Southeastern U.S. Archives - Pacific Northwest Explorer

Everglades National Park

A few years ago my wife and I had the privilege of exploring Key West, the rest of the Keys, and Everglades National Park on a winter getaway.

The Florida Everglades are about as far from our home in the Pacific Northwest as you can get without leaving the continent. I always envisioned the Everglades as swamp and marshland and nothing else, but it’s actually a quite diverse ecosystem. Wetlands make up much of the park, to be sure, but grassland covers a lot of it, too, with islands (called “hammocks”) of hardwoods scattered throughout. Pines dominate the higher ridges. Cypress swamps are found mainly in the northern part of the park and the adjacent Big Cypress National Preserve. And the coastal areas have both mangrove swamps and coastal prairie ecosystems.

The park was created in 1947 to preserve what remained of the Everglades after nearly half of century of damming, diverting, and draining the waters of the “river of grass” that had once flowed unimpeded from Lake Okeechobee to Biscayne Bay, Florida Bay, and the Ten thousand Islands area on the Gulf Coast.

Today, the Everglades are still one of the most endangered ecosystems in the country. Diversion of water upstream of the park for use by the agricultural industry and the ever growing population of southern Florida has greatly reduced the volume of water flowing through the park, which in turn has had a significant impact on the flora and fauna of the park. Nutrient pollution and residual pesticides from agricultural runoff have also had a significant impact on the park’s ecosystem. Introduced species, such as the Burmese python, have also put stress on the system. And, since much of the Everglades is less than three feet above sea level, global warming and sea level rise threaten the very existence of the Everglades.

There are two main accesses to Everglades National Park. The Tamiami Trail (US Hwy 41) cuts across the northern part of park and southern part of the Big Cypress National Preserve, and gives access to the Shark Valley Visitor Center in the northern part of the park and the Gulf Coast Visitor Center in Everglades City. The southern part of the park is accessed from the Homestead and Florida City area via Florida Hwy 9336, which crosses the park and ends at the town of Flamingo on Florida Bay.

The Shark Valley and Gulf Coast parts of the park are well worth visiting, but if you only have a day to spend at the park, the southern section is more diverse and has more things to see and do than the other areas. Stop at the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center, just inside the park boundary, to get maps and information on the park and park activities, but don’t spend a lot of time there. Instead, head to the Royal Palm Visitor Center.

The guide books didn’t even come close to preparing us for what we found at Royal Palm. The first thing we noticed was that blue tarps covered many of the cars in the parking lot. It seems that the local Black Vultures, for some unexplained reason, are known to eat the weather stripping around car windshields. We dutifully covered our rental car with one of the park-provided tarps, though there were none of the car-eating vultures present. The visitor center is pretty much a standard issue national park center, but what’s outside will amaze you. Just outside the back door of the center is a large pond. The first thing we saw there was a large alligator, apparently asleep, only a few feet from the walkway. Yikes!

Sitting on a railing post next to the pond, a Double-crested Cormorant ignored the people walking within feet of it. Four or five Black Vultures stood a few feet off the trail looking more bored than threatening. Along the Anhinga Trail more alligators lounged within feet of the trail. One was actually laying part way onto the paved trail. We got close up views and photos of Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Little Blue Herons, Anhingas, White Ibis, Purple Gallinules, and many other birds along the trail. And in one water hole next to the trail, twenty or more alligators lazed together, maybe waiting for warmer weather (this was in February and it was unusually cold for south Florida). For a wildlife photographer, this place is paradise.

The other trail from the visitor center, the Gumbo Limbo Trail, takes you into a hardwood hammock. It’s less peopled and has fewer birds and other wildlife, but it is a nice, quiet walk and only takes a few minutes to do.

The sheer volume of birds and other wildlife at Royal Palm was astonishing, as was their total disregard for the people in their midst. No need for a long telephoto lens here.

Farther along the road to Flamingo, the Long Pine Key, Pahayokey Overlook, and Mahogany Hammock stops offer short hiking trails. Canoeing and kayaking opportunities are found at Nine Mile Pond and West Lake. You’ll also find a nice picnic area at Nine Mile Pond, and another at Paroutis Pond.

At Flamingo, get information on local area bird watching opportunities and check for ranger-led activities at the Flamingo Visitor Center. The center also has a small cafe where you can get sandwiches or a pizza. You can stock up on supplies at the Flamingo Marina Store next door. Manatees can often be found hanging out in the marina. A pair of Ospreys had built a nest on top of a pole at the marina when we were there, also. And you might catch a glimpse of the rare American Crocodile there. Ask at the visitor center if there have been an recent sightings and how to tell a crocodile from an alligator. The marina offers boat, canoe, and kayak rentals, and a 50 minute tour of the coastal area aboard a 30 passenger boat.

