Do you want that here or to go?

I hadn't realized that Savannah was such a party town, kind of an eastern version of New Orleans. I saw several of these trolleys, which are basically bars on wheels; the riders pump bicycle pedals to move the trolley along while drinking.

There was a mixup with my hotel checkin, so they gave me a voucher for a free drink in the bar. When I went to collect my glass of wine, the bartender asked, “Do you want that here or to go?”

Hot as hell

This dramatic sunrise closeup feels appropriate after surviving a few days in hot, humid Savannah. The weather probably hasn't been much worse than we'd get in New York in July, but it's May and my body definitely isn't ready for this.

Also, my hair has apparently morphed into some kind of out of control shrubbery. Fortunately it's frequently plastered flat to my skull by sweat.

Bonus bird blogging

I like how the early morning sun turns this crow's feathers red.

I left Hilton Head yesterday. After a stop at the Pinckney Island refuge, which was well worth a visit but so hot and humid that I can only marvel at the fortitude of those who visit it in July, I turned in the car at the Savannah airport and took a taxi into the city.

Three days was just about the right amount of time for Hilton Head; it's just a giant resort, and if you don't golf or play tennis or bask on the beach all day, there's a limited number of things to do. If I were still working, lounging by the pool and reading would have been a nice break, but I can -- and do -- lounge around and read in New York, so that's not exactly a change for me.

But oh I will miss those sunrises on the beach.

Sunday bird blogging

This is a  crop from a bigger picture I'll post later, but I have to highlight these adorable baby egrets from Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge today.

Bonus reflections

It's not as dramatic, but I did manage to capture moonlight reflected in the sand as well, in the soft pastel light of early evening.

Saturday reflections

Yesterday morning on the beach.

The moon also rises

A full moon rising over the dunes earlier this evening.

Audubon Newhall Preserve

There are things to see in Hilton Head away from the beach. This pretty little park has hiking trails and is blessedly uncrowded -- there was only one other car in the parking lot when I arrived.

Despite the Audubon name, there weren't a lot of birds. I could hear them, but saw only a few flashes of bright feathers in the undergrowth. It was still lovely to walk on the trails with the trees towering overhead and sit on a bench by the pond and absorb the quiet.

Friday morning

I'm not sure if it's possible to have too many pictures of sunrises -- I may be testing that -- but I just love this bicyclist this morning.

More sunrise

I do tend to be an early riser, so it's not unusual for me to be awake at sunrise. And if it was visible from my Manhattan bedroom, I might occasionally see some of them. So a sunrise always feels like an occasion, and I have seen some memorable ones: over the Zambezi River in Zambia, through a fogged up bus window in Denali National Park, behind a courtyard of gum trees in the Australian Outback.

But sunrises, like sunsets, are best viewed over an ocean, and it's fun to have one right outside my hotel. Especially since I can have a breakfast that someone else cooked for me immediately afterwards.

Sunrise at Hilton Head

Spooky footprints

The evening light created the illusion that these footprints were actually pressing up through the sand rather than being imprints, as though some group of magical beings had been strolling on the ceiling of an underworld below me.

The beach is next to my hotel in Hilton Head, South Carolina. What am I doing in Hilton Head? I wanted to piggyback off my successful week in Washington by trying a solo journey. I wanted to be somewhere by the water -- I don't really like beach resorts but I love the ocean -- and it's reasonably easy to get here. So I found a nice hotel on the beach I could pay for with points, booked a flight and a rental car and here I am.