Atlanta Trip 2015: The Overview

WE'RE BACK!

And for the record...and for you who might have missed it on Facebook...here is a quick synopsis of our just-finished two weeks in the Atlanta area for our annual trip to America.  In the coming days and weeks, I'll fill in the blanks with individual posts, of course.

We arrived on a Wednesday evening and the next day ate supper at son Mark's new apartment.

It's the second year in a row that he made our old-timey favorite potato-sausage soup,

so we're calling it a tradition, including the amazing coconut pie I used to make.

 The next day, Friday, we went to the Cumming Country Fair with g'son Nicholas,

but this time with his dad, Nick...the first time.

It was wonderful to watch them having so much fun together!

This was Nicholas' 13th time at this fair in his 15 years...and the last with us, we decided.

He can always go again but maybe on his own or with someone else.

We've had our memories and can now move on to more flexible times for visiting.

And he agrees.  What a great finale to that tradition.

The next day, Saturday, we went as a family (minus Mark) to the Historic Oakland Cemetery

near downtown Atlanta, founded in 1850.

Where have I been all my life!  I lived in Atlanta 25 years and never knew it existed.

I'd go back again because there was so much to see.

Then we had our annual Sunday-Thursday visit with Bob and Peggy in Jackson, GA.

They always find fun day trips for us, like this Skyview Ferris wheel next to Centennial Park,

where the 1996 Olympics were held.  What a great way to see the city of Atlanta.

We bought discounted Groupon tickets and rode it twice, once in daylight and then at night,

with a delightful restaurant supper in between.

Last year was when we first saw this 1951 MG that Bob had just bought.

This year, after restoring it bit by bit, he took us for a ride in it.

Talk about feeling like the Queen of England!

We took another day trip to the Candler Field and Museum in Williamson, GA.

It's always fun to see the small aircraft that people still fly.

And if the for-hire biplane had been there, Astrid and I would have taken a ride!

Once back to Amy's on Thursday, we drove up to the cabin in two cars.

THIS is THE tradition every year now for 6 years in Georgia's Blue Ridge mountains.

Within the first 15 minutes of arriving I had taken the above pics.

The leaves changed every day before our very eyes.

How can you resist that!

We weren't there for the full moon but almost.

Mark and I both took astronomy in college but he was the one who remembered the "terminus:"

the line dividing the bright and dark side of the moon.

Look at these two images Astrid took below, standing on the cabin deck!
We were the only ones up each morning to see the sunrise around 7:30 a.m.
 

 You remember, of course, that Astrid and I fell in love because of our photography blog!
Needless to say, I keep falling in love.

So many memories from the cabin still light up the corners of my mind:

pool, ping-pong, fabulous meals, s' mores, Spades, jigsaw puzzle, etc.

What a great way to spend quality time with the family we love.

In between everything, I took care of 2 doctor's appointments and my eye exam,

plus getting new (but basically the same) frames for my glasses, which broke after 11 years.

Now I feel all set to go for another year or two before I get checked up again.  HA!

As we like to say, LIFE IS GOOD!

The Cumming Country Fair, 2014

By now you know we fly every year to America in October because of the Cumming Country Fair.  Nicholas is now 14 years old, a high-school freshman, and still wants to go.  "It's a tradition," he says.  Since age two (in 2002) he has been 12 times, skipping only one year, 2012, when we weren't there in October because of nephew Peter's wedding in August.

This year was very different, however, because it was the first time Nicholas took a school buddy.

Buddy Sebastian is from Colombia, has lived in America only 7 years...and had never been to a fair.

So to start off, we all agreed the skylift was the first thing to do, to get the 12-minute overview.

We made sure they sat in front of us so we could "overview" them.

From that point on, till supper, we set the boys loose,

while Astrid and I went on our first-ever fair photo hunt.

Near the end of the skylift ride is the lineup of tractors and farm equipment, so we started there.

 Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, this pink tractor is always stage-center.

It's the wheels that grabbed my attention this year.

These are humongous, old-timey machines.

Put your hands together for all our farmers everywhere!

