Fuck Yeah Friday! [2020-02-28]

[thrillingdetectivetales]

Fuck Yeah, Friday!


Hale and well met, internet fellows! I welcome you to the new and improved version of Fuck Yeah Friday!, a weekly celebration of things in the world that are making folks stoked to be alive and a part of it all.

I'm going to continue my tradition of raving about something I love, but I want this to be a more interactive experience so I encourage you to share something you're excited about in the comments! It can be as simple as a word, or you can link to your own FYF! promo post on your own blog, whatever. I just want to share some love and learn about some cool new shit.

My Fuck Yeah Friday! topic this week is: Savannah, Georgia.

For most of my life, I considered myself to be type of person who doesn't really feel rooted to one particular place. No moss on a rolling stone and all that, I have long dreamt of spending my days in a converted Airstream or equivalently pretentious mobile "tiny home," meandering across the country from one nowhere town to another, scaring my family when they don't hear from me for weeks at a time. I still kind of want to do that someday, but the meat of those plans were shattered when I was lucky enough to go to college in the unparalleled beauty of downtown Savannah, Georgia.


I grew up in the desert, but spent a lot of time in my youth going back and forth to Georgia for summer vacations. Somehow, despite years tooling around in the suburbs of Atlanta, my family didn't make it down to Savannah until I went there to tour the Savannah College of Art & Design and friends? I was instantly in love.

I think downtown Savannah is the most beautiful place I've ever lived, bar none. Beautiful enough that I'm making plans to move back there next February, when my lease is up. Once I got used to the humidity, the requisite bugs, and the occasional inescapable sausage-fart smell of the paper mill, I became utterly enamored of the lush trees drooping over every street and alley, of the sticky salt air and the sudden, unexpected summer storms that would drop by to rage for a few hours before dispersing as promptly as they'd appeared. The architecture in the historic downtown portion of the city—its beating heart, and where I long to be anytime I stop for a second and think about what I want out of life—is absolutely gorgeous, if also extremely haunted and oftentimes coming from dark, unhappy lineage. (As do most things in the American south, because, you know, slavery and racism.)

Still, it's a city that speaks to me in a way no other place ever has, and the longer I'm away the more I miss it. How could I not when it boasts such charming locales as Forsyth Park, where they dye the fountain green every St. Patrick's Day and host endless music, food, and family events?


I used to run around this park almost every day. I have tripped and
eaten shit on the uneven paving ringing its beautiful grass so many times.
Or, if you're not the park type—which, actually, means Savannah probably isn't for you, since almost every one of its original 24 squares remains a glorious mini-park—there's Broughton Street, the main shopping thoroughfare. Home to both the SCAD Library and such retail gems as The Savannah Bee Company, where I was blessed enough to work for a couple of years, there's a whole slew of local business as well as some big-name mainstays like Birkenstocks and Banana Republic. They string Broughton Street up with lights during the holidays, and once a year it hosts the SCAD Film Festival, which draws a surprisingly robust crowd of celebrities. There's plenty to eat on Broughton, too, and throughout most of downtown Savannah. Some famous places, like Zunzi's—which is across the street from one of SCAD's main office buildings and makes a sandwich called the Conquistador, which might be the best chicken sandwich I've ever put in my face and that's not even starting in on their phenomenal rooibos sweet tea—and plenty of local spots with more of a cult following, like The Coffee Fox. They have a horchata latte on the menu that's so good it'll make you slap your mother.


Just look at this beautiful bastard, wouldja? I don't even want to think
about the amount of that special sauce I've consumed over the years...
If you're lukewarm on parks, shopping, and transcendental food experiences, I think you might need more help than I can reasonably provide, but I've got one or two tricks up my sleeve for you, yet. For those spooky bitches among us, there's the Colonial Park Cemetery. Like most things in Savannah, it's super haunted!


Fun fact: My family once got publicly dragged by the guide on a ghost tour that stopped
at Colonial Park Cemetery because our gallows humor was apparently too off-putting
for the gentleman in question to take.

Don't like hanging out around a bunch of desecrated graves or walking all over corpses? Maybe City Market is more your speed! You can grab a slice of 'za the size of your whole head at Vinnie Van Go-Go's, or hop on a carriage tour around the city. From there, it's a short trip to the River Walk, which boasts even more shopping, including a second location of the Savannah Bee Company, several candy shops, a delicious hole-in-the-wall Greek casual dining joint, and so much seafood you could happily drown yourself in clarified butter and tartar sauce.

If you're still not sufficiently wooed, I'd recommend you seek the guidance of a professional, but don't despair! There's even more culture and delight to be found along the muggy Savannah streets. Take, for instance, the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist. One of many, many churches in town, it's an iconic part of the Savannah skyline and a humbling place to be. I've never attended a service because I can't quite get down with the way the Catholics do it, but there are regular tours for those among us who identify as atheists, non-practitioners or observe other faiths. Churches aren't your thing? Well, good news! Savannah is also home to one of the premier art universities in the continental U.S., which means they have not one but two phenomenal independent art museums—the traditional Telfair Academy and the Jepson Center for the Arts, which hosts mobile exhibits of both old-school and modern art—among the slew of SCAD-operated galleries and show spaces.


You can tell it's modern because of the sleek lines and minimalist architecture!
If art isn't your thing, The National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force is only about a twenty minute drive down the freeway, and is one of my favorite WWII museum experiences that America has to offer. There are planes! There are experiential exhibits! There are veteran volunteers who will willingly talk your ear off and may or may not make you cry! In the grand tradition of all quality museums, there's even an overpriced café-meets-gift shop! I anticipate even more exciting events will start happening there as Hanks, Spielberg, et. al. move further into development on Masters of the Air, thought that may just be my optimistic inner HBO War fan talking.

Anyway, thanks for coming to my TED talk on why Savannah is the best, and I hope that I've at least provided a little quality entertainment if I haven't fully convinced you to someday visit the city I intend to make my own again very soon.


Now tell me what you're excited about! EVERY. LAST. THING!!!