Tybee Island, Savannah Georgia (Monday, April 4th, 2016)

We got up this morning with the idea that we would really like to see Tybee Island (off the coast of Savannah) before we leave this beautiful state.  So we showered early, packed our bags, and were out of the room by 7:30.  We ran to McDonalds and bought a couple of coffees.  They had a walk-up window that we thought was really cute, and there was even a guy using it.  

The walk-up window from the inside.  Looks just like a drive up window.

Then we walked over to Pie Society, which we saw yesterday, and bought a six-inch ham and mushroom quiche and jumped in the car and headed east.

Some savory breakfast treats at Pie Society

Some sweet treats at Pie Society

It is only about a half hour drive from Savannah to Tybee Island, so we thought it would definitely be worth doing.

There is a really cute town on Tybee Island, and a beautiful beach, so we spent as much time as we could, before having to head to Atlanta to catch our flight.  

Our yummy breakfast from Pie society

And our wonderful breakfast spot.  This beats eating inside any day!

Our breakfast view

The end of the pier

The seagull is having some breakfast too.  A jellyfish that washed up on the shore

For our youngest daughter who loves to capture her vacations in the sand

Part of a sand dollar.  We couldn't find a whole one

Another washed up jelly fish.  They are so interesting looking.

The pavillion on the pier, complete with vendors and clean restrooms

Looking from the pavilion out toward the end of the pier

They are currently filming the new Bay Watch movie on Tybee Island, so there were a lot of movie props on the beach.  It was really fun to see it all, and try to imagine what the movie will be like.  Most of the props we saw were a life guard training station. From what we heard, when they are filming they close off this entire part of the beach, so we were lucky to get to see this.

They had even changed out the signs on the pier for the movie

Also part of the props

We also enjoyed the views of this quaint little beach town.

Bad picture from the car window, but this place was hillarious!

Leaving Tybee Island, and the drive back to Atlanta was relaxing and beautiful....

Until we got close to the Atlanta Airport that is.....  This is the route our GPS was showing us to get back to the rental car building.  I don't think it would be a good idea to make a wrong turn at this point.  Luckily we were in the outside lane.

When we got on our flight, we heard the girl in front of us talking about Ranger School graduation, so we jumped into the conversation.  When she turned around to talk to us, we realized that she had been sitting right behind us at the graduation ceremony.  She had a huge allergy attack while we were waiting for graduation to start, so Steve had run back to the rental car to get some allergy medicine for her.  We started talking to her a little more, and realized that her fiance was in the same squad as our son (in-law) in Ranger school.  She was heading back to Reno, so it was quite a coincidence that we were on the same flight.

Our daughter was at the airport to pick us up.  We all had a nice ride home talking about how fun the trip had been.   

We really enjoyed our trip to Georgia.   Definitely the highlight was our son (in-law's) graduation from Ranger school, but we are so happy that we took the time to explore some of what Georgia has to offer.  It is a beautiful state with a lot of really nice people!  They were all so warm and welcoming, which added to the enjoyment of the overall experience.

Atlanta, Georgia (Tuesday, March 29th, 2016)

Our daughter headed off this morning for work as usual, but had her bags packed for a very important trip to Georgia.  Her husband is graduating from Ranger School on Friday!

Steve and I spent the day packing and getting ready for our week long trip.  So excited to see our son (in-law), and watch him graduate!

Steve's parents are taking us to the airport to avoid having two cars there.  Our daughter will leave straight from work, and meet us there.  We will be on the 5:15 flight to Atlanta.  When our daughter arrived at the airport, she gave us a call and asked us to meet her at the USO.  Most large airports in the US have a USO, it is an organization that strives to make the travels of active military and their families more comfortable.  When we walked into the USO, they had cubbies for our bags, a free snack bar with donuts, muffins, hot dogs, etc.  They had tables and internet as well as loungers and a TV.  It isn't fancy, but it is the perfect place to spend your time if you had a long delay, or even for our half hour wait before take-off.  Steve, being the gentleman that he is, left our daughter and I to enjoy the USO, while he went to pick us up some dinner and then meet us at the gate. 

Hanging out at the USO before our flight to Atlanta.  What a great place for military families!

When we arrived at the Atlanta airport, we had to pick up our rental car.  We usually use Avis, since we are preferred customers with them, but this time we could not get good rates with them, so using our IHG rewards program (linked to Holiday Inn Express), we were able to get a good rate at Hertz.  We also got a lot of IHG points to use in the future, so you can't beat that!

When we landed at the Jackson-Hartfield airport in Atlanta, we took the train to the rental car building, which was the last train stop.  Our daughter and I waited with the bags while Steve went to the counter to get the car that we had reserved a week earlier.  We had reserved the car with Hertz, and although we usually reserve our car with Avis because we are Avis preferred customers, we are also Hertz preferred members, so we assumed that we would be treated well.  When Steve got to the counter, they explained that they did not have any full-size cars available.  We needed a large car as we were taking one of our daughters friends to Columbus with us and we all had a bunch of luggage.  Steve worked patiently with them while our daughter and I waited with the bags.  Apparently they were not happy with the rate we got, so they kept stalling, and offering him "upgrages" at an additional charge.  Steve was not willing to do this since he had been guaranteed a full-sized car at the rate quoted to him.

Finally, after 45 minutes they "found" a brand new Toyota Camry for him which was big enough to accommodate all of our passengers and bags, so we took the car and headed out of the airport.  It was now 11:00 pm, and we were tired, and tired of fighting with Hertz.  It was not a good experience, and one we hope to not have to go through again anytime soon.

Our hotel reservation was at the Holiday Inn Express, Airport location.  When we arrived, the woman at the front desk was extrodinary!  She was so friendly and helpful.  She gave us our room, which since we arrived so late (around 11:45 pm) was one of the last rooms they had.  We went to our room, and at first glance, it looked great, but very soon, we realized that the heater had a constant banging noise.  We figured that we were tired enough that we could sleep through it, so we all jumped into bed with hopes of a good nights sleep.