We always take time to run through the petting barn.

I remember when Nicholas was little and got to feel them.

This was our first time to walk through the old-timey school house...

...and the two churches attached on either side.

One was a Methodist Church and the other a Baptist Church.

How can you tell which is which?

At such-n-such a time, we rendezvoused with the boys for supper.

Each boy ate their own BIG turkey leg, while Astrid and I shared one...

with our prerequisite roasted corn, of course.

The guys were out of ride tickets at that point, ha, so g'ma did what she's good for.

And off we all were again.

By now we were getting a good ground-level overview of the fair, just as the sun started to set.

Talk about a Golden Hour as the sun treated us to its magic.

And then it was dark, with a different kind of magic.

The country store, the blacksmith shop, the quilting bee, the syrup and saw mills...

you get enough education to keep going back year after year, let alone for the rides.

But one thing new this year, winding its way throughout the fair the entire evening,

was the Puppetone Rockers.  They totally made the night for me.

We even talked with them for 15 minutes on one of their breaks.

Turn up the sound to get the gist,
totally upbeat and always with a message to the kids about "Doing Right."
What a thrill.  I hope they're back next year.

Last but not least, we always end the fair with homemade ice cream.
The boys had strawberry and the girls had chocolate-peanut-butter.
You'd be smiling, too!  :)

And yes, we already know the dates for next year's fair!

Our 2014 America Trip: Overview

Has it really come and gone so quickly?  We're packed and have a couple more hours before we leave for the Atlanta airport for our flight back home to the Netherlands.  So while we're waiting, here's a bit of an overview, from collages I put up on Facebook.

 As you surely know by now, we fly back in October because Nicholas still wants to go to the fair!

This was his first year to take a school buddy, which actually changed everything!

We all rode the skylift together, first off, with them in front of us, of course.

Then they AND we were off on our own till it was time for supper.

The menu is always turkey legs and roasted corn.  Hard to beat.

While the boys were going on all the crazy rides, Astrid and I had a photo op!

(Remember, this is just an overview!)

And just before going home, we had our prerequisite homemade ice cream.

It was the best fair ever!

 You know I can eat that boy up, now 14, a freshman in high school.

And what I love so much is how much he and Astrid are bonding.

You can't fake that!

This year she had her new iPad4 waiting for her.

And guess who taught her everything she needs to know!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Remember Bob and Peggy from just south of Atlanta?

We spent 5 days with them, while the kids worked and Nicholas was in school.

We love our little side trips with them around the backroads of south Georgia.

The Laurel and Hardy Museum is in Harlem, GA, which I didn't even know existed.

Oliver Hardy was born there in 1892.  Who knew?!

Nearby we visited Monticello, GA, where My Cousin Vinny was filmed.

The Two Yutes Tuna at the nearby Sac-O-Suds is their best seller.  HA!

We also spent a day, with picnic, at the nearby High Falls State Park in Jackson, GA.

(Those pics will come later, I assume.)

We were there to see the full, hunter's blood moon on Tuesday the 7th

with the lunar eclipse the next morning, Wednesday the 8th (bottom right).

Lucky us!  We'll never forget it.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

After Bob and Peggy's we went to the Blue Ridge mountains for our family's 5-day cabin retreat.

Talk about a room with a view!

 We even drove down the mountain to Blue Ridge, GA, to be tourists for an afternoon.

Pumpkins are my favorite time of the year!

And yes, this was another photo-op time for us as we walked around.

Amy took this on her iPhone one night while we made s'mores on the porch.  Memories.

And we always end the cabin time at a Waffle House for breakfast the day we drive back.  HA!

 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

 After the cabin, son Mark had us over for potato-sausage soup, a family favorite.

(thanks to Astrid for the images)

His cat, Piper, showed all her best sides to Astrid, the photographer.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

We even had time to spend 4 days with Bob and Marc at their lovely home on Lake Lanier.

Their Cresswind 55+ retirement community is ranked among the top ten most affordable communities 

for retirees by AARP Magazine.  Astrid says she could move there...and that's saying a lot.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Last but not least, we captured between us these 4 weathervanes.