We had planned to take an air boat tour the next day in the Shark Valley area along the Tamiami Trail, but there was rain in the forecast for that day, and the air boats apparently don’t run in the rain. So, it was on to Plan B. That took us to the Shark Valley Visitor Center and a naturalist led tram ride to an observation tower about seven miles to the south. You can also rent bicycles at the visitor center, and we probably would have done that if the weather had been less threatening. But the two hour tram tour was informative and entertaining, and the ranger stopped at every available photo op.

Alligators at the Shark Valley observatory

We saw many more alligators at Shark Valley, specially around the observation tower, and many, many birds, including Wood Storks, Roseate Spoonbills, and Red-shouldered Hawks. No sharks, though. The name Shark Valley comes from the Shark River Slough that flows through the valley. Some sharks do come upstream to give birth in the slough, but not in the area of the visitor center.

We continued west from Shark Valley to Everglades City and the Gulf Coast Visitor Center. This is the jumping off point for exploring the Ten Thousand Islands section of the gulf coast, and for paddling the 99 mile long Wilderness Waterway Trail. Naturalist-led boat tours can be arranged at the visitor center, and rangers lead bike and canoe tours between Christmas and Easter.

Anyone who has read Peter Matthiessen’s historical novel Killing Mister Watson will probably want to continue on past Everglades City to Chokoloskee. The book tells the story of Edgar J. Watson, a notorious, and probably murderous, real life character. Watson had never been convicted, but was suspected in many disappearances, and greatly feared. In 1910, on the beach next to the Smallwood Store in Chokoloskee, more than twenty men from the local area gunned him down, claiming self defense. None of the men involved were ever charged with his killing. The Smallwood Store still stands, though it is a museum now.

If you’re a birder, wildlife photographer, nature lover, or just someone that likes to see places that are different from where you live, the Everglades will thrill you.

For more information about the park and the Everglades, go to the park website. And if you plan to visit Everglades National Park, no visit to south Florida is complete without paying the Florida Keys and Key West a visit.

Originally posted December 4, 2018 by Alan K. Lee. Most recently updated February 27, 2024.

All photos © Alan K. Lee

New Orleans

New Orleans. NOLA. The Big Easy. No matter what you call it, and no matter where your interests lie, the city has something for you. Food, drink, music, art, history, architecture, parks, festivals, cemeteries, voodoo, river boats, streetcars, endless parties, you name it. New Orleans has it all. In abundance.

The city’s identity has been forged from many roots – French, American, African American, Native American, Haitian, and more. And those roots have produced many branches and have blossomed into something truly unique.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve been to New Orleans, but the ten days or so that my wife and I spent there left an indelible imprint on my psyche. The food, the music, the arts, the people. There is simply no place else like it in the U.S. Probably no place in the world.

We spent our first day in New Orleans just wandering around the French Quarter with no agenda. We almost always allow ourselves time in a new city just to explore at random. We’ve had many memorable experiences that we would never have had if we had stuck to the guide book recommendations. But don’t throw away the guide books, either. Their recommendations are there for a reason.

That first night, we wandered over to Bourbon Street to see what that is all about. We had a great time and we came back again another night. And, by all means, if you’re visiting New Orleans for the first time, venture into the French Quarter after dark and take in that giant street party. Get your Hurricane in a go cup and wander the street. Take in some of the live music, mingle with the other tourists, have another Hurricane, dance the night away. Get it all out of your system. But don’t think that’s the real New Orleans. Bourbon Street is the Disneyland version of the Big Easy.

So, how to experience the real New Orleans? Well, you probably have to spend a year or two there to really get to know the city. It’s a complex place. But if you don’t have that kind of time, my first recommendation would be to find a place to stay in the French Quarter. It’s the historic center of the city and the city’s cultural heart. Most of what you’ll probably want to see and do you’ll find either in French Quarter itself or close by.

My wife and I stayed at a boutique hotel (I’ve forgotten its name) near the river, across the street from the House of Blues, for the first part of our stay. As I recall, it was a very nice and quite affordable place. But after a few days there, the hotel had some sort of plumbing system problem, necessitating our move to the Hotel Monteleone on Royal Street for the second part of our visit. The Monteleone turned out to be one of the better hotels we’ve stayed in, but there are plenty of other places to stay in the French Quarter. Check the French Quarter website for recommendations.

