Travels in the South

Hello friends – welcome to another edition of Travels in the South.  This week mom/dad went back for what they know.  They went to a local steakhouse that offers an appetizer called “Wild, Wild Shrimp”.  Better yet, mom had a coupon for this appetizer so that makes it even better, right?

These shrimp are lightly battered and friend.  They are served with different kinds of spicy peppers with a blue cheese dip dressing.  If you are like daddy, you pick the shrimp out and leave the peppers – snorts with piggy laughter.  But if you are mom, you jump feet first in and eat your way out.  Of course, this always goes well accompanied by a glass of Chardonnay, which mom had.

 

31 Days of Spook – St Augustine Lighthouse

Shivers – today’s post brings me shivers just thinking about it.

Today, I want to concentrate on something close to our hearts here at the Hotel Thompson – the St. Augustine Lighthouse.  We’ve watched television shows highlighting the paranormal activity here – have you seen any?

During the 1870’s construction began on the lighthouse tower.  The superintendent, Hezekiah Pittee, had two daughters drown in an accident.  The girls liked to get in a work trolley and roll down to the waterfront.  One day, the trolley didn’t stop and capsized into the water drowning the two girls.  Since then, reports have been made of seeing two little girls standing on the catwalk.

There have also been reports of moving shadows, voices and unexplained sounds.  Other people have reported seeing a dark figure on the stairway inside of the lighthouse.  On one show of Ghost Hunters, Grant Wilson and Jason Hawes caught a dark figure on the steps moving and a woman’s voice asking for help.  It was haunting to say the least.

Reports have also been made of the smell of cigar smoke and a man in the basement area of the keepers house.  This man is believed to be a Civil War hero and a former lighthouse keeper, William Ham.

The lighthouse is now open to the public.  The St. Augustine lighthouse even offers what they call a Dark of the Moon Tour that allows access into the lighthouse and keepers house at night. During this time, you are given a glow stick to light your way so that you may investigate on your own.  Any takers?  I’m game.

 

Travels in the South

Hello friends.  I hope that you have been enjoying our Travels in the South edition.  Today, we continue our adventures with Fozziemom and Fozziedad who visited all the way from Australia. Today, I want to focus on a restaurant that everyone went to on their way back home from Tybee Island.  Also this is a restaurant that Jean and Bill visited while they were visiting as well.

It’s a place that my mom has been going to since she she was small child.  She actually introduced my dad to it and it’s a great feel at home kind of place.

This restaurant is called Buckner’s Family Restaurant and has wonderful vegetables (for our vegetarians) and the best fried chicken you will ever wrap your lips around – just sayin’ so says mom – snorts.  Which brings me to the chicken in the picture – his name is Elmer and he’s a pretty cool dude.  His tall – really tall and his sign says do not touch… Personally I think too many people in the past have wanted to get up close and personal to him to have their pictures taken if you know what I mean.

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Now you see the cool thing about this place is all of the tables are round.  Okay I can see you going okay and what’s a big deal about that.  Well you see in the middle of the round table, they have the biggest movable section – a giant lazy Susan if you will.  The workers will come to your table with all of these bowls containing wonderful delights – creamed corn, green beans, beats, cole slaw , lima beans, rolls, chicken, barbeque pork, peach cobbler – just to name a few.  And as you eat and things run out, you just ask for refills and the servers gladly fill everything back up.  So you have a buffet without having to get up and down all of the time.  You sit and the staff bring YOU the food.  Cool huh?

Now you have to remember that everyone stopped here on the way home from Tybee Island.  They were tired, exhausted if you will, and at the point of just being silly.  The moms didn’t even have make up on.  So, I’m tell you that in preparation for this final picture.  A picture to show you (A) how tired they looked and (B) how silly they were being trying to get a picture with Elmer.  So here you go my friends – the moms in their bare necessities.

