no damn class in the Classic City

Last week was our second trip to Athens this month. Since we didn't get to see much of Larry or Renee when we were there earlier, Z and I had to go back, this time dragging along Cousin C. Sadly, Renee wasn't able to be in town due to a family illness. LG, however, didn't have to work so we were able to kidnap him for significant periods of time.

We arrived at ATL and drove to Snellville where we stopped for lunch (lupper? linner?) at the Snellville Diner, a most interesting place where six-layer cakes are on display at the counter. Oh my. Fortunately, we didn't have room for dessert and didn't want to drag it to Athens with us, knowing that we'd be able to find enough yummy food once we got there. After a bit of a rest in the Athens HI, we met Larry at The Grit and then wandered over to the river to try to spot the beavers which LG swears had been frolicking there every evening for the past month. Yeah, right. No beavers, just lots of mosquitos which nibbled my sweet little ankles. We did wander down a trail right beside the river though, and found some wild blackberries. YUM!

We had decided that Friday would be our local day. C and I went to the Mayflower for a light breakfast so Z could sleep in. Then we scooped up LG and drove over to Watkinsville so we could visit the Chappelle Gallery and Main Street Yarns. We wandered around the Botanic Garden in the afternoon - beautiful. That night we again attempted beaver-watching, again to no avail. We suspect LG made up the entire beaver saga. He's hoaxy like that.

Saturday was our day to drive up into the Blue Ridge Mountain foothills. I had seen things online about "Alpine Helen", a town made to look sort of Swiss, and wanted to see what that was all about. After enduring much teasing from LG, who assured me that it was cheesier than Swiss cheese, we drove on up there and sure enough, he was right! Oh my. It's just the main highway with hotels and shops and restaurants that sort of have Alpine facades and names. As far as we could tell, the only thing to actually DO there other than shop and eat is to go tubing in the Chatahoochee, which did look like fun but couldn't possibly occupy the throngs of people we saw wandering along the hot sidewalks.

Anyway, we beat it out of there and headed to Cleveland, home of Babyland Hospital, birthplace of Cabbage Patch Kids! The tour was actually interesting and funny. Have you ever seen a cabbage give birth? I thought not. It was silly and fun and brought back memories of Zannah's getting her Cabbage Patch when she was three.

We went for lunch in Hiawasee and discovered that the GA Mountain Fair was going on, so we went to that for the afternoon. There were demonstrations of board-splitting and such, displays of home-made canned goods and crafts, as well as vendors and huge Percherons and cotton candy.

The highlight of the day was the Old Sautee Store with its peepshow and yummy candies and farmer cheese. And bubbles.

On Sunday we met LG at the Grill for brunch then set out for Atlanta, where we got stuck in a massive traffic jam due to road construction. Finally we arrived at the Georgia Aquarium, which was certainly worth all the hassle. I loved the weedy sea dragons and the otters and of course the beluga whales.

In a rare moment of good luck, arriving early at the airport scored us seats on an earlier flight home, which pleased everyone.

As we left Athens, LG asked "when are you coming back?". I wish I knew.

This world is big and so-awake/ I stayed up late to hear your voice

Our flight home from Toronto was canceled (way to go, American Airlines!) so we arrived on a much later flight. I felt bad that Em had to drive all the way back to her place three hours away, but she needed to be at work the next day.

And so did I! I worked three days of summer school library over at FRHS. It was good because two senior English teachers brought their classes to do the song project for senior theme. It helped that I'm familiar with the project. Anyway, that was an extra $500 or so to go toward my summer adventures.

The next trip was bipedal. First Becky and I flew to New York where we met up with Lydia. As always, New York was fascinating. We had great weather, not too terribly hot this time, and only a few rain showers which didn't interfere with much at all. Quick run-down: Bronx Zoo, Metropolitan Museum of Art (where the Superhero: Fashion and Fantasy exhibit was very interesting to me) and lots and lots of good food.

One day we walked down Broadway; I wanted to browse in the ABC Carpet store and was hoping to have lunch at TeaNY. When we got there it was too crowded (such a tiny place) so we went next door to Bruschetterria for lunch. That was delicious! Then we were able to get a table at TeaNY for dessert, so that worked out perfectly.

Of course the "purpose" of the New York trip was the R.E.M. concert at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night (June 19). Since fan club tickets could only be bought in pairs, Lydia and Becky were sitting on the opposite side of the venue from me. I had bought two tickets, thinking surely I could find someone to go with me, and sure enough, a former KHS student was available and interested. It was cool to be able to share his excitement and his comments. It was neat that he couldn't tell which were old songs and which were from the new album.

I had one band sighting while in the city. We went into a teeny tiny shop (Crumpler) so Lydia could buy a camera bag. There were several people there and boxes on the floor so it was really stuffed. I looked up and saw that Bill Rieflin (drummer for R.E.M.) had come in with another guy who had a bagless camera. I was hoping they would shop for a while but I guess the conditions deterred them, as they left right after I spotted them. Drat.

One of the best parts of the trip was the opportunity to visit with former student John. Our first night in town, we dined at the restaurant where he's working. We were enjoying sitting outside until a thunderstorm popped up and forced us indoors. And let me just say, don't try a pineapple mojito. Not good. Regular mojito much nicer. We spent more time with John and his bf Wednesday. We took the subway to his neighborhood (upper east side) and got food at an adorable cafe, Champignon. Then we dined out on the terrace of his apartment building. It was so fun to meet his second dog, Chloe the Papillon, and to again cuddle Parker the Yorkie.

One evening was spent at the theatre seeing Morgan Freeman, Peter Gallagher and Frances McDorman in The Country Girl. It was an excellent production, and no, seeing Mr Freeman in his boxers was NOT the highlight of the experience for me.

Our time in NY was over too soon, as always, and on Friday we flew off to Atlanta.