Hell-Bent and Savannah Bound

Look out, Hilton Head. Here come the Cranks.

My little family and I have thrown together a vacation. Until two weeks ago, if you'd asked us out summer plans, we would have told you we were just staying home and working on Jason's "Honey Do" list. We also had a close family member seriously ill and in the hospital from the first week in February until Mother's Day weekend, and until we felt like her health had improved, we didn't feel like leaving home for any reason (there are a couple of you I really need to get around to seeing now that things have settled.) But I got an itching to roam a few weeks ago, and I found a condo 3 minutes from the beach in Hilton Head that happens to be owned by a family from our church and happens to be available next week for $100 off the weekly rate, and there you have it. Ainsley is going to see the ocean for the first time ever, and I am going to see it for the first time since 1997. I am kinda Hobbit-like; I like to stay home, drink pints, eat cakes, and generally not go away for adventures. But we've had a pretty rough winter, and we have decided that we're getting the hell out of Dodge, high gas prices be damned.

I am excited about the beach, but I think what really has me fighting that little bit of agoraphobia I have (I started crying when we crossed the Kentucky/Tennessee line on our way to Disney World last year and had to stop at a rest stop and take deep breaths for no other reason than I was having a mini panic attack at leaving my home state) is the thought of a day trip to Savannah 40 minutes away.

I have been wanting to visit Savannah since Jason and I rented Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil years ago. I am fascinated by that true Southern city that isn't afraid to get its freak on. Throw to that mix my adoration for all things Paula Deen, and my wish to eat hoecakes in her restaurant, and I am actually looking forward to loading up the car. Mostly.

Hilton Head is "only" 10 1/2 hours away from us, so we're tackling the trip in one day. I am thinking compared to the drive to Orlanda last year (16 hours straight through on the way home!) this will seem like a piece of cake. But in the event of another Kentucky/Tennessee panic attack, I will be packing a 6-pack of cold ones to pop open when we switch drivers. Cokes, of course. To swallow the Xanax. (Just kidding! Mostly!)

So I will be taking a week off of the blog. But here's what I am going to do: I usually have the feature turned on where I have to approve all comments before they appear (since I do some blogging at work and use my work email to moderate, I have to make sure everything I post is somewhat appropriate.) But while I am gone, I am going to turn that feature off on this post and let y'all talk to each other.

Some things to discuss:

1. The X-Files movie: Awesomeness, or a huge disappointment waiting to happen?

2. Favorite ice cream flavor? And where in your town is THE place to go for ice cream? (Betcha it can't beat Cincinnati's own--Graeters.)

3. Which of the summer reality shows are actually worth watching? Can you help yourself from watching the one about Corey Haim and Corey Feldman?

4. What are you reading? (It wouldn't be a librarian's blog if we didn't talk books every so often.)

5. What was the best summer of your life, and why?


Ready...set...go!

See you in a little over a week. I am guessing, us being, well, us, that interesting and weird things will happen and I will have some good stories when we get back. I will at the very least tell you if Paula Deen's food is as good as she makes it look on the show, and if my dream of seeing The Lady Chablis and hollering out, "Hey, Bitch!" gets realized.



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