Perfect Days with My Friends

I pulled up to Linda and James's house in my yellow VW Bug rental car around 5:30. The flight got in a little ahead of schedule, so I took the long way around, stopping by to see the Kennesaw Battlefield. Got there just in time to pop in the door, look at a couple things, and get a patch and brochure.

Oh, it was so lovely to see Linda again! I was greeted with hugs and by Willow's barks :) James soon came home and we headed off to one of their favorite local Italian eateries where I experienced lobster ravioli, on recommendation. Yum!!! On the way home we stopped for ice cream and I enjoyed a rather big, single strawberry in a waffle cone! Back at home, we started watching "From the Earth to the Moon". Although made back when Remember WENN was still on, I hadn't seen any of it before. It was a small education for me, I enjoyed it so much!

Saturday we had a full schedule! We left just after 8am for the Farmer's Market. James & Linda had some veggies and fruits to grab and we also sampled the chicken pot pie (like last year) along with cheeses, bacon, jellies, breads, sausages, etc. Love downtown Marietta!

From there we headed directly to "Hair Day". At first mention the evening before, I was confused... but it was a wonderful time to meet and chat with James & Linda's "extended family"... their good friends for many years. Everyone was very friendly and very interested in my big adventure next week. I even got to meet Daniel in person, after meeting him on chat a few weeks ago! Although many folks come to this to get a haircut from the lady in the group that's a hair stylist (there were over a dozen people there), it's a great excuse to get together, chit-chat, and share some brunchy snacks (everybody brings some) and then a lunch... this time delicious buttered fettuccine and a tasty chicken dish with salad.

We made a pit-stop at home, and then headed off to the Atlanta History Museum. But on the way we stopped in at the hobby shop to meet some more friends! The guy there (an alumnus of Oklahoma) chatted with us for a long time about his six months in the Navy before he got out because they messed up his contract. Lots of neat stories... and some friendly advice about various things. It was great hearing him and James talk about things! Especially officers and uniforms! :)

The Atlanta History Museum had an outstanding temporary exhibit from the Library of Congress on Abraham Lincoln. I was floored with the number of original documents and notes for super-famous speeches. They had two life-masks and original photographs of the man himself. Aside from the Lincoln room downstairs, there were the permanent exhibits of the Civil War upstairs. One focusing on where the Battle of Atlanta was fought and how the city has changed. The other displayed the weapons, fortifications, equipment and experience of the soldiers who fought it. We didn't have time to see the exhibits on Atlanta sports (96 Olympics, local athletes) and the outside things, but we did look through "Metropolitan Frontiers", which featured early area history from an original log cabin through the early 20th century with a buggy and old fire engine to the modern city. I especially loved the Civil War features. I haven't been to a museum so close to the Southern heart before. In 2005, I only got as far south as Appomattox, VA. Linda's post mentions other things about this visit as well.

We were pretty famished by the time we left (at closing). I was treated out to the Colonnade (we went there last year too... and for good reason!) and I heartily enjoyed a chopped steak as we talked about our dogs and whatever else. There was a side trip to B & N after this. I was close to getting yet another WWII book, this one having the whole front pages of newspapers (some from foreign countries) covering the entire war. Maybe some other time :)

On the way home we were chased and caught by a massive thunderstorm with pelting rain and lighting that lit up the sky every few seconds. Almost like a strobe light, and nothing like I've seen before. During chat back home we watched three or four more episodes of the Moon show... and I wrote three or four sentences of this post. LOL

As for today (Sunday the 12th), we got off to the Daisy Festival in good time and we even had little stops on the way for breakfast and short errands. This was my first time to Stone Mountain, and I was a little excited to see Lee, Jackson & Davis. One of the strangest monuments I know of, but very impressive given the size. We got a close parking place and headed out to the maze of booths. Thank goodness they were in the shade! The sun was burning bright, but the hardwoods gave us more than enough cover. The walk back to the car after we were done was extraordinarily hot, even though it was short. As for the fair, it was massive! Hundreds of booths on both sides of several loops of paved paths. Lots of art and food... we had so many little bites it's impossible to remember them all. And so many cute pictures and figurines. There were lots of people, but it flowed along just fine. I passed up several little moose figurines, but did buy a flat, stained, wooden ornament with the USN logo cut out of it. Here's Linda's other post...

After nearly four hours of walking around, we were all up for a sit-down at a food place. Linda and James took me out to "Folks", a great southern-style restaurant. Had trout with rice and red beans. Had to stop by the grocery store afterwords, and I was able to get a few things for the next couple days.

We came home afterwords and I started catching up on this. :) Linda shared some WENN convention pictures with me before we had dinner and started watching the rest of "Earth to the Moon". And as we watched I was very pleasantly surprised with a few pictures on Facebook that Linda took of me. :)

My overall feeling from the trip:
I feel like one of the family (((Linda & James))) :)

Jp