"you hold an event and we turn up"
THE BAD PENNIES
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THE BAD PENNIES
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by Peggy Bercher
Hard as it was to leave Charleston, it was back to Savannah. That evening we went to our group
dinner and despite begging and pleading, Matt Pernick kept his choice of restaurant a complete surprise.
Following his directions we found ourselves at the Casbah Moroccan Restaurant that came complete
with its very own belly dancer.
As a footnote to the events of this trip we have the saga of the Great Camera Swap. In the aftermath of the wedding lots of photographs were taken to remember the occasion. Nothing seemed amiss until the Loopers took their film to be developed and discovered did they had returned with a camera obviously belonging to another Bad Penny. E-mail was sent out with a call for the group to check the camera they currently had in their possession to see if it really belonged to them It all ended well when the mystery was solved and Don and Jean Fox and Ron and Fran Looper each took back their very own cameras. How convenient for all that the two couples live just a few streets apart.
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(for the
confused, her cap was labeled bride) while the groom looked quite handsome in his baseball cap (appropriately labeled groom). They
were married near checkpoint #2 and a good time was had by all.
estimated to be over 600years old; The Fountain of Youth Park (didn't go
in which may have been a mistake on my part); 
the Castillo de San Marcos
National Monument and Flagler College originally built in 1888 as the
luxury resort the Ponce de Leon Hotel. The above were just a FEW of the wonderful things we saw on the
walk. I'm lucky my head didn't swivel off from turning it from side to side so much.
beautiful city that is. The walk took us through
several neighborhoods with one beautiful home after another. We peeked in gates and admired garden
after garden obviously tended by loving hands. We saw Rainbow Row, which represents
the longest cluster
of intact Georgian row houses in the United States. The name Rainbow Row was coined after the houses
were painted pastel colors during their restoration in the 1930s and 1940s. 
One
fun thing happened to us as we walked through the Market and it must be because volksmarchers are a friendly looking bunch- A
group of young ladies approached us and explained that they were on a scavenger hunt. They needed to have
their photograph taken with some tourists and asked if we would we be willing to
be "their" tourists. Good sports that we are, we said "Sure.
"Then they added a minor point. Someone in the photograph needed to
be kissing a rubber chicken. I hope I never decide to run for any important office because that
photograph of me kissing a rubber chicken might come back to haunt me.
No eat and run here! We had a very leisurely dinner that included the
washing of our hands between courses. 
Eating with the right band is customary in Moroccan traditional families
and proved to be a bit difficult for the southpaws in our group. 
As is the group's custom there was a drawing
to determine the Bad Penny of each van and a final drawing for the Baddest Penny of the trip. The
lucky winners were Maryanne Conway, Marshall Hansen, Betty Strawderman and Sue
Hornbuckle. The Baddest Penny overall all was Mary Widmann. All in all, this dining experience was memorable especially
for those of us who sat on cushions on the floor when it came tune to get up to leave.
we did the Savannah walk and if the number of photographs I took
is any indication, my favorite city of the three. The start/finish point was the
Whistle Stop Cafe located at the Visitor's Center, originally the passenger station of the central of Georgia Railway. Again what stands
out in my mind is the outstanding architecture. Many of the houses had signs on them indicating for whom
they were originally built and it was fun read the names and dates. 
The founder of the colony of
Georgia, General James Ogelthorpe, devised the idea of neighborhoods centered around squares
(parks),
many of which are intact today. Most have some sort of statue or sculpture as their focal point. We passed
the D.A.R cemetery and stopped to read some of the signs that indicated which famous personage was buried
in that particular spot. We saw the home of Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts of
America. We passed the Savannah Cotton Exchange, where worldwide cotton prices were set and the
statute 
of Florence Martus, Savannah's waving girl who granted ships coming into the harbor for 46 years. And
let's not forget a very tasty lunch at the Shrimp Factory. The building that houses the Shrimp Factory
was originally built during the winter months of 1823 through 1826 as a warehouse for cotton, resin and
other products. It was hard to tear ourselves away from the sights and sounds but all too quickly it was time
to return to the Jacksonville airport and come home.