Day 6

Things have been pretty uneventful this week. We've been busy settling in back in Hawkinsville; our group takes up a row of seven rooms. There are four drivers from out of state here with us; three from Minnesota and one from Alabama. It feels very much like our own little community, sitting together at night just outside our rooms in chairs that have been dragged out from said rooms. We eat together for supper too, for the most part. Then, one-by-one, everybody says good night and turns in. I get my own room, which works well for all parties. It does mean that I have to move at 4:45 every morning to Julie's room and look over the two sleeping boys, but it's great to have my space.

The sunburn is doing much better. Blistering now, but at least I can reach up without dying inside. The  kiddies have had to wait to go out swimming until it's safe for me to venture beyond the shade. It's odd, none of the hotels in town have water in their pools. Something about the new Georgia regulations makes it really expensive to keep them up, so they don't. I'm told there is public pool in a neighboring town for when we're (I'm) in optimal condition. In the meantime, we got a blowup pool to keep 'em cool outdoors.

Word has spread that I'm available for haircuts. $$ That'll add up quick. Psssh. "yeah, ask the guy in the EIGHT THOUSAND dollar suit. Come on!!!" Arrested Development, anyone? Okee, nevermind.

I knew it was only a matter of time, but my thoughts are beginning to take on Georgia speak. In my head, I'll say things like "I was figurin' to..." and "y'all have a good daay". When I hear myself saying "Will you please hand me that flasswawter? Thank ya, sugar." without blinking an eye, it's time to come get me, ok? Oh, and I've been dubbed Nanny Fran by the Alabaman. Brady finds it hilarious. I don't think he knows it's a reference. But then he is only ten.

Good night. Love.

And just because we love Gob.

Day 3 - Gulf of Mexico

On Memorial Day we went boating in the Gulf of Mexico. I believe the Suwannee River (not to be confused with Swanee River. Just kidding; they're one and the same) led us to the actual Gulf waters, but don't know with complete certainty. Here are some pics.

Most of the houses were on stilts; as you can see, the space underneath doesn't go to waste.

And some had a boat garage off to the side. As convenient as the river is, it's not suggested to swim in it much, due to the water snakes and alligators. We saw a lot of people fishing from their porches.

A boat all loaded up with crab cages.

Around the bend, we got out into the Gulf.

On the surface, of course, the water looked really clean and refreshing. But you can see it's actually not at all. More brownish. And yes, I tasted the ocean, in a manner of speaking. Sodium levels are noticeably higher.

The ball is marking a crab cage out in the deep. We decided to pull one up and see how well it was doing. I think we counted 6 crabs and a few little fish. It was speculated there might even be a baby shark in there. :)

My main man, Brady. It was a great hair day for all.

After a couple hours playin' in the water, we headed back to the river. Mike made sure to soak the inside of the boat before we got to the no wake zone. No electronics were harmed fortunately.

These signs dictate the lanes on the water way; boaters stay right of the red and left of the green.

The green ones are numbered to correspond with the map of the area. We were clipping by pretty quick so I couldn't get the numbers clearly at all.

Here is the patio to Salt Creek Restaurant. We ended up eating there after loading up the boat.

Beautiful houses along the way.

Salt Creek Restaurant patio from the inside.

I had to try the fresh oyster stew. The oysters were big and chewy. Yum! But the soup part didn't hold a candle to our Christmas Eve. Tooooo buttery. Also, worst calamari I've ever had, which was not expected. However, I tried alligator and it does taste like chicken! :)

The sunburn that I achieved on Sunday was aggravated in the worst way by being on the boat for those few hours. It's really deceiving how much sun you're actually getting out there because the movement of the boat and the water keep you cool, but the rays, of course, are still beating down. That sneaked up on me big time, and boy am I paying for it! Cold compresses and aloe for me, please. And maybe a Popsicle...

Day 2 - Florida!

