Biscuits, A Phantom Road, and Cheaha

This past Thursday, I had to go to Atlanta for a conference--so Lauren and I had dinner Thursday night up in the Buckhead District. We went to Uncle Julio's Casa Grande--of the same Uncle Julio's in the DFW Metroplex. And the food was the same. The chips were the same. The salsa was the same. Some good ol' Tex-Mex right here in the heart of Atlanta. T'was just what we needed.

On Friday, we had our crosstown football rivalrly--the two schools here in town played each other. It was surprisingly close in the first half--Carrollton was behind--but they came back to win, 29-3.

On Saturday, we headed out for the Cheaha Wilderness in Alabama. We were going to go hike the mountains--but Lauren has been sick, so we just drove around.

We began the day at one of Lauren's favorite southeast restaurants--Jack's. People in the southeast love their biscuits--and Jack's makes good ones. While we were there, it hit me--there are no Whataburger's in the southeast--that is sad.

After stopping at Jack's in Bowdon, we headed off for Alabama (only 15-20 minutes west of Carrollton). We saw this Sno-Biz in Bowdon. I worked at one of these in high school and have loved their sno cone goodness since. This isprobably the largest one I have ever seen--complete with their own ice cream. Interesting.

We drove through some really pretty country--really pretty country. All sorts of colors in the trees this time of year. Rolling hills. In Wedowee, Alabama, we saw this Bill's Dollar Store. It has been years since either of us have seen one of these. Lauren had a good point--it's like time stands still, to a point, in the southeast--many of the stores we grew up seeing (Bill's, Piggly Wiggly, etc.) still thrive in this part of the country.

On the way to Cheaha, we basically got lost. Or wait, to put it better--our map got lost. Did you know maps lie? Well the two we have sure do. We made it to Lineville, AL, from where Highway 46 was supposed to head off for the State Park. We now know Highway 46 DOES NOT EXIST. We drove around town looking for it for 30 min's, then finally stopped and asked at a gas station. The first two people I talked to had both never heard of this highway or the town on this highway that is shown to be five miles away from the town. Good grief.

Well, I finally talked to a guy who knew what he was talking about. I knew he was legit--when he said to come outside and he would show me where to go, then he sat his Mello Yello bottle down. I knew to trust to him. His instructions were to go down that road over there (he pointed in the direction), go down the hill for about a mile, down the hill, then turn right on the paved road. We did. We got to that other town (Pyriton), but then the highway just ended. Inexplicably. So we drove around for a while, then finally decided to turn on a road that was on the map.

The lesson we learned is to always check google maps. We had two maps--one showed highway 46 connecting to a highway (though this map left highway 46 unnamed). The map that named highway 46 did not show it connecting. I thought I would combine the knowledge of the two maps. Stupid. Always check with google maps and go with what it has--google knows all.

We finally made it to Cheaha State Park--probably a little over an hour east of Birmingham. The drive is spectaular--up mountains. This is the view from the restaurant at the State Park--we had a sack lunch here. There is a bit of a hue--sort of like what makes the Smoky Mountains so smoky. Sort of hard to see in this picture--but look in the horizon. Supposedly, on a clear day, you can see five to six surrounding states from up here.

You can see some of the different colors in the trees here.

This is the observation tower on the very top of Cheaha Mountain--the highest point in Alabama.

We climbed all the way to the top--up a very narrow set of stairs. We got to the top and were very disappointed in the view. So, I wanted to take a picture of something--so I chose this graffiti. I found it interesting for two things: 1. the misspelling of this great name of American cinema history & 2. we were probably less than 20 miles from talladega speedway.

This is at the bottom of Cheaha Mountain--at Cheaha Lake.

A nice day.

Like I said, Lauren is sick right now. We're hoping she can get better before tomorrow--she has a really difficult week ahead at school. School has been really intensive for her--but she is hanging in there.

Things at church are going well for me. We continue to feel more and more settled, more and more normal here in Carrollton. I am looking forward to heading to Texas this coming weekend for a quick weekend trip to see family.

--be

Weekend in the Southeast

On Friday night, Lauren and I went to the Carrollton football game in Sandy Creek, just south of Atlanta. We actually lost--it was strange. The stars aligned just right on that night for us to lose. Oh well. It is always strange to go to road games where we have twice as many people at the game than the home team. I bet they did not have one-third of their stands full. The P.A. announcer was the biggest homer I have ever heard--ridiculous--that stuff should not be allowed. He was continually telling the Sandy Creek crowd to yell and support their team. To the point of it being stupid. Also, they allow artificial noise-makers at high school games in Georgia, which is a bit different.

