The 2nd Half of the Trip

The second half of my trip was absolutely incredible; there are no other words to describe it.

I had left North Carolina glad to have seen my friends and to have been able to surround myself in a bit more environmentally aware area than where I am currently located. However I was reminded that every time I visit there, I am always saddened and appalled by the amount of racism that still exists in this world and in this nation. People near and dear to me can attempt to explain the racist reasoning to me, but it seriously does nothing but break my heart that humans still attempt to judge each other based on the color (or "culture") of one's skin. Thus I can't help but admit that a part of me was very ready to leave North Carolina.

My next stop, as mentioned in a previous post, was to meet the best friend of my husband and his wife, and she and I were to explore Savannah, GA. On the way down to Georgia from North Carolina, I again was amazed by the beauty and history of South Carolina. I had a bit of time to spare and so I indulged myself with a side trip to Charleston, SC. My original intention had been to attend undergrad in this historical town, so it was great to finally see what life could have been and where so much of our nation's history unfolded.

This is along the harbor in Charleston:
You can still see where the old carriages traveled:

I greatly enjoyed meeting my husband's friend, and it was great to meet the woman who has been a fabulous support to me over the last few months as we have found ourselves in similar situations. I also really appreciated that she too is of a frugal mentality! Thus other than a coffee and lunch, no other money was spent at any of the three places we checked out!

We went to the Bamboo Gardens where we could see lots of neat plants. Here you can really see the moss that the south is known for having:

Next we checked out Tybee Island and walked along the Atlantic shore:

And finally we spent the rest of the afternoon into evening in Savannah, GA. We'd looked into doing one of the bus tours, but neither one of us wanted to spend that much money. Instead we swiped one of the tour maps and checked out the historical sites by ourselves on foot. We definitely got our exercise that day, but we also saw everything we had wanted to see.

This picture is of historic River Street along the river in Savannah:

Altogether the trip really was incredible. My financial expenses were based on two meals, a couple of coffees, a few drinks, and about five tanks of gas, but the benefits were well worth it. Timing wise it turned out to be one of the only weeks for me to have the car away from the husband that long, and the trip itself really solidified for me just how much my own lil' family means to me. I really enjoyed having the freedom of time alone and being able to make decisions on a spur of a moment, but I also really wished that my husband (and truthfully the dog too) would have been able to enjoy all the little moments with me as well. I returned feeling that as long as my lil' family is here, then this place, and wherever we are, will be my home................otherwise known as...happily settled.