The Accidental Hipsters

Pet friendly with a cool vibe.

Once you get over 50, you’re used to being invisible.

I kind of like it that way.

They say women dress for other women, or women dress to impress other women - men don’t care.

I can say yes, once upon a time.

I had the trendy haircut and all the designer stuff, clothes, handbags, jewelry, pens, yes pens, matching wallet and key fob; and the shoes. I haven’t been able to let that one go, yet, though I am starting to understand Velcro on shoes.

But the good part about being invisible is that I’m happy if the tee shirt I decide to wear isn’t wrinkled and doesn’t smell - and no one cares!

When we travel lunch is a priority.

Having lunch at a place local to where we are staying is alway a must.

I’m happy with a diner, tavern food, by the water setting, a picnic for lunch. But today we were hipsters.

Accidental hipsters.

Pet friendly with a cool vibe.

Should have been our first clue.

We like to read reviews to decide where we’re going to go for lunch.

Some of the reviews we read:

The Wyld is a special place that all locals and travelers should visit! Nice location with a 5 star menu!

It is off the beaten path but definitely worth the time. Food was extremely good and the staff was very attentive and helpful. Everything was fresh and all our meals were delicious. Quite busy but we were not rushed at all and the location was perfect.

The restaurant is in the Savannah lowlands, and is a really cool spot. People can drive their boats up to the dock and have some dinner. The view of the lowlands is so pretty.

The reviews we should have paid attention to.

This restaurant does have an uncommon ordering methods and drink pickup. (They ask to take payment when you order upfront so they can have your payment on file.)

They don’t accept cash, at all. You give them your credit card before you ever order, it had to be approved before you could order…

had to wait in line to order, go to bar pick up drink and then wait in line to pay when you leave.

Nice views, but don’t visit on a cold day because they have no heaters anywhere - inside or outside.

The process is what they started during Covid, you order at “the front” like a cafeteria, and have to get everything, other than the food yourself. Not to mention wanting to order more food? You have to wait in line at the front…again…and add to your tab.

The clientele was mostly millennials, millennials with young families, and younger people.

There were some our age, very few actually. They were the types who are pretending to be cool, inappropriately, and I mean inappropriately, sporting the latest trends in fashion, all of them staring at their phones.

An interesting slice of culture before my eyes.

Husband wanted to leave.

For him, the lunch experience is being seated at a table, ordering from a laminated menu, receiving lunch in a timely manner, eating said lunch, receiving the bill, handing the server a credit card to put the meal on and a twenty dollar bill for them to break into change. The smart ones bring a ten, a five and five singles. They always get tipped more in cash regardless of the service. The dumb ones bring two tens or one ten and two fives. In this case I have to rummage to find singles so we can leave a twenty percent tip, if the service warrants it.

We always tip in cash.

But this day was going to be different.

Uncomfortably different for one of us.

We were lucky the outdoor temperature was in the mid 70’s. Mid 70’s in January for this Ohio gal, how do you like that? We were in Savannah, Georgia in case you’re wondering.

There were tables scattered here and there, near the water and boat dock, near the herb gardens, near the walkways. But we weren’t headed to a table, we were going to wait in a line where there was a paper menu stapled to a wooden post for our viewing pleasure.

Some items had been crossed out.

We/I preview menus before we go, if there’s a bacon-cheeseburger, or when we’re near the ocean, a fried shrimp basket, we’re good to go.

This menu had both.

Fortunately, the fried shrimp basket hadn’t been crossed out yet.

It came with fries and Cole slaw - we were golden.

The line was easily eight people deep.

Most of them were millennials. All of them had a cocktail in a fun little mug or a glass of pink wine in their hands while waiting in the line.

The cool kids in the know would skip off, (really, skipping to the bar) leaving the partner and kid(s) in the order-and-pay line while they headed to the bar to retrieve the adult beverages and to score a table

Not my hand - or mug.

Now the cocktail of choice in the fun little mug we learned was a “Painkiller slushy”. I was a bartender once and I really have no words for this modern alteration to a classic:

A twist on the Piña Colada, the Painkiller is a rich and fruity cocktail that stays true to its name: It will cure what ails you. Made with dark rum, pineapple juice, orange juice and cream of coconut, the drink was created in the 1970s at the Soggy Dollar Bar in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), where the confluence of warm temperatures and vacation vibes necessitated cold, refreshing libations. And where, with no dock, dollars were bound to get wet as patrons swam ashore.

The Painkiller is typically made with Pusser’s Rum, a recreation of the British Royal Navy rum that was issued to sailors until 1970. Pusser’s pays homage to that rum and is made in the same style, blended on the BVI island of Tortula to the same proportions as the original. Liquor.com

It really was a slushee, like what you find at a convenience store, like the kind that gives you brain freeze if you drink it too fast.

When we finally arrived at the head of the line, which was still at least eight people deep behind us, and unsure what the deal was with the bar, the attendant, who was no help just wanted the credit card and our order.

We ordered the fried shrimp basket and the fried clam strips and two Cokes. The order taker repeated our order and gleefully announced “and two Mexican cokes”. In case you didn’t know, Mexican coke has cane sugar not high fructose corn syrup. High fructose corn syrups is not allowed to be used as an ingredient in many countries out side the U.S. - that rant for another day.

We were given a large wooden block that had the number “33” painted on it. This was to identify us and our order.

We looked around for a table and ended up sitting at a long table where there were two other couples seated. There was enough spacing between all of us, so it was like being at our own table, as oldsters, we’re invisible remember?

The wait was lengthy.

As we waited, we observed the other guests seated at a variety of tables, picnic tables regular restaurant tables, in fire pit type chairs, all at different stages of the process. Some with numbers, some eating their lunches, some with emptied plates sipping out of the fun little mugs.

All of them desperately trying to be grown up.

Lots of young kids with the millennials, many with a phone or some other digital device in front of them to babysit.

We observed the herb gardens, lots of parsley.

And as former farmers we couldn’t help but notice the frost damage from the previous week’s snow to the orange, lemon and kumquat trees.

The couple seated to the left of us, he had a beer and she had what looked like sweet tea. Perhaps in their 40’s. She got the fish tacos and he got the cheeseburger.

Beer and a cheeseburger? A fellow curmudgeon?

The experience got a little more comfortable for one of us.

Our lunch arrived and it was spectacular.

But no ketchup, no salt and pepper for hubby’s fries - was a horrific disaster.

That was sarcasm by the way.

And no opportunity to tip. Anyone.

I’m not one to photograph our lunch and text it to everyone we know, but I did photograph our lunch.

I guess it was the atmosphere.

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Cool kid on the road.