Since that terrible awful day 10 years ago when Anna and Jason moved to Oregon, we’ve happily been able to reunite about every 2 years. We didn’t set an intentional schedule – that’s just about how long it took each of us to save enough money to travel to visit the other. And it was simply the longest we could manage without a visit.

It may not have begun intentionally, but planners that we are, we’ve now already scheduled our next 4 years of adventures (hello Disney 2014 and Montana 2016!).

The year 2012 was our turn to host a week-long Savannah staycation. Elliot has been to the beach plenty of times, but the ocean in Oregon is cold even in the hottest months, and her parents wanted her to experience the fun that is a warm, sandy, swim-worthy beach.

We took the boat to Wassaw Island one day and up the Skidaway River another, and were not disappointed. Many water shenanigans ensued. Jason put together a video of our Wassaw adventures, and I put together one of our Skidaway trip, complete with an epic turtle fight.

One highlight of the visit was the WSAV reunion we held one Saturday night. Anna, Jason and I used to work there together (and Lee had to listen to us go on and on about the newsroom so much that he might as well have worked there too). We invited the old WSAV crew and had a great turnout, both among those who still live in Savannah and from folks as far away as Myrtle Beach.

And in between all of these things we squeezed in a lot of other fun outings, like a pedicab ride through downtown to get some excellent barbeque, a trip to feed alligators at the Crab Shack and a tromp through Oatland Island.

On the night before they left, Anna and I went out for drinks at a rooftop bar on Riverstreet and watched the big ships go by. I will always treasure times like these with her.

Cheers to seeing great friends, and cheers to future plans to get together again. Let the countdown begin! (I can’t wait)