After the game, we went through Peachtree City on the way back. Peachtree City is the aforementioned city with over 100 miles of golf cart trails. Many of their residents just have a golf cart they drive around town, rather than a car. We have heard stories of some of them really souping their golf carts up--with shocks, speakers, etc.--just keeping up with the Jones', I guess. Anyway, it was funny to see a golf cart parked at Kroger's.

On Saturday, Lauren studied all day--fun, huh? I went to my first SEC football game. Wow. That's all I have to say. Tennesse at Alabama. Bryant-Denny Stadium holds 92,1832 people. It was incredible. We grabbed a pork bbq sandwich on the walk over to the stadium. I figured out my error in trying to eat bbq in the southeast. I keep expecting the beef bbq to be good here--like Texas beef brisket good. Rather than doing that, I should just go with the pork, I guess. It was awesome. This stuff had been cooking all night long. And, they did right what so many places do wrong here--they actually doused it in bbq sauce. So many places around here believe the sauce should not be poured all over it--they think the bbq should stand for itself. Whatever--that's just cause they must not have good sauce. This was incredible.

Then, I grabbed a hot dog at the game--very interesting. Can't say that I really liked it this way--but it was interesting. It was full of sweet onions and a mixture of chili and mustard. Different. But interesting. On the way home, we stopped at a Golden Rule BBQ--in Pell City, not the one in Birmingham. They have great fries. I had a double stack burger--with mustard and barbeque sauce. Was not the best burger ever--but it got me to thinking--barbeque sauce on a burger. Why, yes, brilliant! I have had it before but this reminded me about it--what a great idea.

'Bama started the game off with an onside kick that they recovered. It was pure awesomeness from then on. They kicked Tennessee all over the field, 42-17. Was close for a while, then it just got funny. 'Bama has a pretty good team. Give Saban a few years; and they will be contending for a national championship. Roll tide roll.

Today, I was reminded that we really do live in a beautiful place. I went up to Clarkesville for a funeral for some church members--a little over two hours northeast of here, in the foothills of the Appalachians, almost in South Carolina. It is a beautiful place. It's close to the town of Helen, which I have heard is an absolutely gorgeous place.


--be

Falcons Game

I went to my first NFL game on Monday night. I went to the Falcons-Giants game on Monday Night Football. Pretty dang cool. The Georgia Dome is huge. There were lots of things different about an NFL game--I was surprised how few players the teams had on their sidelines. The head coaches seem to be on their own little islands--not a whole lot of interaction with other coaches and players on the sidelines. Saw Stuart Scott, Emmitt Smith, and Steve Young--even though it was through binoculars.

The TV timeouts take FOREVER there at the game--and the teams, of course, just have to stand out on the field waiting for the commericals to be over. The Falcons are horrible--I mean, horrible. They cannot block. I hope to have some more pictures to post from the game soon. One of the best things about the Falcons game is Atlanta has a great subway/rail system. So, we were able to park out by the loop around town and ride it in to the game (downtown). We had dinner in the CNN Center--where all the CNN stuff goes down, they have a huge food court on the first floor. Pretty cool. We had great seats--they were behind the end-zone, so you could see everything develop.



--be

Weather

It was a nice chilly 40 degrees this morning and is supposed to be a nice balmy mid-70s this afternoon.

Just thought you might like a weather report.


--be

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

A couple of weekends ago, Chuck (Lauren's dad) came in for a visit. 'Twas a nice weekend of showing him around town and hanging out. He got in town on Friday night and was able to stay until Sunday morning. He ate his first Krystal burger (oh yeah). They ate at Miller's on Friday night, a restaurant on the square here in town that we have been wanting to try for a while. There is a Miller's restaurant, the same Miller's that is here, in Virginia--the town U of Virginia is in (can't think of it right now) in which Dave Matthews Band basically came to be. How is that for a little trivia.

That same weekend, a friend of ours from the great state of Texas was also in town. Angela was in seeing some family that lives here. We had a great time at lunch with them; and then I went to the Carrollton game that night with them at a football stadium literally out in the middle of the country. It was pretty interesting--it was the largest crowd they have ever had at that stadium--so they had a plane flying overhead taking pictures all night. A fun night. Good to hang out with Angela and her aunt and uncle--they are all great people. Carrollton High is dominating football in the great state of Georgia. They are ranked third in the state; and they beat the team that was supposed to give them the most difficult game of the year last week, 42-0. Ought to be a fun run this season!