Since my wife and I are both art lovers, another thing that we always do in a new city is spend at least some time exploring the local arts scene. Sometimes that just entails visiting local museums and art galleries. But we also seek out local artists and art related events when we can. The New Orleans Museum of Art , located in City Park, and the adjacent Besthoff Sculpture Garden were two of our first stops, along with a number of galleries in the French Quarter. But we also took in an arts and crafts fair in Mickey Markey Park in the Bywater neighborhood, about a mile east of the French Quarter, where we met several local artists.

I won’t spend much time here trying to give you a guide to the French Quarter. There are plenty of guide books and online guides that will do a better job than I can. But there are tons of things to see and do in the Vieux Carre and you could spend your entire visit there and not get bored. Plan to spend at least a full day, and preferably a couple of days, exploring the French Quarter on your visit.

But if you really want to sample what New Orleans has to offer, and have the time, I recommend that you also go beyond the French Quarter. Visit City Park and Audubon Park. Take a walk through the Garden District. Take the ferry across the river to the Algiers neighborhood. Visit one of the city’s famous cemeteries. Take a cruise on the Mississippi in a paddle wheeler. Check out the Treme and Marigny neighborhoods. Even go beyond the city itself and take a swamp tour or a plantation tour.

We spent one afternoon exploring the Algiers neighborhood across the river from the French Quarter. Take the ferry from the terminal at the foot of Canal Street. It’s a short but scenic ride and Algiers is an interesting place. Check out the Jazz Walk of Fame next to the ferry terminal. Take a walk along the levy on the Mississippi River Trail. Stop in at one of Algiers many restaurants and bars, such as the Dry Dock Cafe, the Old Point Bar, Tout de Suite Cafe, or the Crown and Anchor English Pub. And just walk around the neighborhood. As I said, it’s an interesting place, full of beautiful old houses and impressive buildings.

Touring one of the city’s many cemeteries turned out to be one of the more interesting things we did on our visit. Because the land New Orleans is built on was originally a swamp, and much of it is below sea level, the dead are not buried in the ground, but are interred in above ground crypts or tombs.

When we were there, we were warned that some of the cemeteries were dangerous places to visit and should be avoided. That may have changed, but check before you venture into any of the city’s cemeteries. There are organized cemetery tours that you can take, but we preferred to go on our own. One of the cemeteries that was said to be safe, and the one we visited, was St. Patrick Cemetery No. 1, on Canal Street near the end of the streetcar line.

Many of the tombs there are large, elaborate, and impressive, holding the remains of many generations of the same family. The larger and more ornate ones are generally well kept up, but many of the others have not been maintained and are crumbling. Many are just ruins, empty and abandoned. One has to wonder what became of the bodies.

Visiting some of the city’s parks also turned out to be one of the more worthwhile ways we found to spend our time. There are a number of parks in the city that are worth a visit. Jackson Square in the French Quarter, and Louis Armstrong Park, on Rampart Street in the Treme neighborhood adjacent to the Quarter, should be on everyone’s agenda.

City Park , about two miles north of the French Quarter, and Audubon Park, a couple of miles west of the Quarter, both have attractions for the whole family. Besides being home to the New Orleans Museum of Art, City Park is also home to the Louisiana Children’s Museum, a short walk from NOMA, and the New Orleans Botanical Garden. And Audubon Park is home to both a zoo and an aquarium. Both parks also feature nature trails, beautiful ponds, magnificent live oaks draped in Spanish moss, and many other attractions. Both City Park and Audubon Park are easily reached from the French Quarter by the city’s streetcar lines.

Think of New Orleans and Mardi Gras is probably the first thing that comes to mind. Mardi Gras has been celebrated in Louisiana since at least 1699, before the founding of New Orleans. It is celebrated in many other communities, but the New Orleans festivities are the quintessential Mardi Gras celebrations. We were there a week or two after the end of Mardi Gras, so I can’t give you an eye witness account of what Mardi Gras is actually like. But it is a festival that I would like to experience some day.

The other New Orleans festival that I would dearly love to take in is the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, held each year in late April and early May. This may actually be a bigger tourist draw than Mardi Gras. As many as 650,000 people have attended in past years.

Music is an essential component of the spirit of the Big Easy. Whether it’s traditional Cajun fiddle tunes, blues, jazz, swamp rock, zydeco, country, or a fusion of some or all of those genres, music permeates the city. Street performers are a common sight in the French Quarter any time of the day or night. And there are probably hundreds of clubs throughout the city offering live performances late into the night, every night. Take in as much of the music as you can while you’re there because it’s such a vital component of the city’s spirit.