 

Travels in the South

Have you been enjoying our Travels in the South my friends?  Today we continue our travels with Fozziemom and Fozziedad who visited with us all the way from Australia.  Now, the month previous was Fozziedad’s birthday so everyone agreed to celebrate his birthday when he came to the States.

On this date, they all ventured downtown Atlanta to hang out for a bit and then to go to lunch.  Since Fozziedad plays the guitar, mom researched and found a great shop close to the restaurant they would be going to for lunch.  They all went into the store where they got to hear Fozziedad play and were totally amazed and I do believe mom was star struck ❤  Fozziedad is amazing and trust us, he knows his way around a guitar.  Mom/dad said if they lived in Australia they would for sure have to go and hang out when he plays.

After the guitar store visit, they went to eat at one of my mom/dad’s favorite restaurants called Fogo de Chão.  This is an all you can eat type Brazilian Steakhouse.  Now don’t worry.  This place has everything – from the meat eaters to the vegetarians you will be happy here. You first start off with a huge salad bar that has everything that you can imagine.  You can work on that salad first or have it with your meat selections.  As you eat, they bring skewers of different varieties of meat to your table where they then carve it onto your plate.  You choose what you want and how much.  Now I have to tell you a secret.  My mom/dad love this restaurant, especially these little rolls they bring to your tables in baskets.  Mom says they mysterious and magically reappear in the basket every time you ask.  Isn’t that amazing?

Everyone was instructed not to eat breakfast and have to empty bellies for this adventure at the restaurant.  And I must admit, everyone got their fill – even dessert for the birthday boy.  It was an awesome time.  Sometimes when daddy puts me to bed, I ask him to tell me this story about the restaurant.  I can just imagine myself laying up under the table, hooves up in the air like I just don’t care and being hand fed the remarkable steak at this place.  Give me a moment….. okay let’s continue.

Afterwards, the group wanted to go on a further adventure.  You see a couple of years ago, downtown Atlanta installed SkyView Atlanta.  Skyview Atlanta is a Ferris Wheel that is over 20 stories above Centennial Park.  They have individual gondolas that are climate controlled.  Did you hear that?  Climate controlled as in the day everyone visited, it was an air conditioned gondola that they rode in.  Can you believe that?  Ferris Wheels have come a long ways baby.  When you are up in the gondola, mom said you could see all kinds of views of downtown.  It was totally awesome!  And of course no trip is complete without a picture of your memories.

Oh, are you asking where daddy was?  He was guarding the Jeep – snorts with piggy laughter.  Due to dad’s vision, he can’t go up that far so he sat this one out and partied in the Jeep until we got done.   Don’t fear – he had a great time rocking out to Queen.

 

 

Travels in the South

Welcome my friends to another week of Travels in the South.  We are continuing our visit with Fozziemom and Fozziedad who came for a visit.  Last week, we talked about our visit to the Baby General Hospital – the home of the Cabbage Patch kids.  You can read all about it here.  And if you missed it on Fozziemom’s blog, check it out here.  It was definitely a great adventure to the hospital.

But let’s go back a step.  You see Fozziemom mentioned some peeps that she was interested in meeting.  So, mom set out to make it happen.  Some peeps were just too far away and we couldn’t do it.  But don’t worry, phone calls were made and squeals were heard all over the south.  Then others were out of town so we couldn’t meet 😦 Then there was one that was set up.  Be afraid – you should have seen mommy emailing this person that she wasn’t a bad person and wanted to meet up with a mutual friend.

The address was put in mom’s GPS and the trip was started… around curves, in the country, weaving in/out until they were found.  Who did they meet?  It was Jan from Jan’s Funny Farm.  Let the good times roll – I think it was hard to imagine Fozziemom being right here in our neck of the woods.  They all went out to a local Mexican restaurant, talked and a had an awesome time for sure.  I took this picture from Jan’s page (I hope she doesn’t mind) to share with everyone.  Please be sure to visit Jan’s Funny Farm and tell her that Bacon sent you.

