Trip Day 7 - Wednesday, April 30 - Savannah -> Vidalia -> Brunswick
Left Savannah and headed to Reidsville, GA to Dandy's Daily, a coffee shop owned by Jay's cousin Jessica. We chatted a bit and I had a Nutella Latte (unfortunately, it was just a latte with Hazelnut syrup, so not really a Nutella Latte).
My next stop was the Vidalia Onion Museum where I got a private tour by Carolyn. She started up some videos about the Vidalia Onion brand creation and how Vidalia onions are planted, transferred, and harvested.
Tricia then gave me more information including a tip for getting the best onion rings from Chatters, so I went there for their lunch buffet and an order of rings. My only veggie was onion rings.
After leaving Chatters, I went to my Airbnb in Brunswick. Of the 4, this is one I like the least. More on that when I leave. Maybe I'll grow to love it (I didn't).
I walked over to the Pinball Palace and played for a couple of hours. Not a lot done today, but many miles covered.
Trip Day 8 - Thursday, May 1 - Part 1 - Brunswick
Waking up to a nice cup of coffee is great, right? Well, the Keurig machine needed to be descaled first and wouldn't produce coffee. At home, I have descaled my Keurigs multiple times, but usually it's with some warning AFTER COFFEE. The last thing I wanted to do was clean a coffee machine, so I went to Walmart and bought a $40 model. Now I have a spare one for road trips.
I first went to Fort Frederica. There is so much about this, I will create a separate entry below.
Again, plans failed. My plan was to go to Sweet Mama's for Peach Cobbler. They did not have Peach Cobbler because peaches are not in season yet. So what did the Peach Cobbler Factory use in Savannah? While asking about Peach Cobbler, met the owner. A lady at her table offered me a piece of cinnamon roll and it was SOOOO good.
I stopped in at the Pinball Palace again for an hour or two, then headed to the Strike Zone to meet William Johnson. He beat me the first game, then I did better than him in the second one.
We went to dinner at Southern Soul Barbeque where I had Brunswick Stew and ribs.
Trip Day 8 - Thursday, May 1 - Part 2 - Brunswick
Georgia was the LAST of the 13 colonies. There was a group of 21 Englishmen called the Trustees for Colony of Georgia and Oglethorpe was the only one of them to come over here. He believed in getting people out of debtors prison in England and letting them work it off here. He founded Savannah and then Fort Frederica on St Simon's Island (near Brunswick).
The fort was built to protect from the Spanish who were 75 miles south in St Augustine. The Brits and Spaniards were at war for control of America and the fort was on a river that led to the Atlantic which would have been used by the Spanish to land troops south of Savannah. The Spanish wanted control of Fort Frederica and attacked in 1742 but lost at the Battle of Bloody Marsh. It stopped the Spanish and a few years later in 1748, Spain and England made peace and Fort Frederica and the town of Frederica were abandoned after the garrison was withdrawn in 1749.
Trip Day 9 - Friday, May 2 - Brunswick
A bit of sightseeing, Brunswick Stew, bowling, and pinball.
I first went to see the 1st Brunswick Stew Pot Monument at Mary Ross Waterfront Park and then the Lover's Oak.
I went to Gary Lee's Market for Brunswick Stew and Banana Pudding. Both were better than Southern Soul Barbeque. There was a large group of sheriffs and deputies as well as Homeland Security folks there, so you know it was good. It was also incredibly reasonable at $3.50 for each item.
I went back to Strikezone and bowled 3 games.
That was followed by the First Friday tournament at Pinball Palace. I was doing ok, but then choked my last 3 games which dropped me to 8th place out of 14.

Pinball Palace got the new King Kong Stern machine today and it was used in the tournament.
Trip Day 10 - Saturday, May 3 - Brunswick -> Aiken, SC -> Home
I decided to leave a day early because:
- the Airbnb sucked
- I was out of things to do in Brunswick other than play pinball all day which I didn't want to do
- I kinda wanted to go home
The Airbnb in Brunswick was the worst of the 4 by a lot.
- Bed and pillows were hard and couldn't get a good night's rest
- I had to buy a Keurig because the one provided needed descaling
- I had no control over temperature - it was remote controlled by the host
There's more, but it would probably have to be a novel.
I heard from Dustin at the Pinball tournament that the smallest church in America was on my way, so I went and visited it.
After that I drove to Aiken, SC to go to the Radioactive Pinball Arcade. I only stayed an hour then drove home. I ended the day at Portal Pinball to visit with Mac - it was her last Saturday. Also chatted with Amanda and Bryan. Plus the Beast needed to go to Portal.
I also included the next day's visits to Marietta Meltyard and Portal with a sad goodbye to Mac.