There’s plenty of music to be heard on Bourbon Street, but there are more authentic venues elsewhere. Preservation Hall, in the French Quarter, is probably the most famous. Tipitina’s, on Napolean Avenue about a mile and a half west of the French Quarter, might be the most highly regarded club. The Spotted Cat Music Club, the Blue Nile, and d.b.a., all on Frenchmen Street in the Marigny, are three of the most highly regarded clubs. Le Bon Temps Roule, near Tipitina’s, and Chickie Wah Wah, on Canal Street in Mid-city, are a couple of other well regarded venues. In the French Quarter, check out One Eyed Jack’s.

Like music, the cuisine of New Orleans is one the city’s defining features. I fell in love with the food when we were there, and gumbo and jambalaya have become mainstays in my home kitchen. The Foodies Guide to New Orleans website will give you a good overview of the city’s culinary offerings. The people of New Orleans are passionate about their food and anyone you talk to will probably be happy to steer you to some great places to eat. Or you can book one of the many food tours that are available.

The food scene has probably changed a lot since we were there, but there are some iconic New Orleans eateries that you might want to check out. The Cafe du Monde in the French Market is one of those. It’s been a New Orleans institution since 1862. Go for the beignets and the coffee with chicory because that’s about all they serve. And go early. You’ll probably still have to wait in line to get in, but it’s an iconic New Orleans experience that shouldn’t be missed. And dinner at Antoine’s was a highlight of our stay. Antoine’s has been in existence even longer than the Cafe du Monde. They’ve been serving French Creole food in the same location since 1840. There’s no place in New Orleans more steeped in history than Antoine’s.

And then there’s voodoo. Personally, I have no interest in voodoo, but it’s another unique component of the culture and you can’t ignore it completely if you want to get the full New Orleans experience. You might just want to stop in at one of the many shops in the French Quarter selling voodoo related trinkets. Or maybe delve deeper into the history and practice of voodoo by visiting the Voodoo Museum or taking a voodoo tour.

New Orleans can’t be adequately described in words or pictures by any means. It really has to be experienced. It blends the Old South charm of places like Charleston and Savannah with the party atmosphere of places like Key West, and mixes in a whole lot more to boot. You should make the pilgrimage to the Big Easy at least once in your life. You won’t regret it.

Originally posted January 9, 2021 by Alan K. Lee. Updated and re-posted January 10, 2024.

All photos © Alan K. Lee

Key West and the Florida Keys

We all need to get away from home on occasion, sometimes far away, and the Florida Keys are about as far from the Pacific Northwest as you can get and still be in one of the fifty U.S. states – Honolulu is closer to Seattle than Key West is. And the Keys make for a great winter getaway. My wife and I had a great time in Key West on our only visit and I would love to return to someday.

The following was originally posted on this site a couple of years ago. I checked all of the links, but things can change, so check the Keys News website for current information if you’re contemplating a visit in the near future.

If you are thinking about a visit to Key West, the first thing you should do is track down a copy of Jon Breakfield’s book “Key West: Tequila, a Pinch of Salt and a Quirky Slice of America.” Breakfield and his wife were living in Scotland and took a winter vacation to Key West one year. Two days into their visit they decided not to go back to Scotland. Breakfield’s book is an absolutely hilarious account of their first year in Key West. It’s also a good introduction to the Key West culture and works as a weird sort of travel guide. After reading the book, you’ll probably want to visit The Bull, a bar on Duval Street, and the Whistle Bar, which occupies the floor above. The Whistle Bar has a wrap around veranda that is one of the best people watching perches in Key West. Both figure prominently in the book. And if you’re really adventurous, you might even want to venture up one more flight to the clothing optional rooftop bar called The Garden of Eden.

Key West is a quirky place, and nothing exemplifies that better than the city’s tongue in check secession from the United States in 1982. After the Border Patrol set up a roadblock on the highway between Key Largo and Miami (to stem the flow of drugs into the country via the Keys), creating huge traffic backups and inhibiting island residents from commuting to jobs on the mainland, the mayor and city council of Key West decided that if the Border Patrol was going to treat them like they were a foreign country by setting up a de facto border crossing station, they would become one. Thus was born the Conch Republic. The move was pure political theater (the mayor “surrendered” to the commander of the naval air station at Key West the day after declaring the Conch Republic’s independence), but it resonated with the anti-establishment sentiment common among island residents, and the spirit of the Conch Republic persists to this day.

