Having started a slow cadence of travel when we could arrange child care and time off from work, we approached the end of 2011 and started checking calendars. Schedules being what they were, it turned out that children would be cared for during the New Year’s holiday., and we considered the possibility to get out of town for a few days. So, where to? The West Coast would involve a lengthy flights, the Midwest at the time didn’t seem particularly interesting (at least the parts within driving distance), and we’d already been to Arkansas, New Mexico and chunks of east Texas. Scanning the maps of the east coast, we spotted Savannah, tucked into the tall pines trees and coastal swamps and fields of southeast Georgia. The city itself is not directly on the coast, but its proximity to the Atlantic would allow for some time on the beach, the city history looked interesting, and neither of us had ever been there. Savannah it was.