Today I went on a drive north into the mountains. Here are a few of the pictures I took, the first three in Hiawasee, GA (including where I had lunch!), and the last two in Sylva, NC:
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| It was closed when I drove by it a little after 6:00pm, but looked good enough to prompt me to turn around and stop and take some pictures! |
Today I took Anna and the kids to the airport for their annual summer trip to Minnesota. I took a circuitous route home and stopped in Porterdale, where I took these pictures.
Today I went on a bit of drive, which lasted more than eight hours yet took me less than 100 miles from home. (I had to drive back, of course, but the total round-trip mileage was under 200.)
Here are some of the pictures I took, including several from where I had lunch in Forsyth (the city, not the county), and Musella, where I didn't even get out of the car (though I did roll down the window to take the pictures; and no, I didn't buy anything at Dickies).
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| This is where I had lunch, Georgia Bob's Barbecue Company in Forsyth |
See this dilapidated window-unit air conditioner? Ancient, rusty, falling apart; it looks like it couldn't possibly work, doesn't it?
Well, guess what (I know I'm broadcasting this so obviously you can't possibly miss)? IT WAS RUNNING!
I encountered this air conditioner yesterday afternoon while cutting through an alley in Clayton, GA, on my way back to my car. Since I saw it from the back, I'm not sure what store or office it was cooling, but I'm sure the people inside appreciated the relief from the heat and didn't care how dilapidated the air conditioner was.
As someone who is a little dilapidated, and who sometimes feels ancient and rusty and like I'm falling apart, I'm grateful for the lesson. Whatever it is.
Today I went on a drive up US 441 (one of my favorite roads to drive) to Clayton, GA, with the goal of walking around a mountain town I'd never been to (I've been through Clayton lots of times, but never actually stopped there) and taking pictures. (I also intended to get some lunch, but all the places in Clayton that looked good were really busy, so, sadly, I ended up getting a chicken sandwich at Burger King when I left.)
Only a little more than half an hour into the drive, I spilled coffee on myself, so I stopped at the Target in Flowery Branch to clean up and buy some more wipes. (I also bought three clearance-priced Pride shirts for J. while I was there.)
Following that unplanned detour at Target, I drove for a while longer and then made the obligatory stop at that Tallulah Falls Overlook bypass:
I walked around the Tallulah Point Overlook store, which was empty for a while but now houses a new store. While I was off of 441 and on the bypass, I went to the Georgia Power recreation area -- for the first time; I've driven right by it many times in the last few years, but for whatever reason never actually gone there -- where I took this picture:
After walking around for a while and taking a lot more pictures, I got back in the car and went to Clayton. I walked around for about two hours, going in lots of stores and taking lots of pictures, including these:
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| I took this through the display window of Antique Appliances, a store in Clayton that specializes in...well, you can guess what they specialize in |
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| I took this picture inside the "Lulu & Tully Mercantile" |
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| I took this picture inside the "Wander North Georgia" outfitters store, which is huge -- it even has a downstairs, as you can see in the picture |
On the way home, I made an accidental detour through Lakemont:
I bought a piece of cake at the store shown above (which, yes, uses "shoppe" as a verb on its sign, but I won't hold that against them since the cake was good) and then went home.
Today I went on a drive to take some pictures and do a little shopping (Barnes & Noble, Walmart, and Target were all on my list, and I made it to all of them, albeit in different locations than where I usually go to those places -- the Barnes & Noble in Athens, the Walmart in Oakwood , and the Target in Bethlehem, to be specific.). These are some pictures I took in the (then empty) "downtown" area of Statham, GA.
Some of these pictures make me think of William Faulkner and Eudora Welty stories. Whether that's justified or not I can't say, but that's what they make me think of.
