Almost three years ago I was fortunate enough to get a great job with a great company. The real reward came when I went to training in New Jersey and met one of the most wild, southern, outlandish, brash, and loveable girl I've ever met. Miss Brooke Bogle, the "hot mess" as I like to call her.
Fast forward 2 and a half years to the day when Brooke and Dr. Bradley Frost were married. (Damn, why haven't I married a doctor, oh yeah, mine are all tiny Vietnamese guys).
So Brooke reigns from a small city in Georgia called Vidalia. Perhaps you have eaten an onion or two from there. Sweet Vidalia Onions? Delicious. So in order to celebrate her marriage, me and my friend Kin packed our bags and headed south, way way way south.
We flew into the Savannah airport Thursday night, checked into our amazing hotel, the Avia Savannah, and immediately headed out for dinner and drinks. Glass of wine at the hotel, then to Jazz'd for tapas and martinis, then to Churchill's for a rooftop beer, then we followed the music and noise to a really cool place called the Bohemian where we ran into "Savannah Paul." A smooth talking local who claimed to know everyone in town, and who in fact, knew everyone in town. He resembles a young James Lipton, I kept waiting for him to ask me my favorite curse word! haha.
"Savannah Paul" took me and Kin to another bar called the Mercury Lounge where we met a 6'4 black guy with a fro and bandana (very Jimmy Hendrix), named Eric, who played bass in a few different bands. After the band wrapped up and the bar closed we headed to yet another bar, Hang Fire, which is the late night bar, open til 3:30. But don't worry, if they call last call, just put your drink in a roadie cup and take it with you.
Day two: Needless to say, we slept in late the next day, had a bloody mary at the pool and got a slow start to our day. We headed out to see Savannah in the daylight, got some lunch, did some shopping, and stopped at a wine tasting room, yeah I said it, wine tasting room. Muscadine wine. I would not serve this wine to the devil. Me and Kin were choking down the wine trying to be polite. Yuck!
For dinner we went to Vic's on the Water, right on the ocean front. And every first Friday of the month they have fireworks on the river, and we had a front row seat for the show.
From there, the night proceeded as it had the night before. We had martinis at this cool hole in the wall called Jen's n Friends where all the martinis come with a blow pop as a garnish.
Then headed to Tantra where we ran into Eric playing in his band. Then headed to Saya, total bummer, left immediately, then to Hang Fire where again we ran into Savannah Paul and his friends. After the bar closed we headed to Paul's friends house, this Russian guy named Carrill. We drank and listened to music til 5am then went to get breakfast. I've only been up til dawn a few times, and the majority of those times were in Vegas.
12:00 noon, "knock knock" ---"housekeeping!". What a wake-up call. Jumped out of bed, packed up our stuff, rented a car and drove an hour and a half out to Vidalia.
Map-quest and google maps could not find our hotel so we drove around Vidalia wit our heads cut off. Finally we found it, checked in and took a nap. The wedding reception started at 7pm and I was so tired and was having a hard time getting started.
A colorful character named Louis Phillips, who makes ice-pops, got us going. He told us a joke, which you will have to ask me to hear in person, I won't post it on this blog.
Needless to say, we rallied through the night, got a ride with Andy Pippin (just love his name) to a Huddle House at 2am and ate a healthy meal of chicken fried steak, fried eggs, sweet potato fries, and hashbrowns. Ugh. Thank god we don't have Huddle House here.
The next day was a long long long day of travel and was finally back in bed Sunday night at 9pm, disoriented, tired, dehydrated, and really really happy from an amazing trip to the south.
