As you can see, we packed light for our international vacation this summer. The first leg of our trip took us to the Atlanta airport, where Sam juggled this nice little piece of luggage.
Next stop was Dublin. What a lot of green! What cute little towns and quaint old buildings! Our plans also included stops in Rome, Athens and Cairo.
More green. Wait a minute. Kudzu? In Ireland? Well, actually we were in Georgia . . . Dublin, Georgia. If we’d made it to Rome, Athens and Cairo, we would still have been in Georgia. Who knew it could be so exciting?We spent the first week with Sam’s sister Faye, her husband John and son Carl. Faye was celebrating a milestone birthday (which I’m not at liberty to disclose). We forgot our camera, and it took us a week to consistently remember we could use Sam’s Blackberry phone. So . . . no pictures of the beautiful birthday girl!
One of Sam’s old haunts is Fincher’s Barbeque in Macon, GA. On our first visit (of 3), our waitress was Hadley, which prompted speculation on the lack of child labor laws in the South. However, Hadley’s proficient and professional service was a highlight of our meal. We also got to know her dad Jake and grandmother, Mrs. Fincher, current owners of the historic restaurants. Fincher's Barbecue Restaurants
We visited the Museum of Aviation at Robins Air Force Base, where many of Sam’s family have worked since the 1980’s. For years, Sam has kidded me about my job at the county courthouse in Holbrook, AZ, and the fact that it’s now a museum (therefore I must be old). Revenge was sweet when Sam pointed out plane after plane in the air museum, saying “I used to work on this one, and on that one…”.
It’s quite a collection of planes and history.
Our friends, Vic and Bobbie (you'll see them later), took us to Juliette, Georgia, where the movie, “Fried Green Tomatoes” was filmed. We had lunch at the Whistle Stop Café, which looks much the same as in the movie, complete with ceiling fans and no air conditioning. It was 91 degrees inside, faintly cooler than outside, and humid of course. Iced sweet tea never tasted so good.
A few days later, we hit the road! Problem is, what road should we take? Every road has multiple numbers, and the signs never quite matched the numbers on the map.
Somehow we found our way toward the coast and spent an afternoon in Savannah. I’ve long wanted to visit this beautiful city, where the Spanish moss hangs from the trees and historic old buildings have stood for 250 years.
The Savannah Cotton Exchange sits above the Savannah River, among old warehouses turned into shops and restaurants. Cotton was evidently a major factor in the city’s prosperity in the 1800’s.
As we continued down the coast, we got a hankerin’ to see the Atlantic Ocean, so we took a side trip to St. Simons Island. We found more trees draped with Spanish moss, surrounding old and new summer estates. Fortunately, the shores and beaches are public.
The next morning we got out early, to spend the cool part of the day at Okefenokee Swamp. Of course, with humidity of 98 percent and high temperatures of the same, “cool” is relative. But we had a lot of fun touring the park by boat, train and on foot.
Alligators were large and everywhere.
So were spiders. And snakes. All in all, I had a great time on my first visit to a swamp!
A few days later we convinced Vic and Bobbie to join us on another road trip. First stop was Stone Mountain, east of Atlanta. It’s the largest exposed piece of granite in the world. The Confederate Memorial carved on the side is larger than Mount Rushmore and was begun by the same artist.
Our first adventure was a hike to the top, quite an accomplishment in the heat. Our trip back down involved dangling by cables as the gondola dropped over the edge. We rode the train around the bottom, then checked out the park attractions. The 4D movie was great (my first 3D/4D experience). We also tried out a climbing adventure course, ate lunch and wandered the shops.
Next stop was Chattanooga, Tennessee, just over Georgia’s northern border. We spent the morning at picturesque Rock City Gardens, on top of Lookout Mountain. Panoramic views of 7 states, but the trails taking you to the views were my favorite.
The paths wind up and down through massive rock formations, overgrown with native plants, over old stone bridges and through caves. It’s the kind of early 20th century charm that we love.
After a wonderful lunch at Mount Vernon Restaurant (Dennis' cousin’s place) we spent the afternoon and evening in downtown Chattanooga. Utilizing the public art, Vic and Bobbie demonstrated their dating days, when Vic would watch old movies and Bobbie nodded off.
More public art, and a rescue in process. Sam and Vic have known each other since grade school, with the dubious distinction of having been thrown out of the school library every time they were together. Not much has changed. It’s a wonder Bobbie and I didn’t throw them out of the car on this trip.
On the way home, we took back roads through the southern edge of the Smoky Mountains. We ate lunch in Helen, Georgia, overlooking the Chattahoochee River, with streams of tubing tourists floating by. Actually, the young and thin ones float, but the old and chubby ones tend to drag bottom. Within an hour, we figured out which group we were in and decided not to go tubing.
Helen is a cute Bavarian tourist town off the beaten path, and made a fun end to another great vacation!