 

Travels in the South

Welcome back friends to another edition of Travels in the South.  We have been talking about our visit with our great friends Bill and Jean from Canadian Cats.  If you have missed the previous editions, please check them out here:  Red Lobster; Fogo de Chao; Stately Oaks; Spa Day. World of Coca-Cola Part I, World of Coca-Cola Part II. World of Coca-Cola Part III, The Varsity, Gone with the Wind Part I, Gone with the Wind Part II

Hello friends – welcome back to our continued tour of Jonesboro, Georgia in Gone With the Wind. Today, let’s talk about some of the gorgeous homes in downtown Jonesboro.

This is the Ashley Oaks Mansion that was built in 1879 by Leander Hutchenson.  Ashley Oaks is built from over over 1 million hand made bricks. Each exterior home wall is 12 inches thick and each of the four large rooms downstairs stand on its own independent foundation.  I guess they are right in the saying, “They don’t make things like they use to.”  And Leander Hutchenson – he was actually the Sheriff of Clayton County several different times throughout the years:  01/18/1860 – 02/02/1862; 09/07/1868 – 02/06/1871; 01/31/1877 – 01/07/1879; 01/08/1887 – 01/08/1891; and 01/06/1893 – 10/17/1896.  Wouldn’t it be interesting to see someone in politics take office this many times these days?

This house is the Crockett-Blalock house that was originally built in 1879.  It has been under reconstruction over the years with rooms added on and now is currently a Wells Fargo bank.  The home originally though belonged to Mrs. Hanes.  Mrs. Hanes was a tough lady.  In the middle of the Battle of Jonesboro taking place outside her doors and windows, Mrs. Hanes was giving birth to her baby.

And her husband was Alfred Blalock.  Now Alfred was a prominent heart surgeon and was the first to ever do open heart surgery.  But we found out something more about Alfred Blalock that mom found fascinating.  Alfred Blalock was also the developer of plasma for the treatment of shock.  Isn’t that totally awesome?

And you know what they say about growing up on the wrong side of the tracks.  Does that really take place?  The tracks run straight down Jonesboro.  So, depending on who you ask they will tell you which side is the right side – snorts.

But don’t worry because all streets lead you back to Gone With the Wind.  And in the end, I guess you can say in some ways that Scarlett and Rhett will always be linked together..if only in street signs 🙂

My friends, I hope that you enjoyed our tour of Jonesboro, Georgia.  Stay tuned next week to find out what additional trouble the foursome (Mom, Dad, Bill and Jean) get into.

 

Travels in the South

Welcome back friends to another edition of Travels in the South.  We have been talking about our visit with our great friends Bill and Jean from Canadian Cats.  If you have missed the previous editions, please check them out here:  Red Lobster; Fogo de Chao; Stately Oaks; Spa Day. World of Coca-Cola Part I, World of Coca-Cola Part II. World of Coca-Cola Part III, The Varsity, Gone With the Wind Part I.

Last week we started the Gone with the Wind tour in Jonesboro, Georgia.  We spoke of the Patrick Cleburne Memorial Cemetery.  The above picture was taken by Bill.  What an awesome picture, you think?  Today we continue our tour.  There was one thing that I forgot to mention last week that I think you might find fascinating.

In this picture, you see the front entrance to the Road to Tara Museum where the Gone with the Wind tour starts and drops off.  This building is important – not on historically but movie wise.  Have I intrigued your interest now?

 You see, Georgia is like little Hollywood and there are lots of movies made here.  Heck not too far from us in Atlanta, they filmed the movie The Walking Dead.  That explains all of the zombies downtown – snorts with piggy laughter.

