A Deep Fried Murder Mystery, Part One

Oh my goodness, two in a row?! Who am I??

We've made it to Thursday (finally)! Much like the day before, it was a lazy day. My friend went to the pool while I hung out in the room to relax and to work on a blog post or two - some good that did, right? Anyway, we decided to walk over to the nearby shopping plaza to get something to eat. If you've never been to Coligny Plaza in Hilton Head, you should totally check it out. There are tons of shops and restaurants there, so there are plenty of options if you're hungry or just plain bored. Plus, it's right by the beach so you can go grab something to eat then head over to the beach to check out the pods of dolphins that hang out there. 

It took us a while to decide what we were going to get, mostly because we couldn't decide what kind of food each of us wanted. We somehow miraculously narrowed it down to two places: a beautiful bar and grille called Bomboras and another café and bar called The Frosty Frog Café. Since we couldn't decide on which one we were going to go to, we did what any hungry girls on vacation would do: we decided to get something from each.

  

We went fairly early in the day so Bomboras hadn't gotten a crowd yet, which was nice because we got to see how beautiful the restaurant actually was. You can check out a virtual tour of the restaurant here. Its menu can probably be best described as Southern cooking with a bit of flair. From Bomboras, we decided to try their hushpuppies, which everyone knows is just a piece of fried Southern heaven. They had two types: roasted corn, which was stuffed with corn kernels, and jalapeño and cheddar, which was stuffed with...well, jalapeño and cheddar. I got the jalapeño and cheddar ones and, boy, were they delicious. They were just the right amount of spicy and they were fluffy and fried to perfection. It came with a cinnamon honey butter but, to be honest, it didn't even need it. Over at the Frosty Frog, it was a bit of a different story. It was a great looking place but it definitely wasn't empty. The Frosty Frog is more of a family-friendly restaurant than Bomboras is, so there were a lot of families grabbing a bite to eat either on their way to or from the beach. Also, since it's also a daiquiri bar, a lot of people were just stopping in to grab a drink, because, hey, it's 5 o'clock somewhere. We got the appetizer combo which had chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks, and fries. Unfortunately, they weren't anything super special and it could have come from any restaurant. Still, they were good. 

Once we got our food, we trekked back to the room to enjoy some Murder, She Wrote to prepare us for our murder mystery cruise later that night. Because is there anyone better to train you in the ways of solving murders than J.B. Fletcher?

Let's be honest, Jessica Beatrice is the best there is.

 So, who's ready to solve a murder?! Stay tuned!

If you happen to be in Hilton Head and are down near the beach, check out Coligny Plaza. You can find all the store and restaurant listings at their website: www.colignyplaza.com/directory. If you'd like to specifically check out Bomboras or The Frosty Frog Café, check out their respective websites at www.bomborasgrille.com and frostyfrog.com.  Also, even though I didn't get a chance to go their this last visit, I highly recommend visiting The French Kiss Bakery, also located in Coligny Plaza. They don't have a website but they have amazing fruit tarts and, if they have it, you have to try their bread puddings. 

Midnight in the Gourmet Gas Station of Good and Evil

Ok. So maybe I didn't come back as I had promised, but here I am, ready to update. In case you've forgotten (which I will admit, I kind of did), I was in the middle of the third day of my Hilton Head and Savannah vacay. If you don't remember the first part of Wednesday, which included lazy times and some killer Gouda grits, go back and refresh yourself. Go ahead, I'll wait.

So, now that we've all gotten reacquainted with the past days' events, here we go!!!

Once we were dressed in proper ghost hunting apparel (read: khaki shorts, a t-shirt, and comfy walking shoes), we headed to Savannah for the Beyond Good and Evil Tour. We were a little worried because on the way, there were a few strikes of lightening in the distance but things turned out just fine. We stopped at a recommended gas station to grab some drinks and to use the bathroom before we headed to the meeting spot for the tour.  The recommended station/convenience store was unlike any I have ever seen. It was practically a mini grocery store, only with a much more diverse selection of goods, including international foods. There was a freezer section, a bakery and deli, as well as your typical chips, snack cakes, and magazines you find in a gas station. I suppose there was a reason it was called "Urban Gourmet".  After we left there, we met our tour guide, Nicodemus, in front of the Colonial Park Cemetery, which he explained had been the site of voodoo rituals for many years, as recently as in the last couple of decades. Nicodemus was this amazing Australian guy who definitely looked the part of ghost tour guide. Think Edgar Allan Poe but with more modern clothing. And guyliner.

This is Nicodemus.
Actually, it's John Cusack as Edgar Allan Poe in The Raven.
But it could totally be Nicodemus.

The walking tour lasts for about 90 minutes and goes through a few of the town squares and to a few of the haunted - and privately-owned - homes, full of tragic and dark stories that will definitely entertain you.  One of the houses visited was the house from the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which is based on a true crime. It's also been made into a movie starring Kevin Spacey and John Cusack. It's pretty good so if you don't want to read the book, you should definitely check out the film.

  

I guess the night was a very John Cusack-y kind of night.

The tour was really interesting - there was definitely a reason it has high ratings on TripAdvisor! I would highly recommend booking Nicodemus' tour if you're interested in doing a ghost tour. Now, if you're unable to do a walking tour, then you should look into one of the ghost tour buses or, better yet, a hearse ghost tour. 

Okay, we've got two more days left... And then there's also the Paris recap. Sigh. Lots of catching up to do, but I'm super excited about getting to Paris and the times after. There are gonna be tons of cool stories, even more photos (I'm looking at you, Versailles), and even a couple of recipes!! So let's get started restarted!!!

If you are going to be in Savannah and want to explore some of its haunted history, I'd strongly recommend booking a tour with Beyond Good and Evil - especially if you like a little lot of humor in your haunting. To check out some reviews, look at some photos from the tour, check out the map, or to book a tour, check out his website at www.beyondgoodandeviltours.com. 

EDIT: I forgot to mention the best part of the whole tour. It's ADULTS ONLY!!! This definitely allowed for some darker stories that may not have been appropriate for younger children.

Time flies...when you're not doing anything

So... two months isn't too long, right?

Right?

As you can see, I have not written in a while. Well, life got the better of me. Clearly, I survived my trip to Paris and am back in the States. Unfortunately, as soon as I got back, work got crazy and took a lot of my energy. 

But, now things are slowing down (a little) and I am more than ready to get back to writing this blog and updating things. So, I've set alarms so I can create a concrete schedule. Hopefully, with that and some discipline, I can get everything up to date. So expect things!!