Duval Street is the main drag in Key West. It’s lined with bars and restaurants, galleries, gift shops, and much more. You can eat your way down one side of the street and drink your way back up the other, if you’re so inclined. You’ll probably meet fifty other tourists for every local, but everyone will be having a good time and you won’t care that it’s not the real Key West.

Besides Duval Street, another major tourist draw is Mallory Square and the daily Sunset Celebration. Key West is known for its sunsets and didn’t disappoint on our visit. And every evening about two hours before sunset dozens of artists, crafters, food vendors, and street performers of every stripe congregate at Mallory Square to hawk whatever it is they’re selling to the tourists gathered there to watch the sunset. It’s weird, wild, and enormously entertaining. And then there’s a beautiful sunset to cap it all off.

Key West has plenty of places of interest beyond Duval Street and Mallory Square, too. The Hemingway House is another major tourist draw. Get there early if you’re going or buy your tickets online. The line was around the block both times we thought about taking a look. The Audubon House, Key West Lighthouse Museum, Eco-Discovery Center , Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park , the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum, and the Key West Aquarium are all worth a visit.

If you just want to hang out at the beach, Fort Zach Park has a nice swimming beach (with an adjacent bar). South Beach at the end of Duval Street also has a beach bar and grill. Higgs Beach is four or five blocks east and has a nice beach for sunbathing and swimming. And across the street, Astro City Playground is a fun place for kids to play. To the east of Higgs Beach are C.B. Harvey Memorial Rest Beach (no bar or other amenities) and Smathers Beach. Dog Beach, a couple of blocks east of South Beach, is literally for the dogs – a dog friendly, off leash park.

Key West has dozens of fine restaurants. All of the places we dined at were excellent. We had a couple of great breakfasts at a place called Camille’s Cafe, but it appears to be closed. Blue Heaven, Cafe Sole, and a Cuban restaurant called El Siboney all had excellent food. We also lunched at a couple of Duval Street eateries (whose names I’ve forgotten) that were very good. The Lobster Shack, The Flaming Bouy, Louie’s Backyard, Sarabeth’s Kitchen, Santiago’s Bodega (tapas), Cafe Marquesa, The Cafe (vegetarian), Ambrosia (Japanese), and B.O.’s Fish Wagon (fresh and very affordable seafood) are all highly rated, also.

Nature lovers will want to check out Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservancy, Indigenous Park, Key West Nature Preserve, and Key West Wildlife Center.

If you’re interested in fishing, Trip Advisor lists more than two dozen fishing charters and tours. If scuba diving is your thing, Finz Dive Center, Captain’s Corner Dive Center, and Lost Reef Adventures all offer diving tours and are highly rated.

Tourism drives Key West’s economy and there is no shortage of available accommodations , from luxury resorts to whole house rentals to budget motels and inexpensive Airbnb rentals. We went the Airbnb route and found a reasonably affordable room in Old Town. But the closer to the historic district and Duval Street, the more expensive the accommodations become, and the longer ahead that you will need to make reservations. It’s an advantage to stay within walking distance of Old Town, as parking is limited, but if you have a car and don’t mind spending some time looking for a place to park, staying in the New Town section or on Stock Island can save you some money. Key West is bicycle friendly, has a public transit system, and taxis are readily available (some with bicycle racks), so driving into Old Town is not strictly necessary, even if you are not staying close by. Uber and Lyft are also options.

The bottom line is there are as many reasons to visit Key West as there are tourists visiting. It’s a great party town and a great place to lounge on the beach and soak up the sunshine, but it’s much more than just that. Key West is soaked in history, has a great food scene, has great fishing and diving, and is located in an incredibly beautiful natural setting.

The other Florida Keys have their own attractions, too, and the drive from Miami to Key West is an attraction on its own.

Key Largo is the closest of the keys to the mainland and many of the residents commute to the mainland, but it has many attractions that draw travelers, too. It’s the self-proclaimed “dive capital of the world” and home to the world’s largest artificial reef, among other attractions. If fishing is your thing, Islamorada bills itself as the “sport-fishing capital of the world.”

There were a number of other interesting places in the Keys that we stopped at on our way to and from Key West. One of those was the National Key Deer Refuge on Sugarloaf Key. Key deer are tiny – not much bigger than a German shepherd. Another stop we made was Bahia Honda State Park, which has a nice swimming beach and clear waters in multiple hues of blue.

The Overseas Highway through the Keys is an engineering marvel and driving it is an amazing journey, even if you don’t stop at any of the Keys along the way. The Seven Mile Bridge itself is one of the main attractions in the Keys.

