3 Days in Savannah — Whitesell Wellness

While this post is quite overdue, it still remains a highlight from Summer 2021. I love the 4th of July, I love the fireworks, the usual calm of the day, it just feels slow, easy, relaxing and exciting all at the same time. Every year, though, the 4th sneaks up on us—you would think that we (actually, sorry Justin, we both know where the blame lands)—would plan ahead. For the last two, maybe three years, about two months in advance, I ask, “Where should we go? What should we do?” And then two weeks out, “let’s go somewhere for the Fourth.” Now, it has always worked out, always, it always does, doesn’t it? My friend Jessica Drew Travel had recently been in Savannah and well after some quick research and hotel availability, that’s how we landed there.

Friday

We packed up the car, Fitz included, and headed to the very pet friendly Perry Lane Hotel. While I wish I could say check in was smooth, it was worth the wait as we used an upgrade for a suite…only the best for little dog, of course. But with unlimited champagne from morning ‘til night (yes!) we were just fine.

We had drinks at the Wayward, which is a great cocktail bar technically part of the hotel, before dinner at Local 11 Ten. We were seated in a back sunroom and had some excellent cocktails. We ordered the heirloom tomato salad & mussels as an appetizer. The tomatoes were the epitome of summer - ripe, juicy heirlooms and a gorgeous corn coulis. We love mussels and typically tend to split them as an app wherever we go. These were flavorful and the broth was light.

I had the mahi-mahi with polenta and I don’t cook mahi often at home and really enjoyed it.

We snagged rooftop drinks with a young fun crowd at The Grove Rooftop as a friend of a friend also happened to be in Savannah. We took some adult juice pouches to go (yes! like New Orleans and Las Vegas, you can walk with an open container) back to the hotel…to a barking Fitz. Whoops.

Saturday

In the morning we had breakfast at The Emporium Kitchen & Wine Market in the Perry Lane Hotel (we actually ate there daily). After some sustenance, we walked towards the river and I explored a few shops — including famous The Paris Market.

Justin loves the beach and after our trip to St. Simons last year we wanted to check out Tybee. We were able to snag a dog sitter via Rover to hang with Fitz. Tybee is about 20 minutes from Savannah. It’s a cute little town and we were pleasantly surprised with the beach and how uncrowded it felt the day before the Fourth of July. While it rained while we were there we definitely want to check it out again for perhaps a little longer stay.

We had drinks at The Deck, stopped by some cute shops on the way out and headed back.

We hung at the pool for a little, snagged some lunch, and took a nice afternoon nap.

Dinner was at The Collins Quarter and y’all it was probably one of the most memorable dinners I’ve had in a long time. From the cool, open chic vibe of the restaurant to really great service and simple dishes with a lot of flavor—I would happily revisit even though there are classic restaurants we didn’t get to visit (like The Olde Pink House, maybe next time).

I’ll say we over-ordered at The Collins Quarter but we were happy with every dish that we tasted. We had the devils on horseback because y’all know I love me some bleu cheese. And while I’m not usually a huge queso fan (do not @ me LOL) the chorizo & cauliflower fudido caught my eye so we had that too. While almost EVERY table had the NC trout, it couldn’t be done gluten-free so I ended up with the roasted half chicken. I was happy as could be me and my protein. Justin had the short rib and we ordered a side of fries since the short rib was a la carte. He was happy because the fries were a great dunking vehicle for the short rib sauce.

All of that said about food - y’all the wine list here is insane. And they pour really unique wines by the glass. I settled on a glass from Chateau Musar from Lebanon. It was a beautiful white with only 800 cases produced.

We went back to snag Fitz for post dinner drinks and walked back downtown, ironically ending up at TCQ sister restaurant, the Fitzroy where we had craft cocktails on the roof.

Sunday

The Fourth of July! One of my favorite holidays.

We always planned to keep it lower key instead of navigating crowds and dinner reservations. So we sat by the pool at the Perry Lane Hotel and sipped cocktails all morning, had some lunch (not worth mentioning), and found our Christmas ornament for the trip at A Christmas on the River. It was a delightful day, that ended with rooftop fireworks back at the Perry Lane Hotel with our best boy of course, who handled the bangs quite well. The view was incredible, we could see across the entirety of the city, it was a lovely end to our long holiday weekend.