Sun morning, Oct. 6th, we left Savannah and headed to Florida. Mike wanted to check out Okefenokee Swamp Park.  If I had read more of the travel material, I might not have been so eager for this new experience. We got there in time to board the next open boat guided tour. We hadn't gone far when we saw our first, 6 ft. long, baby alligator. He seemed pretty content but the mom on the boat was nervous about her 8 yr. old son, and I was too. She kept saying, “keep your hands in the boat,” while I was thinking,” for crying out loud, make him sit in the middle!!!” She didn't  and front row, center, I am curling into myself to become as small as I can.  Once the boy said, “IS that a tarantula?” and I looked up just after we went under a huge spider web. The guide said it was something else. OH Well, big enough!  WE got off at one place and climbed over 200 steps up a tower. Nice view of lots of trees and swamp stuff-it felt good to be high above it, but the hike up made us very sweaty in that environment.  Back down and to the end of the 45 min. tour, when the guide said, “There is CRAZY!” Crazy was a 12 ft. long male alligator that is very aggressive, thus his name. He didn't move the boat quickly enough for me. I had trouble snapping a photo.  At the end we chose to walk a few feet into the nature center but after seeing a pile of more reptiles down in a fenced area, I was done. Mike said we could skip the Live Wildlife show. I am not BIG into reptiles, or even little into reptiles. UGH!!!!!!!!!!

In the afternoon we decided to check out another historical plantation called Pebble Hill, near Thomasville Georgia.  On the way I saw my first cotton fields. After seeing them I am surprised that cotton is not more expensive than it is. It seems it would take a lot to make a piece of fabric. 

It was in a beautiful setting so far off the beaten track that we almost missed it.  It contained a huge art collection of Georgia wildlife, and also hunting photos.  A wedding was taking place but we were able to see everything, being the only “tourists” that day. Once again, we had a lovely older woman who loved sharing the stories and history with us.

One thing I enjoyed in the Southeast was seeing all the different churches, of all sizes. The small country ones, in particular, all seemed to have identical "double doors" and most of them had fall wreaths hanging on them. I snapped this going down the highway.

Sun. night we stayed in Tallahassee, Fl.  Nothing exciting and the part of town we stayed in seemed a bit depressed.  I guess we needed a night of rest.

       Mon. morning, October 7th,  we headed to Mississippi and our goal was Biloxi. We got a bit sidetracked in Destin, FL. , by a HUGE OUTLET MALL.  It was the hugest one I have ever seen!   Mike said the best find was lunch at Cheeseburgers in Paradise! YUMMY!!!

           We had heard that a big car rally was going to take place in Biloxi and when we arrived there about 5 P.M. and saw cars, RV's  and people everywhere, we got a little nervous.   Not to worry, GOD had it all under control and we found a perfect motel with breakfast and a laundry and free wi fi!  YEA. We walked along the sandy sidewalk to dinner and started seeing all kinds of classic cars. It was so fun! 

 Since hurricane force winds had threatened the area the previous couple of days, there was still sand on the sidewalks. Sand had blown from the beach, across a 4 lane divided HWY(26 mi. of coastal beach-it was gorgeous), and onto the sidewalk on the motel side of the street. What we started noticing was  that everywhere there was an empty lot left from Hurricane Katrina, people were camping in RV’s for the Car Show. What a smart way to make some bucks off an empty piece of property! 

        Mon. morning we headed to the beach first thing and enjoyed the beautiful sand and quiet.  Not many people were around.

 We noticed a LOT of crab trails in the sand. I I picked up a few shells and put them in our backpack. MORE on that later.

      After that we decided to check out the Beauvoir Home across the street. It is a Historic Landmark dedicated to preserving and interpreting the legacy of American Statesman and Confederate President Jefferson Davis and the confederate soldier. 

 It was a raised home, and has survived hurricane Camille and Katrina, although it was raised for Air conditioning and not to avoid high water. Mike was happy to find a book he had wanted to read, at the book store there. It is called The South was Right. I never dreamed how much history exists in that part of the country and we barely scratched the surface.

        Tues.  lunch, you guessed it, more oysters for Mike. It could be his last.....

  Tues. night we headed out to THE SHED for Barbecue. 

 We had seen it on TV a few months ago, and it looked like our kind of place. It was out of town a ways, but very WORTH the trip!  The decor was early attic / late basement at best. No interior decorator would EVER approve of this style, but it was sure fun and entertaining.

 The food was excellent and LOTS of people were there. I was glad I had just had salad for lunch that day!

      As we left, the parking lot was full of Classic Cars. Our outback looked so funny!

 Back in town we found one of Mike's favorite models and the color was not bad either!!!   How we hated to go to bed that night, knowing that in the morning we would be leaving the beach and heading North. Vacations was coming close to the end and it had been so much fun!