Today is a cool and wet day, so it's the perfect time to begin reflecting on our recent beach vacation to Savannah and Tybee Island, Georgia. Four of us had been before and were eager to share some of our favorite parts with the newer members of our family during our annual family vacation. As per normal, we began arriving at various times by various travel methods. Mom and Dad drove the trip in 2 days and were able to visit her aunt along the way in Tennessee. They met up with Katie and Aaron at the airport in Charleston, South Carolina and got the rental car situated. Mike and I flew into Charleston the next day, not without my usual side of travel drama. Air travel brings out the absolute worst in me. It started out rough that day because I was running on 2.5 hours of sleep because we had an early flight and I was up late packing. We didn't run into any traffic due to the early hour and we were able to get really close parking easily. The first part of the drama ensued when we got to the ticket counter. We opted to use only 1 bag on the trip for the both of us. I had just gotten a new giant suitcase and everything fit, so I thought we'd be good to go. Wrong. Our suitcase was 5-7 pounds overweight. The lady told me I needed to take something out or pay a fine. She asked if there was something I wanted to leave behind. Nope, I wouldn't have packed it if I didn't need it. So, $75 later, my bag was ready to go. Next, it was time to go through security, another favorite of mine. One of the security checkpoints in Austin is designed to go as quickly as possible, so there is an agent with a dog that will sniff you and another agent that randomly questions travelers. Then, everything stays on you or in your bag with no little gray bins. At 5 am, I wasn't in the mood, so apparently I ignored the agent asking questions, leaving Mike to overcompensate for my rudeness. Then, my bracelets beeped going through the machine and Mike made fun of me for putting my new bag in its dust bag before I would place it on the conveyor belt. We had a little bit of wait time and a successful flight to Nashville, Tennessee, where we had a short layover before headed out to Charleston. When we reached Charleston, Mom and Dad were waiting for us and our luggage arrived safely, so overall it was a good trip.

Our flight landed just in time for lunch, so we opted to eat in Charleston, as we had a 3 hour drive to Tybee. Mom and Dad had scoped out the area the previous day and recommended Fatz Cafe. Fatz was a Southern style restaurant known for their chicken. Upon finding out we were new, they gave us each a chicken tender to try, along with some delicious poppy seed rolls. We all ended up with various types of chicken, such as tenders and sandwiches. I personally, enjoyed the chicken tenders with cheddar cream cheese grits. The chicken was well seasoned and breaded. When in the South, I always take advantage of the opportunity to indulge in cheese grits. Fatz took them to another level by adding cream cheese so the grits were both cheesy and creamy. I will definitely start adding cream cheese to my grits from now on.

It as a 3 hour trip from Charleston to Tybee, so we ate and ran. It was neat to get to see a bit of the Southern low country. We also drove through Savannah on our way to the island. Our home away from home was a lovely multilevel condo located a few blocks from the beach. As per usual, we forgot to take many pictures of the house.

For dinner, Katie and Aaron had done some research on Tybee restaurants and came across a burger challenge at the Rock House. Aaron thought he and Mike should try the challenge, which was a burger with 6 patties, toppings and fries. If you ate the burger, you got a shirt. Mike debated and ultimately decided to bow out of the challenge. Aaron went forward with the Elvis burger challenge and in the end, he beat the challenge, finishing in about an hour. The rest of us enjoyed our meals of burgers, tacos, and taco salad, without feeling quite as full. Everyone was pretty tired after our days of traveling so we hit the sack a little early after setting some plans for the next day.

The New Austonian