If you’re contemplating a visit, flying to Key West is an option, but I’d do as we did – fly to Miami or Fort Lauderdale, rent a car, and drive the Overseas Highway. Visit the other Keys and go diving, snorkeling, fishing, or just find an uncrowded beach and soak up the sunshine away from the crowds. And, of course, take in Key West and all it has to offer. You won’t regret it. And while you’re in Florida, the Everglades are only a short drive from Miami.

Originally posted by Alan K. Lee on August 10, 2018. Updated with Covid-19 info December 14, 2020. Updated and expanded September 15, 2023.

All photos © Alan K. Lee

Savannah, Georgia

by Alan K. Lee

Savannah, Georgia is one of those iconic Old South cities that are on many people’s bucket list, and for good reason. It’s a beautiful city, and would be worth a visit just to see Forsyth Park and the 22 park-like Squares in the Historic District, with their live oaks draped in Spanish moss. Throw in a lively riverfront, hundreds of antebellum brick buildings and Victorian homes, interesting museums and art galleries, and dozens of fine dining options, and you have a place worthy of more than the day and a half that we had to explore it.

Savannah was the final destination in a trip that also took my wife and I to Asheville, North Carolina, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Chimney Rock State Park, N.C., and Charleston, South Carolina.

Savannah is an old city, founded in 1733. It was the first European settlement in Georgia, and the city’s history is an important aspect of its spirit and culture. Walking around in the Historic District, it’s not hard to envision yourself in another, long past, era.

The entire Historic District was named a National Historic Landmark in 1966. The Savannah History Museum, itself a National Historic Landmark, is a good place to get a taste of Savannah’s long history. It’s located in the Savannah Visitor Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Other history museums of interest include the Davenport House Museum, the Owens-Thomas House and Slave Quarters, and the Ralph Marks Gilbert Civil Rights Museum.

Savannah is a very walkable city. Guided walking tours of the Historic District are available for about $25 per person. There are also guided bike tours and public carriage tours available at similar rates. Private carriage tours run $100-125 for two people. Hop-on/hop-off trolley tours run $30-35 per person. Ghost tours are also a popular option for visitors.

We opted to wander around on our own (but probably missed out on a lot of interesting information about the city). A good place to start a walking tour of your own is Forsyth Park, a 30 acre park at the south end of the Historic District. Its most notable feature is the Forsyth Fountain, but there is a lot more there to see. Enjoy the park’s gardens, paths, monuments, and the fountain, then head north toward the river and take in some (or all) of the 22 Squares and innumerable historic buildings, churches, and Victorian houses.

Some of the more interesting structures in the Historic District include The Pirate’s House, mentioned in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, the city’s oldest building and now a popular restaurant, and The Olde Pink House, another of the city’s oldest structures and also a highly regarded restaurant. Not quite as old, but equally interesting, the Mercer House (officially the Mercer-Williams House Museum) was the site of the 1980s killing of a male prostitute that inspired the book (and movie) Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil.

Near the north end of the Historic District, City Market is a four block area of restaurants, galleries, shops, bars, and offices that is something of a destination in its own right. Get a frozen daiquiri to go (yes, it’s legal in Savannah) at Wet Willie’s and make your way to River Street.

The buildings along River Street were once cotton warehouses. Today they house shops, restaurants, bars, and art galleries. River Street has its share of tacky gift shops, but it also has some interesting boutiques, antique shops, and art galleries. Among the many restaurants are Vic’s On the River, Huey’s, The Shrimp Factory, and Joe’s Crab Shack. If you need a frozen daiquiri refill, there’s another Wet Willie’s on River Street.

There are no shortage of other places along the river to wet your whistle, including The Warehouse Bar and Grill, Dub’s Public House, The Cotton Exchange Tavern, and a couple of rooftop bars, Top Deck Bar and Rocks On the Roof. And there are more restaurants and bars on Bay Street on the top of the bluff.

Along the riverfront, check out the World War II Memorial, the Savannah Waving Girl statue, the Olympic Yachting Cauldron from the 1996 Olympic Games, and River Street Market Place. Take one of the Savannah Belle ferries across the river to Hutchison Island. There’s not much on the island of interest except the Westin Savannah Harbor Hotel and the Savannah Convention Center, but the ferry will give you a good view of the waterfront and the golden dome of City Hall on the bluff above River Street. And the ferry is free.