But back to this Road to Tara Museum.  Do you know what famous movie actually took place in downtown Jonesboro?  In fact, there was a scene in the movie that was filmed right behind this building.    That’s right – Smokey and the Bandit with Burt Reynolds.  Notice the building now in this picture – this is the back of the building.  In the movie, Jonesboro was turned into Texarkana.  Cool huh?  So you see we have our own little bit of Hollywood right here in the south 🙂

There are lots of other important places in Jonesboro.  There’s actually the R.K. Holliday Office Building.  R.K. Holliday was the cousin of Margaret Mitchell and the father of the woman who served as inspiration to Mitchell’s character Melanie Hamilton.  Then there is the Carnes Homes that was built in 1850’s by Stephen Carnes.  Carnes was a casket maker and after the war he was hired to re-inter the Confederate soldiers that had been buried around the city into the Patrick Cleburne Memorial Cemetery that we spoke about last week.

The tour also brings you by the 1898 Clayton County Courthouse.  Margaret Mitchell visited this courthouse to research local records during her writing of Gone with the Wind.

 Our next stop on the tour was the Courthouse/Masonic Lodge.  From 1858 until the first County Courthouse was completed on this site in 1861, Clayton County Court met in the Masonic Hall.   This courthouse was used until 1898 when the new courthouse was built.  Now inside of this building it houses all kinds of history along the ways in Clayton County.  It had original policeman uniforms, jails, Gone With the Wind pictures of Scarlett and Rhett to ghosts.  Yep I said ghosts.  Our tour guide says that psychics have been to this building and spoke to ghosts from years past.  Interesting huh?

I’m sure you recognize this movie poster from Gone With the Wind but can you read it?

And do you know what happens to people on the tour that can’t behave? Go ahead guess.  I bet you can’t guess. Stay tuned next week my friends for the continuing tour.

 

Travels in the South

Welcome back friends to another edition of Travels in the South.  We have been talking about our visit with our great friends Bill and Jean from Canadian Cats.  If you have missed the previous editions, please check them out here:  Red Lobster; Fogo de Chao; Stately Oaks; Spa Day. World of Coca-Cola Part I, World of Coca-Cola Part II. World of Coca-Cola Part III, The Varsity, CNN Center.

 Today we are going to start sharing another tour that we went on that was called Gone With the Wind Tour.  The funny thing is that this tour has been in downtown historical Jonesboro for as long as I can remember and mom/dad have never went on it.  Now, they have been to some of the places that the tour visits but never the ‘official’ tour that shares all kinds of information.  And well Jean is such a fan of Gone With the Wind that everyone *had* to take this tour.  This posting will definitely have to be in several postings to share all of the highlights that we saw and the pictures we took.  So are you ready?  Here we go.

The tour picks up at the Road to Tara Museum which is a 1867 Train Depot.  Back in the day at the peak of railroad travel, both passengers and freight passed through downtown Jonesboro day and night.

It was once made of wood and stood near the Confederate Cemetery (which we will get to soon).  But that building burned down in 1864 during the Civil War’s Battle of Jonesboro.  After the building burned down, they built this building of granite and placed it more in the center of the town.  You bought the tickets for the tour in this museum and also could shop for all kinds of gifts and trinkets.

In fact inside of the museum, they had all kinds of items for Gone with the Wind including this picture, paintings, books, pens, bells – you name it and they had it.  I can assure you that mom and Jean walked out with more than the hub units wanted – snorts with piggy laughter.

Mom said she could have spent hours inside of the store just looking at everything – it was like walking on a movie set.

This beautiful house is called The Warren House and it was built in 1860 by Guy Warren.  Guy Warren was an agent for the Macon & Western Railroad and one of Jonesboro’s first town commissioners.  On the tour, you go by the house but currently it has new owners so you can’t go in to explore.  It was on and around this house where the majority of the Battle of Jonesboro took place.  The house at that time was used as a field hospital and was headquarters to the Confederate Troops until the Union Army took possession of the house for the same use.  The tour guide told us that in some of the walls in the downstairs parlor, you can still see signatures of the soldiers that were recuperating at the house during the war.  They left messages and signed the wall for all to see in the years to come.  Cool huh?

