CNN spent millions of dollars promoting Anderson Cooper. So it's no surprise the boyishly handsome anchor was recognized on a weekend jaunt to Savannah, Georgia. The question is what he was doing there.

The Savannah Morning News obscurely mentioned that Cooper picked up a T-shirt at a charity race in the gay-friendly Southern beach town Friday. A race volunteer was starstruck and blabbed to a reporter.

Then we heard bits of Cooper's Savannah itinerary from a very-well-informed tipster, starting with his Friday evening check-in at the boutiquey Avia hotel with a "so gay... 'travel companion'" who had a "heavy hand with the makeup."

Saturday was a quiet, romantic lunch for the duo at the Firefly Cafe and dinner in the pair's suite. Awww, sweet. Tipster:

When asked by the front desk attendant, Amanda, he said he was in Savannah for "work".

But there were no cameras around! Then on Sunday Cooper drove away in his white Chrysler rental.

Or so says our spy. We were able to verify, via a phone call to the hotel, that there is indeed a woman named "Amanda" who works the front desk.

And thanks to the Morning News, we can be reasonably certain Cooper was in Savannah. Unless we see an AC360 segment on, like, mortgage foreclosures in the historic districts of Southern resort towns, we'll just assume Cooper was enjoying some pleasant downtime with his latest "travel companion" and doesn't want to talk about it.

And far be it from us to begrudge him any of that. CNN's prettiest anchor needs his beauty rest.

(Pics: Getty, GaySavannah.com)