River cruises are a popular tourist activity in Savannah. Savannah Riverboat Cruises offers lunch and dinner cruises, a Monday night gospel cruise, and sunset and moonlight cruises on their two large sternwheeler-style river boats, the Georgia Queen and the Savannah River Queen. Dolphin Magic Tours guarantees that you will see bottlenose dolphins “or your next cruise is free,” which is not worth much if you’re from the west Coast and are only in town for a day. But their reviews are generally positive. We didn’t have time to take either of those tours, but I’m sure that both would be enjoyable

There’s much to see and do in Savannah that time didn’t allow. We had to skip many things. We checked out only a couple of the city’s art galleries, for example, and didn’t make it to other nearby destinations such as Fort Jackson and Tybee Island. Savannah would definitely worth another and longer visit if it were a little closer to home, but who knows, we may be back someday to take in what we missed on our first visit.

Originally posted January 24, 2020. Updated and re-posted April 15, 2023.

Charleston, South Carolina

by Alan K. Lee

Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia had been on my bucket list of travel destinations for a long time. So, when my wife and I decided to visit Asheville, North Carolina and Great Smoky Mountains National Park, taking a side trip to Charleston and Savannah seemed like a sensible addition to our itinerary. It wouldn’t add much expense and, being only 100 miles apart, we could get at least a taste of both cities in the limited amount of time we had. (To see my post on our visit to Asheville, click here).

We drove from Asheville to Charleston on a Sunday morning and spent the afternoon wandering around the historic center of the city. It’s older and more traditional, more Old South, than Asheville, but no less charming – lots of wonderful old houses and buildings, in all conditions from newly renovated to literally falling down, often the one adjacent to the other.

The oldest surviving structure in the city, the Middleburg Plantation House, was constructed in 1699. Spanning more than three centuries, the architecture of Charleston includes Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne, Charleston Single House, and Art Deco style buildings and houses.

We found a wonderful restaurant, the now closed Hominy Grill, not far from our Airbnb for dinner that evening. The menu featured fresh, home-style food taken wonderfully upscale. Winner of the 2008 James Beard Award for Best Chef Southeast, we found it to be just a great place to eat. Actually, the food was wonderful everywhere we ate in Charleston. It would take a long time to sample all of the many acclaimed restaurants in the city. The annual Charleston Food + Wine Festival brings thousands of tourists to Charleston each March, and food tours are popular year around.

While many people come to Charleston just for the food, there is much more to see and do in Charleston, of course. There are walking and carriage tours of the city, and plantation and garden tours. Fort Sumpter, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired, is a short distance outside of town. You can learn some of the history of the area and see the city from the water on a boat tour of the harbor. The city has a number of outstanding museums, including the Charleston Museum, the Nathaniel Russel House, and Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim. And there is much more to see and do, more than we had time for in our three days in the city.

We spent most of our second day in Charleston exploring more of the historic center of the city, then ended the day with a trip to Folly Beach, about ten miles south of the city. Near the center of the small town of Folly Beach, Folly Beach Pier extends more than 1000 feet into the Atlantic Ocean. Folly Beach County Park lies at the west end of the island. At the east end, Lighthouse Inlet Heritage Preserve offers a more secluded beach about a quarter mile walk from the end of East Ashley Avenue with a view across the water to Morris Island Lighthouse, which is surrounded by water just offshore from the westernmost point of Morris Island.

The next day we made the short trip across the Ravenel Bridge to Shem Creek Park in Mount Pleasant. The park encompasses a large salt marsh where Shem Creek meets Charleston Harbor. There are extensive boardwalks that allow you to get out in the marsh, and nice views across the harbor to downtown Charleston. It’s a nice place to get away from the city for awhile and rest your feet. And after all the walking around Charleston that we did the previous days, my feet needed a rest.

Our final morning in Charleston we made a second stop at Hominy Grill for breakfast. On our way out of town we made a couple of stops not far outside of Charleston. The first was the Angel Oak Tree on Johns Island. This huge Southern live oak is estimated to be 400-500 years old. It’s trunk measures 28 feet in circumference, it’s 66 feet tall, and its canopy covers 17,200 square feet of ground.

After leaving Angel Tree, we made a second stop at Caw Caw Interpretive Center, another of Charleston County’s many parks. There are six miles of trails and boardwalks through a former rice plantation that is now marshland and swamp. The park is managed for wildlife, and is home to otters, alligators, deer, and other wildlife. Caw Caw is one of coastal Carolina’s birding hot spots. It’s also the site of the 1739 slave revolt known as the Stono Rebellion.

We had a great time exploring Charleston. It’s really a beautiful and charming place. But to really see all it has to offer, you need to plan for more than a three-day visit. For more information, check out the Charleston SC Visitors Guide and Discover South Carolina websites.

