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Tour Talk: Big Tree Travels Across America

Posted: 06 Jun 2011 07:14 AM PDT

Volume 5: Savannah, GA

Meet Big Tree, a quintet out of Brooklyn, New York with high hopes and empty pockets. Three dashing young men and two friendly ladies make up this indie pop band. We are the luckiest people on the planet. Our job is to drive from one amazing place to the next, play a show, make new friends, and explore new cities. While we're on the road, FlipKey invited us to share our experiences living like locals everywhere we go.

Boat to Tybee Imagine a land where Spanish moss sways softly in the breeze and people of all ages walk smiling through the parks. Imagine quiet coffee shops and gourmet restaurants along cobble stone streets. Imagine music festivals and art galleries, students and professionals. Imagine boating on rivers and skinny-dipping in the ocean, with sparkling phosporescent algae on your skin and the moon lighting up the sand. Now open your eyes, and breathe a sigh of relief. This place is real! Savannah, Georgia is a beautiful, hospitable town just waiting for you to visit.

On this tour, Savannah was one of our last stops, and a welcome retreat from the rough life of rockstardom. We drove into town and were greeted by perfect spring weather and newly blooming pink flowers in every direction. Our show was at a wonderful venue that doubles as a delicious coffee and sandwich shop. The Sentient Bean is the place to go for a vegetarian panini, an iced coffee, and some live local and touring acts. The New York Times has called it "a haven for indie film, live music and literary readings," and we try to stop here on every tour. We played to an attentive audience and enjoyed dinner outside on the patio in the back.

Enjoying the Savannah Gardens Earlier in the afternoon we had decided we were going to find Forest Gump's famous park bench, which we were sure was around there somewhere. Our quest led us from park to park, where countless fountains, statues, gardens, and playgrounds awaited us. We walked along the sidewalks to look at the historic homes and mansions, and wished we were all painters or artists so we could have gone to SCAD, the Savannah College of Art and Design.

We stayed the night at our good friends' home close to Tybee Island, which happened to be right next to Paula Dean's incredible house. Right on the water, we enjoyed homemade shrimp and grits while looking out at the docks and talking about how much we loved Savannah. Full of Southern cookin', we talked our host into taking us out for a boat ride on the river. He took us up and down each winding inlet and out to the Atlantic Ocean. It was our first glimpse of it since leaving the East Coast a year ago, and boy, did it feel good to be back.

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Monday, June 6, 2011