Savannah, River Street, and....FORREST GUMP!

So we have officially begun working for our first tournament.  This tournament begins on Friday, but set-up and planning begins much earlier, on Monday.  It has been pretty relaxed so far...just working through checklists of things to get done, creating cart signs, taking course photography, and organizing player packets.

We finished working yesterday around 5:00, went to the hotel for a few hours, then our Tournament Director, Mark Finger, was able to have his dad take us out to dinner.  It was great getting to know some of the AJGA staff on a more personal level, and the food wasn't too bad either : )

This is where I get to work all week!

Ok, so today was pretty awesome.  First of all, I was able to see where my all-time favorite movie, Forrest Gump (if you couldn't guess by the title) was filmed, but I was also granted a day off by the fine staff of the AJGA.  Thank you!!!

My team and I headed into Savannah around noon, after we took full advantage of our time to sleep in.  80 degrees and sunny, it couldn't have been better.  I made it very clear that the ONLY thing I wanted to see that day was the bench where the bus scenes in Forrest Gump were filmed.  I could already visualize my photo op, but I would have to connect to my inner Gump first.  I was counting down the minutes until I could finally see where Tom Hanks became famous.

Soon after arriving to Savannah, a lovely tourist guide informed myself and my teammates that the bench was no longer at it's original spot in Chippewa Square, but had been moved to the Savannah Historical Museum.  I felt like I was looking, and failing, to find the treasure.  It kept moving!

Anyway, my teammate Ally and I were determined to see this bench.  The boys of our group lost interest; walking around in the hot sun looking for something that we weren't quite sure where to find wasn't exactly their idea of fun.  But for Ally and I, or hopes weren't squashed that easily.  We trekked it up about a mile to find this museum.  We did it, and we got to see the bench for free!!  After finagling with the museum contact (we weren't dishonest - he just decided to let us view the bench for free!), we finally located the Forrest Gump bench.  Here is what we saw!

There is a picture of Forrest Gump sitting on the bench
as well as his original suitcase that was used in the movie.

I was probably a little more excited than the average person would have been to finally see this bench in person, but this has been my favorite movie for quite some time, so I was ecstatic.  Not only does this movie cover pretty much every major event of the mid- to late 20th century, but it also has a killer soundtrack and cast.  I mean, Tom Hanks, Gary Sinsie (Lieutenant Dan!)...you can't go wrong!  It's a comedy, drama, romance all in one.  And it teaches me that if I look at life in the most simple way, I could /will potentially be the most successful.  I love that idea!

Me in front of Chippewa Square.  This is what you can
see behind Forrest Gump during the bus scenes.

Now, Forrest didn't take up our entire afternoon.  Don't worry, we still found time to make it to the famous River Street in downtown Savannah.  This place is cool.  Right on the water with a ton of bars and restaurants.  They had taste tests of grouper, a type of fish I had never heard of, and walked the streets for awhile.  One thing that I noticed, Savannah has the STEEPEST stairs down to River Street.  I mean, these baby's should have a caution sign before you descend!  Ally and I paused for a moment to take in how steep these things actually were.  It was almost as if we were stepping onto a bench for every step we took.

Grouper! It looked much better dead and
deep fried.

I can rest my hand on the next stair up...
this was a treacherous path.

Despite the steep incline, these stairs were actually pretty impressive.  I can't imagine how old they are; Savannah is a pretty old city, I believe even before the United States declared independence.  I would guess these stairs are, to put it in Forrest's words, "old as Alabama".

After having to pass inclines that even the Tour de France cyclists would dread, we developed a little bit of an appetite.  There is some gooooood eatin' on River Street, but it's a little pricey for our budgets, so we asked our trusty tour guide again, and he pointed us in the right direction.  B&D's Burgers is what we got, and boy were we happy.  (I should probably point out that we didn't actually have a tour guide, we just made friends with the man that worked of the city in the middle of the Savannah City Market.)

Me in front of B&D's

B&D's is just a local place; we were told there are only three places in Savannah.  It was delicious.  They have probably about 30 different burgers, with toppings from mozzarella sticks and fried eggs, to sun-dried tomatoes and chili.  It was incredible!  You could also choose 1/3 lb., 1/2 lb., or one entire pound.  Max was brave enough to try the whole pounder, but most of us just stuck with the 1/3.  You have got to give him credit though.  He finished it all.  I went with the Forsyth burger.  It was juicy, succulent and heavenly.  I had sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, swiss cheese, regular tomatoes, red onion, lettuce, and the best bun I've ever had.  It was almost a french roll I guess.  It didn't take me long to down that burger...I'm eager to find more local places like this while we're on the road.

Before we left Savannah for the day, we took one last team picture.  

Ben, me, Max, Aaron, Teddy and Ally