After our visit to Charleston, we made the two-hour drive to Savannah. To read about our visit to Savannah, click here.

Originally posted Jan. 20, 2020. Updated and re-posted April 9, 2023.

Asheville, N.C.

by Alan K. Lee

Asheville, N.C. had never been on my bucket list of travel destinations, nor had Great Smoky Mountains National Park. But some years ago the daughter of friends of ours moved to Asheville, and we started hearing about what an interesting city it is. So, my wife and I decided to pay a visit. And when we did, we found that it was indeed a very interesting place.

Our timing wasn’t the best. A hurricane had just missed Asheville a few days before we arrived. There was still plenty of evidence, in the form of downed limbs and trees, of the power of the storm, but the center of the storm had passed to the west of Asheville and the city had not suffered any major damage. And the weather was fine while we were there.

We spent our first full day in Asheville exploring the city. It’s an old city, but it’s got a very young, very hip feel to it. There are 60+ breweries in town, for example, the most per capita of any US city, and second only to Portland, Oregon (where we’re from) in total number.

Asheville is also a very arts oriented city. As well as sampling a few of the brew pubs, we also visited a few of the galleries and artists studios in the River Arts District and the city center, but our limited amount of time there didn’t allow us to fully explore Asheville’s arts scene.

Asheville is also a great destination for foodies. There are many very good restaurants in the city and there’s a thriving farm-to-table food scene. If you’re ever there, I highly recommend that you seek out Sunny Point Cafe in particular. It’s a wonderful restaurant in West Asheville. Everything’s made with fresh, local ingredients, and everything we had was done superbly. (It was so good that we ate there three times and I bought their cookbook). City Bakery in downtown Asheville is also a great place to start your day.

The city has much more of a Pacific Northwest vibe to it than I was expecting. Besides the galleries and studios, the restaurants, and breweries, Asheville is much like Portland in its easy access to nature and its outdoor oriented residents. I think you could move the whole city to the Willamette Valley or the Puget Sound region and it wouldn’t feel out of place at all. It has Southern roots, certainly, but what we saw of it was more New South than Old South.

On our second day, we trekked to Great Smoky Mountains National Park and drove up to Clingman’s Dome, one of the highest points east of the Rockies. The top of the divide was in the clouds and the valleys were filled with fog, but in between it was clear and the views were spectacular.

We spent most of the rest of the day hiking to a number of the park’s many waterfalls. The Smokies have a different, softer feel to them than the mountains of the Western U.S., but they have their own appeal. We were there a little too early in the season to catch much in the way of fall colors, but there were hints of how beautiful it would be in a few weeks.

We had planned to drive back to Asheville via the Blue Ridge Parkway, but portions were closed due to trees downed by the hurricane. The Parkway runs from Great Smoky Mountains National Park all the way to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, 469 miles in total. We were able to drive about a 25 mile section of the parkway near Asheville that was open, but not being able to see more of it was disappointing.

Our third day was split between further explorations of Asheville and a visit to Chimney Rock State Park, about 25 miles southeast of Asheville, near the town of Bat Cave.

There’s an elevator that takes you from the parking area up to near the top of Chimney Rock, which is a tall free standing spire on one side of a very large granite dome. The elevator wasn’t working, though, so we climbed the 492 steps (I counted them) to the top, then another 80 to a nook called the Opera Box that looks down on the top of Chimney Rock and provides a great view of the valley below.

After the climb and descent (going down was worse than going up), we did a 1.4 mile out and back hike to Hickory Nut Falls, a very impressive 480 foot waterfall on the other side of the dome.

After leaving the park we had lunch in the community of Chimney Rock, then went for another short hike along the Broad River.

Biltmore Estate. Image from Wikimedia Commons

Asheville is probably most famous for being the site of the Biltmore Estate, the largest private home in the country. Unfortunately, it takes the better part of a full day to tour the estate, and we didn’t have the time. So, that will have to wait until our next visit.

Asheville is a fascinating city, worth a longer visit than we gave it, and a great place to use as a base to explore the Great Smoky Mountains, tour the Blue Ridge Parkway, and visit the surrounding countryside. I hope that we will be able to return someday to more fully take in what Asheville has to offer, and more fully explore Great Smoky Mountains National Park and and the rest of the southern Appalachian Mountains via the Blue Ridge Parkway. For more information about visiting Asheville, click here.

After visiting Asheville, we visited two charming Old South cities: Charleston, SC, and Savannah, Georgia. Check out our posts on Charleston here, and Savannah here.

Originally posted December 22, 2019. Updated and re-posted January 30, 2023