Pie-Heaven: Welcome to the Low Country

I have many posts from the last few months on hold, as I've found myself far too lazy to actually revise them. So here's a new one.

River Street in downtown Savannah.

This is the first Christmas season during which I have not been in Portland.

As per the previous 6 months, I am still on the road for med school rotations. I'm currently in Savannah, GA at Mercer School of Medicine studying breast surgery at the regional cancer center (with a Dr. Rudolph, no less, how apropos for the holiday season!). It feels oddly un-Christmas-y to be a hobo, living in someone else's house. Minimal Christmas decorations. Minimal cheer.

I spent Thanksgiving with my "host family" in Amarillo, TX. This month, my parents came to me, to spend the holidays and to experience the south for the first time. So we've had the luxury of warm weather, a little humidity and crystal clear skies this Christmas, whilst our friends and neighbors in the northwest shiver in the gloom and drear of copious rainfall.

Since our arrival, my parents have not stopped feeding me. I cannot decide if I'm for or against this, since I have enjoyed the experience at large, but in a mere week my clothes are already much less flattering. The South is high yield for food: Shrimp 'n' grits. Fried okra. Hoecakes. Sweet tea. Fried chicken. Collard greens. Pralines. And an endless supply of variations on bread pudding. It's been a very tasty rotation, rife in history and culture. I kind of love the South.

Bonaventure Cemetery

Savannah is the oldest city in Georgia. Founded in 1733, the city is laid out in a series of 22 park squares both for livability for the population as well as a military strategy, should the city need defending. And it did, both during the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. It has a number of interesting and unique historical attributes:

The opening sequence to "Forrest Gump" (and other scenes) was filmed in Chippewa Square.
Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girl Scouts of America in Savannah.
"Jingle Bells" was written by James Lord Pierpont in the Unitarian church.
"Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" by John Berendt (film by Clint Eastwood) was based on a true murder.
After burning Atlanta in 1864, General Sherman marched to Savannah, arriving shortly before Christmas, at which time Savannah surrendered in order to guarantee the protection of the city by Union forces. Savannah was President Lincoln's Christmas gift that year from Gen. Sherman.

Savannah isn't all we've seen. Since I was gifted with a 5 day vacation during this rotation, we swiftly embarked for other points on the Southern compass. First we hit Port Royal and Beaufort, SC, followed shortly afterward by Charleston, SC--a paragon of Southern cities, and the site of the opening shots of the Civil War.

Quite the scene, just outside of Charleston

Mere hours in Charleston clearly indicated that we must return for several days in order to fully appreciate it. And we will in 2 weeks.

Here we are in the mountains of Asheville, NC, enjoying the holiday with some friends of the family. NC is gorgeous--not too different from OR in terms of landscape, but the skies are sunnier and the mercury much lower. Asheville as a town is awesome. Very much like Portland, without the clouds. And there are copious sites to see, not limited to the Biltmore (also awesome).