Julie (the mom) informed us shortly after we made it to Hawkinsville that we'd be leaving the next morning to visit Mike (the dad) down in Florida. Sweet! Okay! It was only a 2 1/2 hour drive down to Lake City, FL where there was a hotel waiting for us. And a swimming pool, which I was (as usual) not equipped to enjoy, having told myself that there would be plenty of time to settle in to the new life before needing to look for a suit. Oops. Anywho, the family wanted to go boating, and I needed to make my Sunday, so I stayed behind. By the pool, jealously taking in the youngsters at play in the cool, cool water; I expect no sympathy. I hear you all saying "Um, suck it up. You're in Florida. We won't be swimming for another 2 months." Just tellin' my story....

About 4:30, I left for 6 o'clock Mass in Ocala. Welcome to Baptist country! There is not a Catholic Church around every corner anymore or even in most towns. But, I found a Low Mass at Queen of Peace in Ocala; the church was beautiful. A very open, cool, whitewashed, missionary feel. Enjoy.

The 4 Evangelists in the rafters of the Sanctuary.

Pipes!

Marble built-in altar rail. Lovely.

Side altar

In every corner of the church there were these beautiful HUGE paintings depicting great figures throughout Scripture.

Yep. Pretty huge.

Close up of the lil ol' rooster hanging out with the trumpeting angels.

The rows of pews moved out from the sanctuary to form a cross. There was soooo much space! And the super high ceilings made it feel never-ending and very airy, despite the heat. I'm really glad I made the trip.

Julie decided to stay Memorial Day too, which meant a shopping trip for a new outfit. Darn. :) Good thing too, because I definitely underestimated the power of heat in my Minnesota packing. I mean, it can't be that different, right? I won't die if I just roll up my pants a little and drink alot of water! Obviously, I'm still here; but T-shirt fabric has never felt so heavy. Oh and I found a retro-y polka-dotted (duh) swimsuit! Smiley day.

Headin' on down to Georgia...

The trip to Georgia went smoothly. We left Thursday, shortly after school. Here is the precise route we took to achieve Southern-ness. We stopped in Albert Lea, MN for Thursday night, had a fun breakfast in the morning and hit the road again at about 9am.

Friday took us through Iowa, Missouri and into Illinois. Let me just tell you that throughout the entire city of St. Louis, not a single driver was within 15 mph of the actual speed limit. Signs in this zone dictate 55 mph? Nah, we're just gonna treat this like the 70 mph zone and go 80-85. Man, do they move! Nothing like keeping up with the herd to avoid getting trampled. Now, I'd hate for anyone to think that I don't enjoy the experience of highway driving in a large city. I ain't skurred. I have to admit though that driving through St. Louis on the Friday before a 3-day weekend at 6:30pm (with three kids sleeping in the back of the minivan that don't belong to me) had me white-knuckling it a couple times. A bit further down the road, we hit a right lane closure. Congestion was backed up 4 miles before the actual merging point because all the jerks in the right lane chose to save themselves 3 minutes and cost everyone else about 45 by NOT MERGING!!! God bless the gracious semi driver immediately ahead of us for finally moving right; we worked together to block the rude people and eventually made it through. We decided to bed down in West City, IL.

On Saturday morning, we skipped through Illinois and the corner of Kentucky. The data connection on my phone went away all day, so no GPS or internet. Thankfully I had retained the basic directions and Nate was so good as to confirm the crucial intersections - ok, maybe all of the intersections - over the phone (reiterated note to self: never travel across country without an atlas, just in case). Here are some pics of Whitehaven Welcome Center we stopped by in Paducah, KY. It's the only historic home in the US to be converted into a rest area. Way cool.

Only one side of the main level is public access, with an information desk, tourist pamphlets, etc. The rest is roped off for guided tours, which we did not stick around for, though it would have been fun. We did peek in the windows at the rooms and furniture, which were quite lovely.

Does anyone else find it amusing that "Bide-a-Wee" is now a rest stop for tourists? :)

From there, we continued into Tennessee, through Nashville and Chattanooga where we switched interstates and headed straight for Atlanta. A few turns and a couple hours later we arrived in Hawkinsville, GA.