"We're not in Kansas anymore!"  But at least there was a Hart.

Like I said...an overview, before I get home and work on the rest of the images.

Man alive.  We really packed in a lot, didn't we!

The Cumming Country Fair, 2013

Many of you know that "we" have taken Nicholas to the Cumming Country Fair every year since he was two.  Well, except for last year, because we made our annual trip in August (instead of October) in order to make it to Peter's wedding!

That makes 11 times in his 13 years!  Yup.  He's a teenager and still wants to go to the fair...maybe now more than ever.

And this time we roped Uncle Mark into going with us...like a couple of times before.

We went on a Friday night after school, just before supper, while it was still light.

And since we started out "tame," we did the bumper cars first...all of us.

G'ma becomes maniacal on that ride.  Watch out everybody!

Actually, Astrid had already made a stab at her prerequisite sharp-shooting skills.

Don't ever double-cross a woman like her with a gun in hand!  HA!

That's one serious sharp-shooter.

She and Nicholas also had their first twirl on the twirl-a-whirl, but more on that later....

It was time to eat our turkey-leg supper...one of our favorite memories.

This year Nicholas ate an entire leg all by himself!  Yup.  He's a teenager!

Then one of our favorite rides...a calming one for after supper...the skylift.

This was my first day/event to use my new Canon PowerShot camera.

I was like the proverbial kid in the candy store.

Besides, it's the longest ride of the fair at almost 15 minutes.

It gives you a slow, lazy overview of the fair, to see if there's anything new this year!

Also, at the end of the skylift ride, you're a hop, skip and a jump away from the Indian Village.

It's the calm, cool and collected thing you want to do after you eat.

Which we did.

The shows are the same each year, so we didn't stay...

just long enough for the photo-op of this Cherokee cleaning out his gun before his next shoot-out.
(Don't mess with Astrid!!!)

Walking back to the fair from the Indian Village, we saw the one ride that was new for us.

Astrid and Nicholas had already tried it earlier but wanted to have another go at it.

But while Mark and I watched (and A & N stood in line waiting!), someone else didn't "make" it,

and the cleaning crew had to come out.

Since that took forever...A & N stopped waiting....

...and decided to go back on the twirl-a-whirl.

Let's just say Astrid really knows how to "manipulate" it!

Then we ate their homemade strawberry ice cream like we do every year...and that was it!

Nicholas has already decided that NEXT year he'll take his friend with him.

There's always next year to look forward to...when maybe he'll dare take some other rides.

He's nearing that fearless age.....

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Since this is the last post on our time with the kids, here are a few more images of in-between times in Atlanta (in-between time in Savannah with Bob and Peggy and our time at the cabin in the North Georgia mountains, last post):

 Astrid wanted you to see how much of the 2000-pc. puzzle we finished while at the cabin

Amy rolled it up to finish at home.

One of the first things I did after arriving was look at the photobook I had made of Nicholas.

Once he turned 13 in July, I got the idea to make a book for Amy of his pre-teen years.

All 110 pages, 1,000 images...Shutterfly's limit (which you can puruse on my left sidebar).

And did I mention I also bought an iPad4, waiting for me?

Amy helped me get with the program.

You really CAN teach an old dog new tricks...and I LOVE it.

(BTW, selling my heavy bazooka lens was enough to pay for the new camera AND the iPad4...

a win-win situation, I hope, for my sciatic problems!)

 Surely I've told you before that Amy is a gourmet cook and we're the lucky guinea pigs.

Since Astrid took these images, I threw in her delightful manhole cover...

with no possibble connection whatsoever!

Here's Oscar, a real lover-boy (while CC hides who-knows-where).

And speaking of lover-boys, here are Bob and Marc meeting us the day we flew back home.

It's always good to catch up on friends....

Speaking of which, next up will be our time with Bob and Peggy in Savannah!

Till then, BOO, in honor of All Hallow's Eve tomorrow.

 This is the full moon from the cabin on October 18th...hand-held with my new camera,

and tweaked with some PicMonkey art.  :)