The next stop on our tour was the Patrick Cleburne Memorial Cemetery.  Now there are some graves that are marked with the names.  But this cemetery also holds the remains of over 1,000 soldiers that died during the Battle of Jonesboro who were buried in unmarked graves.  The unmarked headstones are laid out in the shape of a Confederate battle flag that can be seen from the air when you are overlooking the cemetery.

AND, in all the years mom has grown up in the area she has heard plenty of stories about this cemetery.  Mom knew of a friend that grew up in a house across the street.  One night her parents had gone out and she stayed home alone.  It was dark and rainy with a heavy fog in the area.  She looked out her front door and saw the image of a Confederate soldier walking down the street.  Just the thought of that makes my hair stand up on end – shivers.

Well friends, I hope you enjoyed the first installment of the tour of Gone With the Wind.  Come back next week for more in the Travels of the South with my mom/dad and Bill and Jean from Canada 🙂 ❤

 

Travels in the South

Welcome back friends to another edition of Travels in the South.  We have been talking about our visit with our great friends Bill and Jean from Canadian Cats.  If you have missed the previous editions, please check them out here:  Red Lobster; Fogo de Chao; Stately Oaks; Spa Day. World of Coca-Cola Part I, World of Coca-Cola Part II.

 Today we finish up our tour of the World of Coca-Cola here in Atlanta, Georgia.  Last week, I left you with us visiting the awesome polar bear in residence.  He was such a hoot and so friendly!  We all had a blast playing with him – and I think he took a great liking to Jean.  I also think with enough soft whispers in his little polar bear ear, Jean might have been able to take him back home with her.  Then again, that would be a hard one to explain to Customs… you think?

After we finished with the polar bear, we went to explore a 4-D Theater.   The title of the film was The Search for the Secret Formula.  You got these really neat glasses to wear while watching the film.  Now remember we said 4-D. Thankfully, we went with Bill and Jean and got in the line of the non-moving section seats.  That was a most excellent move because let me tell you something, once you watch something in 4-D you will be astonished.  The seats moved and rocked like you wouldn’t believe to the
movie.  At one time, water was lightly sprayed on the audience.  And with the glasses on watching the movie, people were ducking and dodging the things coming from the film.  You can’t miss this movie – you have to watch it and experience the 4-D effects.  Way to go World of Coca-Cola for this awesome show.

After the film, we were thirsty.  The bottles of free coke they gave us at the beginning of the tour were starting to wear off.  And hey, this was the best of time.  Now we were going to the Taste It part of the tour – something my mom couldn’t wait to try.  They had freestyle drink machines set up all over this room with over 100 different Coca-Cola drinks from all over the world.  You could taste as many as you wanted from anywhere – Africa, Asia, Latin America, North America.  Some of the drinks were:

• Beverly. Introduced in Italy in 1969, Beverly is a non-alcoholic aperitif that is typically consumed before meals. Because of its distinctive taste, it is one of our most popular, must-try drinks.  This was a high consensus in our group of no thank you.
• Bibo Candy Pine-Nut. This African favorite is part of a fruit-flavored line of drinks. Bibo Pine-Nut tastes of pineapple and coconut.  This one wasn’t too bad.  Daddy really liked it.
• Fanta Pineapple. This sparkling beverage from Greece imparts a sweet and juicy pineapple taste. The pineapple (commonly known to Grecians as “ananás”) is quite a treat for Europeans, often imported from tropical regions.  This one was mom’s favorite.
• Guaraná Kuat. Introduced in Brazil in 1997, the beverage was named after an Amazonian Indian sun god. Guaraná Kuat (pronounced “Kwatch”) tastes of fruity guaraná berries, similar to ginger ale with a mild berry twist.  Um… no.