Last week, I went to a really cool exhibit at Emory University in Atlanta (Lauren went to it today with a friend). The exhibit is on artifacts of early Christianity. There was part of one of the Dead Sea Scrolls there (the temple scroll)--that was incredible. The world's largest, oldest menorah was there. Lots of old pieces of the first Christian churches of the Constantinople era. Some of the utensils similar to what was probably used at the Lord's Supper were there. A decomposed ankle bone with a nail from a cross in it--similar to how Jesus was probably crucified. I realize I am probably boring many of you and probably grossing the rest of you out with that last tidbit--so I will move on. But suffice it to say--it was really, really cool.

Matthew, Lindsay, and Conley came in this past weekend. They came in on Thursday morning and headed back out on Saturday evening. Thursday, they all chilled here in town. On Friday, we headed into Atlanta and messed around. Had lunch at the Flying Biscuit Cafe. Both Lindsay and I had some really creamy grits there--unlike anything I had had before. Matthew had some chicken that looked great and some good sides. Lauren had a really good breakfast. And, of course, we all had wonderful biscuits. We also went to the DeKalb Farmers Market/World Market. By far, the biggest market we have ever been to. Was really cool--huge, all sorts of food, produce, and stuff. Then, we all enjoyed hot dogs, onion rings, and orange frosties (mmm) at The Varsity--what they call the World's Largest Drive-In.

Friday night, Matt and I went to the Carrollton game and saw them drum up on the Cass Colonels.

Saturday, we messed around town, including going to the State Park here outside of town. Below is a good picture of us in the forest.

Lauren and our niece, Conley, on a bridge.

Conley and I

Saturday night, we headed into Birmingham and dropped them off at the airport. Afterwards, Lauren and I drove around B-ham for a little bit. We saw the restaurant that inspired the movie, "Fried Green Tomatoes" (Irondale Cafe):

And, this is the only Waffle House I have ever seen that is not in a Waffle House building. Looks like they used some sort of an existing structure for it.

We saw a few sites around B-ham (which, by the way, is a really cool town--lots of rolling hills and trees and cool stuff), then headed back. We ate at a famous Alabama BBQ place--Golden Rule. After eating at a few BBQ places in the southeast-we are basically sort of disappointed. We miss the beef brisket, which they do not have out here. We have eaten at a few places so far that are pretty good--Fat Matt's in Atlanta, Bilbo's in Bremen, and Shane's Rib Shack here in town--but it is a chain, so it is all over. The rest have been a bit of a disappointment.

Oh well. On the way back, we also drove by Talladega on race weekend. The race track is only a mile or two off of I-20. Talladega on a Saturday night of race weekend is a pretty rocking place. Tons of campers in these enormous fields, all waiting for the race the next day. I mean, there were a TON of people out there. Pretty crazy sight.

One other thing before I wrap this one up--I have noticed that there are not really many dirt roads (on state-maintained roads) in the southeast, well at least in Georgia, but probably other states, as well. All of the county roads are paved. Interesting. 'Til next time . . .

--be

Amicalola Falls

Yesterday, I went with our senior adult group here at the church to Amicalola Falls--the highest waterfalls east of the Mississippi. B-e-a-utiful. Up in the mountains, where the north Georgia mountains start. The foothills of the Appalachians--in fact, the start of the Applachian Trail (remember that from Oregon Trail, anybody?) starts seven miles from this state park. That trail goes all the way to Maine--2,140 miles of hiking trail. Wow, would that be cool. Anyway, this is looking out the window of the lodge we ate at.

Again, the lodge. This was our view during lunch.

This is the trail to the actual falls. This trail is made out of recycled tires--really cool, really squishy. There were some stairs (420 of them to be exact) to climb to the top of the falls. I went up part of the way and realized it was going to take a while to get up there. Probably would have done it--but did not want to slow the group down.

The falls.

Our church bus in the parking lot of the trail.

We stopped at a pumpkin farm on the way back. A lot of pumpkins. Had a hay-ride and all sorts of pumpkin stuff there. Pretty cool.

That is one big pumpkin.

We hope to share some pictures and tales from the past couple of weeks with you soon--just have to find some time to sit down and do it.

How 'bout them Cowboys????

--be

Grits, Grits, Grits

They're awesome. Grits, grits, grits. They go with everything--and they're good with everything. You want just plain grits to go with eggs and bacon--awesomeness. How bout some cheese grits with basically any entree--tastes great. Everywhere you go-grits.

Grits are basically everything the southeast is about--and that's fine by me. Not sure I totally understand grits--but that's okay-I don't need to.


-be