The only real difference I noticed between the journey here and joy-riding in southern Minnesota was the change in trees. I mean, the country got a little hill-ier, but from Illinois onward, the landscape suddenly ceased to consist of 'our' trees. The further south we went, the more and more strange they looked. I don't think I've completely realized that we're 1500 miles from home. CRAZY!

Fargoan Holiday

Here is the tale of our final date which, pressure notwithstanding, is probably one of our best ever. We didn't actually have a plan for our last day together. Then Nate said, "Why don't we take a walk while we figure it out?" As a hopeless romantic, these are my favorite words in summertime. So, I strapped on my mini backpack and off we went!

Up to Main Ave, across the river to Moorhead

Juano's was our initial destination but they were CLOSED due to the Marathon (boo!). Then it was that we decided to make a day of our little adventure. We hit up a few of our favorite haunts in Fargo, within walking distance of course, and just ordered appetizers. All day long.   !!!!    Right?

First up: Sidestreet in the Howard Johnson. 

But not before we uh, circumvented a well-meaning road block and walked under the 1st Ave bridge along the river. You'll have to take my word on that; we have no incriminating evidence.

Saw some ducks. Ya know. The yuge.

Had a cocktail (Mom, it was like 12:30pm. Technically early afternoon. All the rule books say that's acceptable) and ordered the egg rolls, which are fantastic. They didn't last long.

It was also nice and cool inside, as I'm sure you can tell from these pictures.

  

We ended up getting a great deal of sun, which I'm told is the best of plans before entering an exhaustive heat-zone. Something about damaging the melanin in your skin only mildly at first before subjecting it to the ruthless onslaught of the southern lands. I'll have to let you know how that works for me.

Next stop: Jade Dragon on Main. So all the way down Broadway we sallied forth. Buuuut, when we got to the tracks, we found a train! We waited for a bit.                      ........     ........     .........

As many of you know, there is an antique shop conveniently located at the corner of Broadway and Main. We availed ourselves of the opportunity to look around whilst simultaneously waiting.

Once over the tracks we had to stop at the park next to the train depot. Duh. 

The fountain was still out of commission from winter; we resisted. Rather, Nate wouldn't let me play in the empty fountain. So we have no footage of that fun.

[imaginary picture of Sara dancing and leaping in a ridiculous manner in a dry fountain]

Finally we made it to Jade Dragon. We ordered spring rolls, because they are my favorite thing ever. Not sure why Nate is trying to look evil.

My fortune cookie read "It's not the plan that's important; it's the planning". What does that even mean? I suppose it's meant to be a spin off of the similarly flawed rationale "It's not the destination that matters; it's the journey". Or more recently, "Ain't about what's waiting on the other side; it's the climb". Excuse me for taking anything that the Cyrus-ling has to say with extreme hesitation and mild incredulity. At any rate....

Back downtown for sushi at Wasabi.

But what to choose.....

Delicious!

 

Here is a little man that I made from our crunchy sushi roll crumbs. He should have had a name but we figured it was time to mosey.

On our way back up north, we found some pro-marathon stickers carelessly abandoned in a back alley. This dumpster was asking for it.

First and only act of vandalism.... Check!

Our last stop was Dempsey's. Not because it's a favorite, or even a like. We wanted hot dogs and had it on good authority that this was a suitable place to obtain one.

As it turns out, that is now a Thursday special only. Upside, they are giving them away. For free.. We decided on a pretzel instead. It's served with a unique white cheese sauce. So tasty!!

It was the only time that we've actually been able to sit at the bar counter. To commemorate, we took a 'duck' picture; or at least the best we knew how. Because we're just that geeeorgeous.

It was the most wonderful day. To wrap things up, we took it back south and west, under the University bridge. We're sitting up on the steepish slant with our heads almost touching the bottom of the bridge. Our feet deserved some recognition, having been so helpful throughout our delightful but otherwise impossible travels. Our day would have been so different without you. Props.