So you see this was just a few of the different flavors from around the world that you could try.  Some tasted fantastic while others were like how do they drink this?  Afterwards, on the way out of the tour going into the store, you got a souvenir glass bottle of coke.

Now, the Coca-Cola store.  Some peeps – cough cough – had way too much fun in the store.  Bill was trying to find a good hat to wear for those cold snowy days and nights in Canada.  What do you think about this one my friends?

Do you think it would keep him warm?

Of all the hats to choose, this one was his favorite.  I kind of dig the polar look and the nose on this hat though.  I think it brings character – a fun aspect if you will.

On the other paw, all of the kids in the neighborhood would be screaming for cover when they see daddy outside.  Look at the get up he went with – shaking my head.  These two.  What will we do with them?

So my friends, that concludes the tour of the World of Coca-Cola.  Did you have fun?  Did you learn anything (other than Jim and Bill are crazy?) that you didn’t know?

Stay tuned for next week to find out where these crazy peeps went to eat… and the GPS hang out that had everyone laughing.

 

Travels in the South

Welcome back friends to another edition of Travels in the South.  We have been talking about our visit with our great friends Bill and Jean from Canadian Cats.  If you have missed the previous editions, please check them out here:  Red Lobster; Fogo de Chao; Stately Oaks; Spa Day. World of Coca-Cola Part I.

Today, we are continuing our tour that we went on at the World of Coca-Cola right here in Atlanta, Georgia.  The next part of our tour goes into the Miles of Refreshment of the building.  This part of the tour highlights the creation of the original formula and how it might have looked stirring it up in the bowl.  Cool huh?

Although all of the tour is interesting, this part was really awesome to my everyone.  Just wait until you see some of these pics.

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This tour even had a replica of an old soda fountain and what it might have looked like serving Coca-Cola.  Can you imagine pulling up your chair to the bar and ordering a real Coca-Cola back in the day?   I just hope that the guy serving the Coke loosens up a bit – he’s kind of cold in this picture.  Snorts with piggy laughter.  

But at last, this soda fountain dates back to the 1880’s and is said to be one of the oldest artifacts here at the World of Coca-Cola.

This is a 1939 Chevrolet delivery truck from where – can you guess it?  Did you say Buenos Aires, Argentina?  You would be right.  And did you know that this delivery truck is so big that the attraction had to be built around it to fit in the attraction.  But I think it adds a lot.

I think personally these old trucks had flare.  Have you seen the newer trucks out there – they are red.  I kind of like the yellow.  What do you think?  Do you like the long red trucks or do you think we need the yellow one?

Squeals – you gotta check this out my friends.  This part of the tour also housed the sofa from the show American Idol.  Have you ever watched American Idol and seen the red couch that everyone sits on while they are being interviewed after singing their songs?

Guess who saddled up to the sofa and just had to get their picture taken?  You guessed it – mom/dad.  Aren’t those two just crazy?  And that couch was hilarious.  Once you sat in it, it sucked you up to the floor.  I guess it’s had too many butts on it from American Idol – it seemed broken… well so says daddy.  And mom – snorts – she needed assistance getting up off the sofa.  Thank goodness Bill was close by. Mom was worried for a few minutes that they would have to call the Jaws of Life out to the World of Coca-Cola to get her off of the sofa – snorts with piggy laughter.  That’s my mommy!.

In this gallery, there are over 1,000 artifacts.  Here are some more for you to look at:  Olympic Torches from all over the World and the different Coca-Cola drink machines.

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After this part of the tour, you then go on a short tour of the bottling process.  It shows you exactly how everything is all packaged up nicely and delivered to stores around the world.  But one of our favorite parts came after this.  It was where we got to meet the Polar Bear – oh my!  Now this was great fun my friends.  Look at these pics!  Can you tell that everyone had a snort of a great time?  And that my friends is where we are going to end this week.  Join us again next week for the finish of the World of Coca-Cola tour and find out where everyone went to dinner – you don’t want to miss that… food porn!