Savannah Bananas – Wandering Dawgs

This May our wandering took us to the countryside in Georgia, to a baseball game, on a road trip to Virginia, and around our own neighborhood.

Georgia road trip

Our first trip was to the Georgia countryside. On the way to our destination we discovered a new to us barbeque restaurant in Portal where we tried their pulled pork and fantastic spare ribs. We enjoyed our time in the country where the wildflowers were blooming and the trees were showing off their new green leaves. We fed carrots to my brothers donkeys, walked in the woods, and had a fun visit with our 12 year old granddaughter.

Celebrating Henry’s birthday at a Savannah Bananas game

The Savannah Bananas sell out every home game so when I had an opportunity to buy two tickets for a game on Henry’s birthday I jumped at the chance.

We saw the team owner Jesse Cole outside the stadium so of course we stopped to meet him. Henry shook his hand, he posed for a photo with us, and wished Henry a happy birthday. The Bananas play a different kind of baseball called Banana Ball. It has different rules than regular baseball and the night is filled with entertainment during and between the innings. We were laughing and entertained the entire night.

Around my Neighborhood

Flowers were blooming all around our neighborhood and in our own backyard. The header image is one of the gorgeous white blooms I captured one morning as I walked by the giant Magnolia tree in a neighbor’s yard.

In our backyard the Painted Buntings fed at my bird feeder almost every day. The resident lizard likes to hang out on the railing on our back deck.

Road Trip to Virginia

We traveled to Virginia to visit our daughter’s family for Memorial Day weekend. We spent the first night in a motel and had a nice visit with my cousin and his wife when we met them for lunch at a Cracker Barrel by the interstate before continuing on to our daughter’s house.

Being with our daughter and her family was the highlight of the trip. The weather was overcast, chilly and sometimes raining but we didn’t let the weather spoil our visit.

It was wonderful to see our Grandson who just finished his first year of college and our Granddaughter who just finished her junior year of high school. My daughter and I enjoyed a trip to the local farmer’s market where I picked up a frozen smoked trout to bring home and she brought home some beautiful fresh produce. Later that day we drove into the mountains, had lunch in the small town of Floyd, and took a ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway to Chateau Morrisette Winery.

Books

Our Book Club book for May was “The Measure” by Nikki Erlich. It was a very interesting and thought provoking story.

I also enjoyed reading “No Plan B”, the latest Jack Reacher book by Lee Child and “Still Life” by Louise Penney.

Shared with Natalie’s Weekend Coffee Share

What do you get when you combine a historic baseball stadium, dancing baseball players, a team who has sold out every home game since 2016, a team who’s motto is “We make baseball fun”, a dancing first base coach, a team owner dressed in a yellow tuxedo who also is the Master of Ceremonies at the game and who puts fans first? The Savannah Bananas!

Attending a Bananas game is like no other baseball game you’ve ever seen. The fun starts when the Banana Pep Band, the players, the Banana Nanas cheerleaders (grandmas) , the young dance team Banana Splits, and the owner Jesse Cole march between the two lines of fans waiting to enter the stadium.

There are no assigned seats and all of the tickets include free food – hot dogs, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken sandwiches, chips, a cookie, and water or soft drink. Of course beer and cocktails are available for purchase.

The fun continued after the game started. The owner and players walked through the stands, the dancing first base coach break danced, and each time the teams switched sides at the bottom or top of an inning there was some kind of fun 60 second event. Most of the entertainment involved kids from the stands and dancing and singing.

Did they play real baseball? Yes, nine full innings. There were celebrations whenever the Bananas scored and when it was over the Bananas won 8-0.

The Bananas play their home games at the Historic Grayson Stadium which was built in 1926. Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and Jackie Robinson are some of the baseball legends who have played ball here.