special guest. Yep, I think I could get comfortable here. Saturday morn brought about hunger somethin' fierce, and the man and I had to get a good meal in our gullies. Though we were tempted to hit up The Lady & Sons, I wasn't up for a long wait just to get my name on the list. Taking some advice from Trip Advisor, we decided to hit up The Pirate's House instead. The restaurant is housed in one of the oldest buildings in Savannah on the opposite side of the historic district from our hotel, so we enjoyed a nice walk through some of the city's famous squares on our way to lunch. Lucky us, we came across this gem on the way! For those of you who don't know Mr. Soup in real life, his name is: Minus the Incorporated part. There he is, in the righthand corner :) On to The Pirate's House, matey! Our lunch definitely had some high points: you can't go wrong with the fried chicken, and the biscuits with honey pecan sauce were unreal. I also tried collard greens for the first time and also the last. The famous southern side was entirely too bitter for my taste. Oh! I almost forgot the best part. As we walked into the restaurant, we were greeted by this handsome fella. I, for one, thought his Soul-Glo look was very becoming and quite ahead of his time for a pirate! We took the trolley tour through town on Saturday afternoon -- totally touristy, but well worth the $23 ticket price. Complete with on and off privileges, the trolley tour was a great way to see all of Savannah from the famous River Street (home to the nation's second largest St. Patrick's Day Party) to gorgeous Forsyth Park, complete with her beautiful fountain. I only wish we would have had more time to explore a bit. However, I did come home chock full of interesting facts! Did you know the founder of the Girl Scouts, Juliette Gordon Low, was born in Savannah? Or, how about that Savannah is home to The Bird Girl, aka the statue on the cover of the book Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil. I love this statue... it is so haunting and beautiful all at the same time. But enough sightseeing... on to the fun of Saturday night. We started off with a great dinner at Vic's On The River, a fantastic cozy little restaurant situated right on - you guessed it - River Street. After a martini apiece and a bottle of wine, we sauntered down the main drag and watched an artist sketch and some breakdancers cut it up to nothing more than some bongo beats. The best entertainment came from a lone trumpeter who liked to "soundtrack" everyone who walked by. Case in point: a feller walks by wearing a giant 10-gallon hat. All of a sudden, the stylings of the Dallas theme song can be heard filling the street. We were dying! I have to compliment my man for being a pretty willing chap. Some straight men would be a bit apprehensive when it comes to seeing men in women's clothing, but the husbanator was being a good sport. We'd heard that Savannah is home to a rather elaborate drag show... in fact Lady Chablis, the character from the movie Midnight in the Garden, still performs at a particular club in town regularly. I must say, she looks pretty good for a 67 year old man. Also, the night before, we'd ridden up the elevator with a few of the performers who gave us the down low on showtimes. Now I love a great drag show, so there was no way I was missing this performance. We actually ended up running into our waiter from dinner at the cabaret, who apparently had just been named Miss Gay Pride Savannah! He knew several of the performers who were actually in for a special visit from Atlanta, so after the show (and several more cocktails) he got us an introduction. I am fascinated with drag, so it was great to chat them up and ask them questions about makeup and how in the world they do backflips in 4" heels on stage. That's entertainment I tell you! The show didn't even begin until 12:30, so after all the performances and a bit of partying with the coolest queens this side of the Mississippi, we were ready to hit the sack. This has been a rather long entry, so I will conclude with letting ya'll know that the drive back to the Big A was a long one. Thankfully, my wonderful Mister didn't mind when I took a snooze somewhere in between Macon and Morrow. What a nice southern gentleman. :)