Possums and palm trees

Sunday, January 15, 2012

POOLER, GA – This town is a suburb of Savannah, and we found a nice hotel here just off the highway and right next to a Cracker Barrel restaurant where we had our dinner. This restaurant chain provides home cookin’ in a cozy atmosphere with a roaring fire in a huge stone fireplace and flickering hurricane lamps at each table. We enjoyed juicy chicken with steaming biscuits, buttery carrots and mashed potatoes, and yes, an indulgent dessert of hot apple pie and apple dumpling with melting ice cream! Delicious!
While we’re on the topic of food, I should describe our breakfast experience at the hotel in Greenville. Every place we’ve stayed so far has offered free breakfast, and much more than just a croissant and a coffee. Today, along with bagels, muffins, cereal, yogurt, fruit and hot and cold beverages, there were three hot covered serving dishes. One was oatmeal and the second was cream of wheat, but we couldn’t tell what the third dish was. Finally another guest explained that the thick, greyish sauce with little chunks of sausage in it was to pour over hot biscuits. It’s a new one on us, but clearly a southern delicacy of some popularity!
We had another beautiful, sunny day for traveling, as we headed southeast through South Carolina toward the Atlantic coast. We entered Georgia only in the last hour of our trip today, but it was interesting to see evidence that we were in the southern US as we drove along. There were lots of evergreen trees, but the other vegetation included deciduous trees that had shed all their leaves for winter, plus smaller shrubs that had not. On some, the leaves were brown, but others had kept their green leaves. I also glimpsed a few trees with branches dripping with moss – which I have always associated with the deep south! I really knew we’d left the north behind when I saw palm trees – the short, stubby type with fan-shaped branches – planted in front of hotels or public buildings.
We saw several small possums. Unfortunately, they were dead ones by the side of the road. But they had little pointed snouts that told us they weren’t racoons. Poor little critters. Again, we knew we were in the south.
“How y’all doin’?” was the greeting in the hotel lobby as we checked in. We figure we must sound quite different to the locals, because they sure sound different to us! It’s lovely to hear that southern drawl, and everyone is really friendly. We’re going to spend two nights here so we can have a tour of Savannah. We’ll tell you more tomorrow.